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feet too. They’d been getting ready to stand. But they stopped—they paused.
    â€œHer flat isn’t damp, is it?” said their mam.
    â€œShe’s damp,” said their dad.
    â€œAh, stop.”
    â€œNo,” said her dad. “The flat’s grand. And I don’t know why she said it was damp.”
    â€œShe was only joking.”
    â€œShe’s hilarious.”
    â€œShe used to be,” said Gloria’s mam. “She really was.”
    Gloria heard her mam sigh.
    â€œAnyway,” she said.
    Gloria’s mam often did that—said “Anyway” and nothing else when she was distracted or a bit low.
    Raymond and Gloria watched their parents stand up. They felt closer to each other, even though they hadn’t moved. They were trying to make themselves smaller, so their parents wouldn’t spot them.
    Raymond heard them pick up cups and stuff. He heard their dad.
    â€œLeave them. I’ll do them in the morning.”
    He heard their mam. “Are you sure?”
    â€œYeah, of course.”
    â€œIt’ll be a pain in the neck in the morning, love,” said their mam.
    â€œIt’ll be a bigger pain now,” said their dad.
    Gloria heard their mam laugh—or trying to. It came out a bit like a snort.
    â€œAre you worried about Ben?” their mam asked their dad.
    â€œI am, yeah,” said their dad. “A bit.”
    He sighed.
    â€œShe’s probably right about the depression,” he said. “The black dog thing she was talking about. It’s a good way of describing depression, isn’t it?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œBlack dog,” said their dad. “Woof bloody woof.”
    Gloria watched her mam’s feet, then her dad’s, his legs, then nearly all of him as he got nearer the door and farther from the table.
    He switched off the light. It was suddenly dark—Raymond tried not to gasp.
    â€œWe’ll keep an eye on him,” said their mam.
    â€œI suppose so,” said their dad. “But I wish there was more we could do. I just feel so bloody powerless.”
    He sighed again.
    â€œWhat a bloody country.”
    The door clicked shut.

CHAPTER 5

    G loria and Raymond crawled out from under the table.
    It wasn’t too dark now. There was some light coming in from the kitchen window.
    They waited till they heard their parents moving around upstairs. They knew exactly what was happening, as if they were reading a story and the words were written across the ceiling. Their mam went into the bathroom, and their dad went into their bedroom. Their mam turned on the water, their dad closed the bedroom curtains.
    Raymond and Gloria waited.
    Their mam brushed her teeth, their dad threw his trousers on the floor. Their mam hummed a bit of a song, and their dad did one of his big yawns.
    They waited.
    Their parents swapped places. Their dad went into thebathroom. He said something to their mam, and she laughed—but it wasn’t a real laugh. Their dad turned on the water, and their mam dropped a shoe on the floor. Their dad crossed the landing, into their bedroom. He closed their bedroom door quietly. They heard their dad lie back on the bed.
    Gloria and Raymond looked at each other. And they listened. A few more minutes and they’d hear their dad snore, and the noise of their mam making him move onto his side.
    Raymond whispered, “Did you hear what they said?”
    â€œGranny’s damp,” Gloria whispered back.
    â€œNot that,” Raymond whispered. “The other thing. The thing Granny said.”
    â€œThe Black Dog.”
    â€œYeah,” said Raymond. “The Black Dog of Depression took Dublin’s funny bone.”
    They heard the snore—their dad had started. They heard the bed creak, and their dad stopped, as if the snore had been broken in half.
    They waited for a few more seconds.
    â€œYeah,” Gloria whispered. “And they’re worried about Uncle