Boy Underwater. Adam Baron

she’d be out by Saturday. I’d get my spellings out and we’d go through them like we always did on Tuesday mornings and Mum would try not to giggle at some of the answers I gave. She’d tell the other ladies I was her little champion. She’d kiss me and I’d say, ‘Get well soon,’ and then I’d be really careful not to hurt her head when I hugged her goodbye. She’d wave at me through the window when we left – her special boy.

      The picture cheered me up and I told myself off. This wouldn’t be so bad. Mums went into hospital all the time. Lance’s did last year. His new-dad came to get him from school and when he came back next day his mum had had a baby.

      ‘So you’ve got a sister?’

      ‘A half-sister.’

      ‘Which half is your sister?’

      ‘The top,’ he said. ‘Definitely.’

      I started to glow inside at the thought of seeing Mum and I pulled Bill to go faster. We got to the building, which was made out of dark red bricks that were black round the edges. We stood in front of a heavy blue door until a buzzer sounded and the door clicked open. We walked into a really bright reception and up to a big desk with two nurses behind it, one of them typing on a computer. The other left us standing there for a few minutes as she wrote something. Then, without looking up, she asked how she could help.