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necessarily good for her."
    “It's her life,” the girl declared mutinously. "She can do what she likes."
    "She's ten years old and she still sucks her thumb at night.
    She can't even decide between fish fingers and sausages for tea, so how can she make choices about her life?"
    "That doesn't mean she has to do what you say .. . She didn't ask to be born .. . You don' trucking own her."
    “When have I ever said I did?”
    "You behave like it ... ordering her around .. . telling her she can't go out."
    “Can't go out alone,” Laura corrected. "I've never said she can't go with you and Barry as long as you stick together." She clenched her fists angrily. "God knows, I've explained it to you several times to avoid accidents. Amy's been here less than two months and still has difficulty remembering the address or the phone number. How is she going to find her way back if she gets lost?"
    “She can't get lost going to Patsy's,” said Kimberley scathingly. "They only live five doors away!"
    “She shouldn't even be there.”
    “She's a cry-baby,” muttered Kimberley sulkily. "It gets on your nerves after a while. I reckon there's something wrong with her. She's always in the toilet moaning about her stomach hurting."
    Laura pulled the door open abruptly and forced the girl to step back.
    "Then I want my money back, Kimberley, because I'm damned if I'll reward you for something you haven't done." She checked her watch.
    "You've got five minutes to have Amy in this house, and another five to put together the fifty quid you've had off me for two weeks of non-existent baby-sitting."
    Something in the woman's eyes persuaded Kimberley to take another step backwards, closer to her brother, who was watching from the sitting-room doorway. “I've spent it.”
    "Then we'll go to the nearest cash point and you can take it out of your savings."
    “Oh, yeah? What if I refuse?”
    Laura gave an indifferent shrug. "We'll sit on our cases and wait for your father to come home."
    Kimberley's thought-processes were slow, particularly when there was no linkage of ideas. “What's cases?” she asked stupidly.
    “Luggage?” suggested Laura sarcastically. "Things you pack clothes in?" She lowered her hands to her sides, pretending to lift heavy objects. "What people carry when they wipe the dust of a house off their feet?"
    “Oh, that kind of case.” Her eyes gleamed suddenly. "Does that mean you're leaving?"
    “As soon as I have my money.”
    Kimberley snapped her fingers at her brother. "Where's that fifty quid Dad gave you for food?“ she demanded peremptorily. ”I know you've still got it, so give it here."
    Barry looked nervously towards Laura. “No.”
    The girl took an angry swipe at him. "Do you want your fucking arm broken?"
    He moved out into the corridor, bunching his fists and preparing to defend himself. "I don't want her to go ... not till Dad gets home anyway. I don't reckon it's my fault, so I shouldn't have to take the blame for it. Dad went ape shit when Mum left .. . and you just made it worse by saying you were glad she was gone. You're so fucking stupid you'll probably do the same again .. . and I wouldn't blame Dad if he lammed into you .. ."cept he'll lam into me, too, and that's not fair.“ For a normally taciturn child, the words tumbled out of him. ”I told you to look after Amy properly but you wouldn't listen 'cos you're lazy and you're a bully. Do this ... do that .. . lick my fucking arse, Amy .. . but if you tell your mum I'll give you a walloping. The kid's frightened of you. OK, she's a bit of a pain, but the way you carry on it's not surprising she cried a lot. Your trouble is no one likes you. You should try being nicer .. . then you'd have a few friends and you'd feel different about stuff."
    “Shut up, creep!”
    He inched along the corridor. “I'm going to look for Amy,” he said pulling open the front door. "And I sodding well hope I see Dad in the road because I'll tell him it's your