Once Hilda started to pat, she couldn’t stop. It felt so good, so different to anything she had touched before, and so deliciously warm . . .
She rubbed around his ears. “Ooh, he likes that.”
“You could do that all day,” sighed the girl.
Dumbledore nuzzled Hilda’s neck.
Hilda laughed. “Who’s a big scary boy then?”
“He does that to everyone, doesn’t mean anything,” said the girl.
“Y’big softy,” Hilda muttered into his neck.
The girl eyed Hilda, who was beginning to look more like someone who sat in the streets begging for money . . . the sort her mum steered her away from.
“I need to go now.” She tugged at Dumbledore.
“Just one more pat,” said Hilda.
“Mum’s calling,” lied the girl.
---
Mandy, now alone, was still sitting on the park bench, pondering her future. She worked and li
