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we can’t find anywhere? What if—?’
    â€˜Oh give it a rest, Jayni, you’re doing my head in.’
    â€˜But—’
    â€˜Shut up, will you?’
    I curled up against Kenny and tried to go to sleep. I couldn’t manage it. Everything kept going round and round in my head. Every time I looked over at Mum I could see they were going round and round in her head too. She was gnawing her thumb. It looked like she wouldn’t have any skin left by the time we got to London.

It was easy after all. When we got to the station the Upper Crust food stall was still open. Mum bought us all a sandwich and asked the woman serving us if she knew if there were any hotels nearby. She drew us a little map on a paper napkin. It turned out there was a whole street of hotels only five minutes away.
    â€˜Though they look a bit seedy,’ said Mum, when we got there. ‘We’re in the money now. We could stay at the blooming Ritz if we wanted.’
    But Kenny was so out of it Mum had to carry him on her hip, lugging her case as best she could. It was obvious we couldn’t go any further.
    The first hotel said they were full. No one came to the door of the second hotel, though the hall light was on and we rang and rang. I started to panic then, thinking we were going to stagger round half the hotels in London.
    Mum said brightly, ‘Third time lucky’ – and it was. A man came to the door and said he had a double room for the night, £45 to be paid now, and a fiver each if we wanted a continental breakfast.
    Mum handed over the money and then signed the register. She’s got very big, sprawly writing. She swirls every loop and puts little hearts instead of dots over her ‘i’s. But she made her writing little and squiggly in his greasy register, so that it was very hard to read. It didn’t look anything like Mum’s name, Nikki Fenton.
    Still, the hotel man didn’t seem bothered. He didn’t even give Mum’s sore face a second glance. Her nose was all crusty now. She dabbed at it self-consciously and started some spiel about falling flat on her face because of her silly high heels, but the man didn’t seem to be listening. It was like he’d heard it all before a hundred times over. He just handed Mum the keys, pointed up the stairs and went back to watching Channel Five in his office.
    â€˜Charming,’ Mum muttered. ‘Well, we won’t be stopping here for long.’
    We hauled Kenny and our bags up three narrow flights of stairs and found our room down a dingy corridor. It had hardly any furniture, just a double bed with cigarette burns on the duvet, a wardrobe with only one hanger and a wash basin with a sliver of soap and just one towel. Mum sniffed contemptuously. She gingerly pulled back the duvet but the sheets were reassuringly white and smelt freshly laundered.
    â€˜Come on, then, let’s get into bed,’ she said. ‘You get Kenny out of all them clothes while I go and find the toilet.’
    Mum came back with her nose wrinkled. ‘It’s not very nice,’ she said. ‘Watch Kenny when you take him, Jayni. Don’t let him touch anything.’
    Kenny was half asleep so he did as he was told, dopily. I found it hard to go myself, not daring to sit on the filthy seat. I just sort of hung in mid-air, hoping for the best. I distracted myself reading all the rude messages scribbled on the wall.
    When we got back Mum was already in bed, her mohair cardie on over her black nightie. ‘Come on kids, it’s freezing in here.’
    We jumped in with her. It was like sliding into snow, but Mum put her arms tight round us and we all huddled up. It gradually got cosier. We heard some couple arguing along the corridor but Mum pulled the covers right up over our heads so we were in our own cave where no one could get us.
    I fell asleep eventually but woke with a start in the middle of the night. I’d been