6:55 pm

If I tell the girl then the message will be safe. She’s the only one.

           I pretended to be asleep. I sat on the stairs and looked through the

           bars. He was kneeling at her feet. He was kneeling like in a story. But they were already married. So it was something else he was asking for. He was pulling on her skirt. He was saying please, please, please. First the boy was lost and then Dad.

           She wouldn’t look at him. I wanted her to look at him. I wanted her to make him stay.

                                 She always told him off for whistling in the house. She never even liked the way he sang.