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and Mum got mad at me, which wasted more time. She was looking forward to getting back to the hospital to see Rhys. I will have to go to the hospital after school too but I am not looking forward to it. We spent all Saturday night and all Sunday there and I do not find it interesting anymore.
    I stop to drink from the bubblers and when I finish Morgan is standing behind me waiting for a drink.
    â€˜Hi, Stevie,’ she says.
    I don’t say hello back. I am not in the mood.
    â€˜I like your T-shirt,’ she says.
    I am wearing my favourite top that I got for Christmas last year. It is a white T-shirt and Mum ironed a picture of a beautiful horse with a jet-black mane onto it. Some of the horse’s face is coming off, though, and every time it’s washed it gets a little bit worse. Trust Morgan to remind me of my problems.
    Mum picks me up after school. We are going to visit Rhys. But instead of driving to the Frankston Hospital Mum keeps going towards Melbourne.
    â€˜Where are we going?’ I ask.
    â€˜To the hospital.’
    â€˜But the hospital is in Frankston.’
    â€˜Rhys has gone to the Freemans Hospital.’
    Freemans is where all the really sick kids go. There was an article about it in the paper. I remember a boy with a big tube coming out of his chest.
    I don’t want to see Rhys like that.
    â€˜What’s wrong with the Frankston Hospital? Why did they move him?’
    â€˜They can look after him better in the city.’ Mum turns on the radio.
    When we get there I tell Mum I’ll wait in the car.
    Mum says, ‘I don’t think so, Stevie.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜Because it’s illegal.’
    â€˜But we do it all the time!’
    â€˜We’re not in Langwarrin now. The last thing I need is to be arrested for child abuse.’
    I follow Mum towards the hospital, which is not like a normal building; it looks like it’s from the future. It is very big and curved. The front entrance is shaped like an enormous egg. The egg is covered with shiny triangular panes in different shades of red, yellow and blue.
    At the entrance we walk past a big sculpture of three children playing with some balls, but then I realise they’re not balls, they are egg shapes too.
    We walk up the ramp and through the big sliding glass doors. Inside there is a vast space of white tiles and an information desk in front of us that is also shaped like an egg. We walk over to the lifts and Mum pushes the button to go up. Even though there are seven lifts we have to wait for a long time. In the lift Mum presses the button for the fifth floor and the lift starts moving up. The doors open and we step out and walk past the nurses’ desk, which is normal and square. The nurse behind the desk smiles at Mum, like they know each other. I follow Mum down the corridor. There are colourful jungle pictures painted on the walls, lions and tigers and monkeys. It would be better with horses. When I walk into Rhys’s room I look at the floor because I don’t want to see Rhys with a big tube.
    â€˜Hello, love,’ says Mum.
    â€˜Hi, Mum,’ says Rhys. ‘Did you bring me the magazines?’
    Rhys sounds pretty normal. I look up quickly and back down again. He seems normal. So I look up properly. There are no tubes except for the drip but I’m used to seeing that.
    â€˜Hi, Rhys,’ I say.
    â€˜That horse must have leprosy. Its nose is falling off,’ says Rhys.
    I look down at my shirt. He is right, it is even worse.
    â€˜Maybe you’ve got leprosy,’ I say. ‘Maybe your nose and ears and all your skin will fall off. Then there’ll be nothing to hold your insides in, and they’ll plop out onto the floor.’
    Rhys laughs but Mum grabs my arm. ‘Don’t you talk to your brother like that,’ she says.
    â€˜Ow!’
    â€˜Apologise to your brother.’
    â€˜Sorry, Rhys,’ I say.
    Mum doesn’t understand that