22
‘I know we still need to go on a proper back-to-school shopping spree. Maybe we can go this weekend? I bought you this to tide you over for your first day.’ I can see Patty in the mirror as I brush my teeth in the bathroom that adjoins the room where I sleep. Her cheeks are flushed and she’s smiling faintly. She lays a T-shirt and shorts on the bed, one above the other as if dressing a flat doll. She looks pleased with herself. It will be my first day ever at school, but I don’t tell her that. I swirl water around my cheeks and spit into the sink, then blot my mouth with a towel and climb up on the bed next to her.
‘It’s pretty.’ The shirt is pale yellow with pink flowers. There are little sparkly pink circles sewn onto the petals; when I run my finger over them, they shift and chang
