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Radletts from the start. They were the sort of people that Mr Perkins visited. I could imagine him coming through their front door and asking them, ‘Why is the hall painted red?’ or ‘Where did you get this line of wooden elephants on the shelf?’
    Linda called me into the kitchen and sat me on a stool. I watched her cut things up and put them into bowls. ‘Have you done any cooking, Eddie?’
    I shook my head.
    She showed me how to use the cheese grater, and gave me a lump to start on. I made a bit of a mess. It was a whole lot harder than I thought to hold things steady on the wooden board. But Linda didn’t mind. She just brushed all the scattered shreds of cheese over the edge of the table into her hand and sprinkled them on top of her big oval dish. Then she went over to a drawer and pulled out some knives and forks and spoons. ‘Know how to set a table?’
    Of course I didn’t, so she showed me how, saying, ‘You’ll pick it up.’
    ‘Will I be staying here, then?’
    She stopped what she was doing and turned to face me. ‘Remember what Rob said? That we’re not sure of anything yet, not till we know a little more about you. But you will certainly be here tonight, and probably for several days. And maybe even longer than that, if we get on together.’ She rubbed her hand over my hair and smiled. ‘Long enough to get you a haircut, anyhow.’
    ‘Another haircut,’ I corrected her.
    She gave me an odd look. Then she went back to putting the bowls and plates in place, and showing me which chair I was to sit on. ‘Rob reckons you’ll have ruined your appetite with all those chips. But never mind. Just have a go.’
    She called to Alan and we started to eat. I wasn’t sure about the food. I wasn’t used to lettuce or tomato, and all that stuff. I ate the cheesy topping – not just because I was the one to grate it. I love cheese. This had a funny taste, and it felt different in my mouth from any I had eaten before. But I still loved it.
    While I was eating, they were talking the whole time, the two of them. Not to me, but to each other. He chatted about someone he’d met that morning in the supermarket, and how she seemed to be doing really well after the death of her husband. And Linda talked about a phone call she had had from someone called Alice. They didn’t talk about me, and they didn’t really talk to me, except that Alan kept saying, ‘If you’re not eating that,I’ll have it, if you don’t mind,’ and Linda told me, ‘Alice is one of our daughters. She’s grown up now.’
    I think that they were pleased at how much cheese I ate. Then Linda brought out ice cream. Ice cream was something I knew all about, because of Mr Perkins. ‘Ice cream is made from eggs and cream and then a flavouring that can be anything – anything at all,’ I told them. ‘Even a combination like, for example, coffee and toffee pecan.’
    They did try not to stare, but you could tell they thought that what I’d said was really weird. So when Alan asked me, ‘What’s your favourite, then?’ I kept my head down and I didn’t answer. I wasn’t quite sure what he meant. I’d only ever seen ice cream on television. And I don’t think I even knew what ‘flavouring’ meant.
    The moment passed and they went back to talking about Alice’s new job. I ate the ice cream. Then I ate some more. Then Linda said, ‘I’ll let you skip the bath, since Rob says that you had one at the hospital.’
    I wasn’t sure why she said that. Back then, I didn’t know about routines and such. But I could see she was expecting me to get up and follow her, so I did. We went upstairs. She showed me where she and Alan slept. ‘You just knock and come in if you need anything. Promise?’ She pulled pyjamas out of a pile on a shelf, and I remember being really surprised at how tidy everything in the cupboard was – even the flannels were folded. She pushed me in the bathroom and gave me a toothbrushand a lesson in how to brush