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Telephone boxes. I even had one poor little lamb left in a lavatory.’
    â€˜I hope you gave it a good wash before taking it home,’ says Tanya. ‘Hear that, Ricky? You’d better stop dribbling on me, matie, or it’s down to the bottom of the bog for you.’
    â€˜Tanya!’ says Pat, clucking. ‘You stir my mince for me while I fix you both a drink.’
    â€˜Bacardi and Coke for me, Pat. What do you fancy, April?’ says Tanya.
    â€˜Sure. Bacardi and Coke. Only funny thing, we’re clean out of Bacardi,’ says Pat. ‘Do you want a Coke too, April?’
    â€˜Yes, please.’
    â€˜Where do you live now, dear? Do they know you’re here?’ She’s trying to sound casual but she’s obviously checking up on me. ‘You’ve not done a bunk, have you?’
    â€˜Oh, no. I – I had a dental appointment near here and so I thought I’d just come and see where I used to live.’
    â€˜Isn’t that nice! Well, like I said, I definitely remember you, April.’
    She doesn’t. She really doesn’t. I’ve just been one of dozens of babies through the years and we’ve all merged into one little wailing waif.
    â€˜Who are you living with now then?’ Tanya asks. ‘Did this mum of yours come and claim you?’
    â€˜No, I got adopted.’
    â€˜Hmmm,’ says Tanya, sighing. ‘My little sister’s adopted. It’s easier when you’re little and cute.’
    â€˜Do you still get to see her?’
    â€˜Nope. Well, not enough. They say it unsettles her. Of course it does. She misses me like crazy. And I miss her.’
    â€˜We know it’s really hard on you, Tanya,’ says Pat, putting her arm round her. Tanya shrugs the arm away.
    â€˜I’m OK. No need to feel sorry for me. And I’ve got Mandy now. She’s this little kid over the road. She’s like a little sister, sort of. You got any sisters, April? Adopted ones?’
    I shake my head.

5

    THERE WERE JUST the three of us. They adopted me. Janet and Daniel Johnson. They gave me my name, Johnson. They wanted to give me a new first name too. Danielle, after my new dad. But I wouldn’t answer, wouldn’t even look up, no matter how many times they said it. They told me this as I got older, laughing, but you could tell it still bugged them a bit.
    â€˜You were really only a baby too – and a good little girl in most other respects,’ said Mummy.
    â€˜You just didn’t want to be a daddy’s girl,’ said Daddy, pulling one of my plaits a little too hard.
    Too right I didn’t. Not
his
girl. Or hers either, come to that.
    Is that really true? Maybe I loved them then. I still miss
her
sometimes.
    Tanya is watching me.
    â€˜Come up to my room for a bit, April,’ she says. ‘I got these incredible new shoes on Saturday. You’ve got to see them.’
    â€˜Yes, that money was supposed to be for
school
clothes,’ says Pat, stirring the mince a little too vigorously. ‘As if you could ever get away with wearing those heels to school.’
    â€˜Well, I haven’t
got
a school yet, so what’s the point wasting money on boring kid’s stuff?’ says Tanya. ‘Come on, April.’
    She props Ricky on the floor, pops his dummy in his mouth, and prods me upstairs.
    Tanya obviously shares her room with one of the babies. It’s lilac and fluffy, with a lamb mobile and a Little Bo Peep lamp. I wonder if this was ever my room? Did I ever sleep in that battered old cot in the corner?
    Tanya sees me looking and raises her eyebrows.
    â€˜Yeah, it’s too gruesome, this dinky room. Wait till I get my own place. I’ve got it all sussed out. I want one of those converted warehouse lofts, all polished wood and white rugs, matt black furniture, kind of minimal chic.’
    â€˜It sounds great,’ I say politely, as if it actually exists.
    â€˜Yeah,’ says