Tiny dots of sun glowed through the weave in Sam’s straw hat. When he moved his head they rippled and sparked. He forgot the burns on his arms for a moment and enjoyed the swirl of reds and yellows across his eyes. His chest felt warm. It felt puffed out and spongy, like the muffins Dettie would usually make for them on weekends. They always tasted chalky and never had enough sugar, but Sam liked to hold them to his nose when they were still hot from the oven and breathe in the smell. And his chest felt like that now, he thought. Baked all through.
Dettie had been gone a long while and he needed to use the toilet. He knocked on the car window and gestured to Katie. She was hunting through the first-aid kit and reading what she could of the labels.
There were toilet blocks over in the park, just beyond the play equipment, but Dettie had headed in the direction of the train station, so Sam crossed the car park and found the doorway into its darkened men’s toilet. The only light came through holes cut into the bricks around the ceiling, and there was a musty funk of wet concrete and stale pee. He used the urinal, washed his hands, and because there were no towels or fans, wiped them dry on his singlet.
On the way back to the door a hollow chirping sound near the stalls surprised him. He stopped. When he listened it seemed to be coming from beneath him, underground. When he bent over, his elbows on his knees, he could make out the soft echo of wings fluttering on dirt. It was a bird, but it wasn’t singing. It sounded like it was caught on something, injured, squawking and twisting in place. He followed the chirping noise down to a drain by the sink, but after a minute of peering through the rusted grate into the darkness, he decided there was nothing to see. If the bird was in there it was too far back. He tried to round his lips and whistle, but, of course, that was not how his throat worked anymore. He puffed, and made popping sounds with his cheeks, tried sucking in air and burping, but he’d never learnt to make the sound come out properly. He felt light-headed, and the bird, if it was even trapped at all, had already gone quiet.