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All the voices
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couldn’t hear. Finally the
family snapshot image
faded down and even
the hedge disappeared
from view. It was just
Cherry and Ciaran left.
They said something else
to each other and then
they started shagging
one another in full view
of the ten year old me.
This is what I’d class as a
thoroughgoing nightmare
and I was relieved at
a slamming noise that
entered the dream and
knew somehow that it
meant the front door
downstairs was banging
to and that most probably
Aggie and Flake had gone.
I crept out to the landing
and listened. Yes, they’d
left. No doubt of it. I
went downstairs with my
empty mug and made
myself another coffee.
But still rattled by the
hideous dream finale I’d
been locked into only a
few minutes ago I was not
up to eating a thing.
After an hour or so sitting
in the kitchen and playing
a game on my phone
I’d decided to go out. I
pretended to myself that
I was leaving the house
for good and wondered
where I’d go. Then right
at that minute as I came
out of the gate onto the
pavement along came
Cherry of all people. I
mean, I hadn’t seen her
for three or four days, and
now unbelievably, there
she was, right in front
of me. She was all zippy
and smiley, saying ‘Hi’ to
me in a voice even more
animated than usual.
Then she told me she
had enough for a deposit
saved and so could look
forward to moving very
soon. And when she