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lovingly planned the menus and which wines to serve. She pictured the glassware - she had bought some lovely glassware over the years - and all the china and cutlery. She saw herself in a shimmering dress, looking years younger than she was of course, holding court over her table as banter and sparkling repartee abounded.
     
    In her mind’s eye she could see all this as if it was a recent memory, something she had already experienced.
     
    The front door slammed and she put everything away quickly, but Jeanette came into the lounge and said loudly, ‘Interrupting you, am I? Who’s coming to dinner today - Sidney Poitier as usual?’
     
    When the kids had been smaller Joanie had shared her dreams with them and they had joined her in her reveries, inviting their own celebrities and choosing the menu and décor. Now it was a joke between them all and inside Joanie this hurt, though as usual she laughed it off.
     
    ‘You know me and Sid!’
     
    ‘You’re fucking mad, Muvver. Ding it all out or use it, for fuck’s sake. Sitting in the drawer for years, it’s a wonder it’s not all ruined.’
     
    Joanie closed her eyes and shouted, ‘Will you stop fucking swearing, madam!’
     
    They looked at one another and then both burst out laughing.
     
    ‘Where’s Kira?’
     
    ‘How would I know that! With Bethany, I suppose. ’
     
    The mood was broken again. Kira made Jeanette jealous, had done since the day Joanie had given birth to her. Everyone had said Jeanette would grow out of it but she never had. If anything it had grown worse over the years.
     
    ‘Make me a cuppa, love, while I sort this lot out.’
     
    ‘Can’t, going out.’
     
    Jeanette walked from the room, her face in its usual surly expression.
     
    Joanie sighed once more, whispering, ‘Kids, who’d fucking have them?’
     
     
Bethany had already gone home but Kira was busy playing with all the dolls and their paraphernalia. In his wardrobe Tommy had everything Barbie had ever needed and Kira was in raptures once more as she went through it all.
     
    ‘You are so lucky, Tommy!’
     
    He was happy now Bethany had gone. He didn’t like the streetwise girl half as much as he did Kira. She was a lot like him. Not physically, of course, but she had the same naivety and he responded well to that.
     
    ‘I save up for what I want and then I send off for it.’
     
    ‘That’s what I want to do when I grow up. Buy things.’
     
    Tommy smiled at her. She really was exquisite, her high cheekbones and blonde hair giving her an almost Nordic look. In a few years she would be a real stunner. She was gentle and ladylike too, which was something else that attracted him to her. Unlike a lot of the kids on the estate she didn’t use bad language or feel an urge to look like the carbon copy of a pop star. She was a thoroughly nice kid.
     
    They dressed the Barbies and chatted together. So engrossed was Tommy that he nearly fainted with fright when he realised the time. It was a quarter past five and his father would be in within ten minutes. If he saw her here there would be ructions!
     
    ‘You’ll have to go, Kira love. You really must go.’
     
    The urgency in his voice communicated itself to her and she jumped up from the floor.
     
    ‘OK, Tommy. Can I come and see you again?’
     
    His face softened and he grinned.
     
    ‘’Course you can.’
     
    When she’d left he stood for a few seconds looking at the mess in the room, and even though he knew there would be murders - no tea cooking, no kettle boiled - he savoured the feeling of having found a friend. A kindred spirit.
     
    Then he pulled himself together and rushed into the kitchen to start the evening meal. It occurred to him then that he hadn’t eaten anything all afternoon. When his father’s key turned in the lock a few moments later Tommy closed his eyes and waited for the tirade.
     
    He wasn’t disappointed.
     
    The slaps he could take, it was the constant undermining of his