‘Have you lived here long?’ I asked.
‘About two years,’ Pat replied. ‘We’re moving soon,’ she went on quickly. ‘Mummy doesn’t really like it up here. We came here because of Daddy’s work, you know.’
She watched my face, but I was learning, and didn’t say anything.
I was thinking about my mother and all her questions when I got home. What was the house like? What did you have for tea? What does her father do? I couldn’t tell my mother any of this.
It was beginning to get dark and it was difficult to see in the room. ‘Shall I put the light on?’ I asked. But at once I knew it was a stupid question, because, of course, there were no lights.
‘Oh, no,’ she said quickly. ‘It’s nice like this.’