NEXT UP! 2 42 When I get home I stick the Tangled DVD on for Tia and give her a pint glass of Tizer and a slice of the Swiss roll while I wash the pots and stick a couple of crumpets in the toaster. When I sit down on the settee she scampers over to me and plants a wet kiss on my cheek. ‘Ta, Leo,’ she says. Her mouth is all chocolaty. ‘Gerroff,’ I tell her. But she keeps clinging on, like a monkey, and I’m too tired to fight her off. She smells of the salt and vinegar crisps she ate for breakfast. […] I’m watching some stupid action film on telly with lots of guns and explosions. It’s nearly finished when the security light outside the front door comes on. I sit up. I can make out shadows behind the swirly glass. Mam is laughing as she tries and fails to get her key in the lock. I hear a second laugh – a bloke’s. Great. More fumbling. The door finally swings open and in they fall, collapsing on the stairs giggling. Mam lifts her head up and notices me watching. She stops giggling and clambers to her feet. She puts an unsteady hand on the doorframe and glares. ‘What you doing up?’ she asks, kicking the door shut behind her. I just shrug. The bloke gets up too, wiping his hands on his jeans. I don’t recognise him. ‘All right, our kid?’ he says, holding up his hand in greeting, ‘I’m Spike.’ Spike has inky black hair and is wearing a battered leather jacket. He has a weird accent. When he says he’s from ‘here, there and everywhere’, Mam starts laughing like he’s said something really hilarious. She goes off to the kitchen to get him a drink. Spike sits down on the sofa and takes off his shoes, plonking his feet on the coffee table. His socks don’t match. ‘Who are you then?’ he asks, wiggling his toes and putting his hands behind his head. ‘None of your business,’ I reply. Mam comes back in, a can of Strongbow in each hand. a pint glass – hálfs lítra glas to scamper – valhoppa vinegar – edik swirly – hér: mynstraður a bloke – náungi to clamber – klifra to glare – stara to shrug – yppta öxlum inky black – bleksvart battered – hér: slitin hilarious – mjög fyndinn to plonk – skella
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