‘It’s my money!’ Ma says like I’m going to stop her and pushes past me and marches down the path.

I run after her. ‘We don’t want your stupid money!’ I yell. ‘Take it! Go away! We don’t care!’

Ma stops and turns back to me. ‘I’m gonna be married, Peony. I’m gonna be married and have a baby and live in a real little house.’ Ma’s stomach is a small mound. ‘And you can come and be part of a real family, with me.’ She holds out her hand like she don’t know me at all. Like she expects me to take it.

‘I am part of a real family!’ I scream at her and run away back to Mags on the floor of our shed. The car roars off down the driveway, tyres skidding and gravel rattling, and then down the road. Mags is sobbing and she won’t stop no matter how much I hug her and tell her it’s okay.

It’s like Ma broke her. ‘She’s stupid and she’s wrong,’ I say to Mags. Mags won’t lift her head out of her knees. I have to get Gramps. AJ’s standing there with his mouth open and I tell him to pat Mags on the back while I’m gone and I run out the door. It’s dusk now, so Gramps will be home soon anyway.

Someone steps out of the trees and grabs me and wraps a huge hand over my mouth so I can’t scream. He’s big and strong and carries me kicking and struggling and yelling into his palm down to the road.

I bite his big fat hand, and he lets my mouth go, so I scream, but he blaps me across my face so hard that bright lights swim in my eyes. He wraps his hand over my face again.

‘I didn’t wanna hurt you,’ he growls in my ear. ‘You made me do that. You tell your mother it was your fault. I dunno why she wants you at all.’

He carries me down the road like I weigh nothing and lets go of my mouth again to open the back door of the car. I scream again as he shoves me into the back seat and Ma’s arms, and slams the door.

I push Ma off, still screaming, and struggle with the door, but it’s locked. I scramble to get over the front but Ma pulls me down. I punch her and kick her off, still screaming as the Ape man pulls the driver door open and gets in.

‘Shut her up!’ he yells. But I won’t shut up. I scream like I have lungs the size of a packing shed as he starts the car. I scramble towards the front passenger seat. The Ape slaps me back, grabs the seat headrest beside him and swivels back to look at Ma and me. His bottom lip presses up into his top lip making his chin lumpy. His eyes squint hard at Ma. ‘You shut her up, or I’ll have to!’ he yells.

Ma wraps her skinny hand over my mouth, digs her nails into my face and pulls my ear to her mouth. ‘Don’t make him mad, P!’ she whispers, like she’s more scared than me. ‘Please!’ she begs me. The car takes off down the road, stones banging up against the floor. I rip Ma’s hand off my face and scream at her.

The Ape man stomps on the brakes so hard Ma and me slap into the seats in front. Then he turns back and, as I scramble away, he smacks me in the back of the head so hard, my forehead smashes into Ma’s chin.

‘Shut up!’ he yells and takes off down the road again.

I push myself into the corner of the back seat as far as possible away from Ma and the Ape.

Ma rubs her chin and looks at me. ‘Peony,’ she whispers. ‘You might hate me now, but it’s for the best. You’re going to love being part of our family. You can help me with the baby, and the housework. We’ll finally be happy.’

‘I was happy!’ I growl.

I have a headache and I’m so tired from working all day and eating pig meat, that even though I try to count the turns and direction of the car, as the night gets darker and darker outside, I lose track and fall asleep.