69236538256563

dog, black and white like Skittle, and the name ‘Ben F’.
Then Miss May said, ‘Lucas, can you please get…⁠’ and I watched the teaching assistant go into the
corridor and carefully take down Ben’s painting from the autumn display and put it into a plastic
folder. Noticing his receding chin and very red hair. Noticing the sweat under his arms.
Then Miss May was offering to help me to the car, but I found my voice and said no, because I
didn’t want the fuss of it, and Zhang said we could manage just fine.
Outside in the corridor, with her arm linked firmly around mine, we walked past the new
headmaster. He said, ‘I’m so sorry,’ but the way he looked at me made me feel like an exhibit so I
didn’t reply. I just wanted to be at home.
Miss May ran down the corridor behind us, her shoes tapping fast, and just as we reached the door
she caught up with us. She had an armful of Ben’s books, which she passed to me, and she said ‘I
thought you might like these, since you didn’t make it to parents’ evening this week. I thought you
might like to look through them.’
So I took them and as Zhang helped me into the car I held them to myself as carefully as if they
were an actual baby.