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customers. The café was clean, but could have done with modernising.
    ‘Hey everyone. Hey Jack,’ Amy shouted as she backed the pram in through the café door. As the smell of bacon, freshly cooked bread and coffee hit her nostrils, making her stomach growl, it made her feel like she had come home.
    Before any of the regulars had a chance to look, Jack ran from behind the counter and jumped in front of the pram like a jester, his purple doc martins that were laced on the outside of his skin tight jeans making a loud slapping sound as he did. ‘He’s ace!’ Jack said, tickling Tom under the chin and blocking the view from everyone else with his huge head. Tom caught Jack’s eye and gave him a dazzling smile. ‘He likes me!’ Jack laughed.
    Amy knew the smiling wouldn’t faze Jack. He was an intelligent, tattooed lad, who wore horn-rimmed glasses and a goatee and had long, matted hair that he kept back in a dragon’s tail. Even though he looked older, he was the same age as Amy. After sharing their entire school years together, he wasn’t only her cousin, but her most trusted friend.
    As Jack moved, gasps and praises broke out from all the regulars who’d gathered around. Tom seemed happy with the attention so Amy left him and followed Jack to the counter.
    ‘You’ve not met Winston yet,’ Jack said, returning behind the counter. ‘He’s the reason I’ve not been to see you. Hey Winston, come an’ meet Amy!’ Jack shouted over his left shoulder into the back kitchen.
    ‘Yo, nice to meet you,’ said a tall, dark-skinned lad with a deep voice who had the bounciest afro Amy had ever seen. He held his hand out to shake Amy’s but she just gawked at him, confused. Winston pointed to Tom instead. ‘He rocks!’
    Amy turned to see the customers whispering in deep gossip, a mixture of confusion and awe on their faces. Some stood with elated expressions; others looked astonished. Amy, too distracted to care, turned back to gape at Winston like he was from another planet. As Winston turned uncomfortably and walked back into the kitchen, Amy scowled and lowered her voice. ‘Has Janet given my job away? I thought she said you’d be okay on your own while I was on maternity leave!’
    ‘Calm down! He’s not took your job. He’s took Janet’s. He’s our new boss!’
    ‘What? I didn’t even know the place was up for sale! Janet didn’t tell me I’d be coming back from maternity to a new boss!’
    ‘It wasn’t up for sale. Apparently he made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.’
    ‘What? He’s not much older than us! Will I still get paid maternity? Have I still even got a job?’
    ‘What’s this about your job?’ Winston said, popping his huge afro around the kitchen door.
    Amy’s cheeks flushed. ‘I was…err…have I still got my…err?’
    ‘Your job? Yeah, man, no worries! Janet told me you were on maternity leave, so I’ll pay you what she agreed. I’ve got your bank details. I’ve already paid you for this week. Is that okay?’ he asked, looking a little lost.
    ‘Err yes,’ Amy said, now wishing she’d been more polite. ‘Thank you!’
    ‘No problem, man,’ he said before his head recoiled.
    ‘I feel well stupid now!’
    ‘Don’t worry. He’s cool,’ Jack said. ‘He’s not even like a boss. He’s let me move in upstairs with him after my flat got wrecked by the earthquake.’
    Amy felt her heart stop. ‘What earthquake?’
    ‘The night before Tom was born there was an earthquake up near me. It was when all the electricity blew at the hospital. Apparently that’s why it did.’
    ‘No one’s reported an earthquake!’ Amy said, her heart thumping as she remembered Adaizi’s words. She’d looked in the paper and listened on the news; she’d found no mention of one, which had become solid evidence that Adaizi was a liar.
    ‘It was only near me. Something weird was going on at that hospital for those two nights. I thought I had a poltergeist! They still don’t know how