THE BASEMENT

I AM 10 AND SELF- CONSCIOUS. We have just moved into a small, dark townhouse. This is the best we can do right now. Mummy tells us our house doesn’t define us, our manners do. I find this hard to believe, but I don’t say so. The house has our things in it, but in the early weeks – when we have just arrived in this hot, hot place where all the children are bright pink in the summer heat – it does not feel like home. Home is cool in the mornings and breezy in the afternoons.