But it all changed when Mr Lawal turned up with a woman in tall blonde hair who was nice but nervous and smoked all the time with two fingers missing under the two she held the cigarette in. I asked her what happened to them and she said she lost them in a factory she was working in but she got the money and Sunday was going to live with them in their place – Tunde’s English name was Sunday. My mum was friendly and chatted to her a long time, but I never saw her again. Tunde left and didn’t say goodbye to any of us, only my mum, and his dad was being moody. But now they were back again and the woman wasn’t around.

We heard the front-room door open and Manus jumped down off the bed. We held our breath, hoping they’d go past to the kitchen or downstairs, but the bedroom door swung open and I started pulling on my socks. Connor looked round, holding the door handle, and said to Manus, ‘You have to get dressed. Daddy wants us to take Sunday down the park.’ Manus made a face like it was Connor’s fault for dragging him into it and he should have kept quiet. Connor shrugged and said, ‘They’re going to send him back to Nigeria.’