A place in line

Ella is quiet for a long time.

She takes the last bite of the pear

and hops up to toss the core in the bin.

She sits back down,

closer to me than before.

I take a deep breath to finish my story.

‘The family left town

owing six weeks rent.

Ever since, I’ve tried to imagine what the boy

who’d hit me

was thinking

barrelling down the highway

in the back of an old car,

all their belongings packed in the boot,

his father cursing and wondering

how a place in the canteen line

was worth all that trouble.’

The bell rings for the end of lunch.

Ella stands

and reaches for my hand.

She doesn’t let go

until we get to our lockers.