‘What did you say?’ asks Mae a bit later. We are sitting in the canteen, just the two of us. Everyone else has gone to class, but because I missed lunch break, I’m allowed to sit here with Mae for half an hour and eat the food they saved for me.

I shrug. ‘Just what happened. I think. It’s a bit fuzzy in my head, you know?’

Mae nods. ‘What are they going to do?’

‘Talk to my dad.’ My stomach feels funny about this. ‘They said they were going straight to my house to see him. They spoke to him on the phone before they came here.’ In my pocket, I finger a little square of card. Antonia’s business card, with her phone number on it. ‘Ring if you need me,’ she said kindly. How will I know if I need her? And what can she do anyway?

I’m not sure I want to go home. I wonder if I could just go and stay with Mae for a bit longer. But what would Dad do without me?

‘Do they think …’ Mae hesitates. ‘Do they think there’s something wrong with him?’

‘I don’t know.’

She leaves it at that.