Page 9 of Second Verse

‘You’re nuts,’ Norah said with a shake of her head, grinning.

‘You’renuts,’ Poppy grinned back.

Six

Now

‘No, I managed to flush it, so I cancelled the plumber,’ Poppy was lying to Luna while she dug around the fridge for a yoghurt.

Luna was sceptical. ‘But you said you couldn’t. That it was agiantpoo. You said it needed an expert—’

‘Luna, can you please just accept what I’m telling you?’ Poppy begged.

But of course, Luna couldn’t. That would have been completely against her nature of needing to know everything all the bloody time. Some days, it was a wonderful feature of her personality. She was unrelentingly curious. Then there were days like today when Poppy just wanted a little mercy from the child. But she would give no quarter.

‘I’m only asking why it’s differentnow,’ Luna went on.

The reason it was different now was that a fictional ginormous poo was no longer necessary. It fulfilled its function, which was to get Poppy out of a car crash of a social situation with Norah. Of all the kids Luna could have attached herself to on her first day...

Poppy wanted to be happy for her. The transition to a new school hadn’t been too horrendous if Luna was skipping out with a fresh bestie. But of all the besties, ithadto be Norah’s son,didn’t it? Even that awful woman Susan’s kid would have been an upgrade from this.

But it might peter out. Kids made lots of friends at that age, and they could be fairly superficial. This was just the first day. Tomorrow would be some other kid. Right?

‘Mum!’ Luna cried. ‘Answer me!’

There was nothing for it. Poppy was going to have to be honest. Luna wouldn’t buy anything else.

‘Look, Luna... I lied. There was never a plumber coming. I just didn’t want to have a friend round today.’

‘Why not?’ the kid asked instantly.

‘Because it’s stressful.’

‘Why?’

‘Because while you’re playing, I have to entertain the parent,’ she said simply.

‘Why?’ Luna asked.

‘Because that’s how it works.’

‘Why?’ she asked again.

‘It’s the social contract,’ Poppy said desperately.

‘Social contract?’ Luna repeated.

‘Look, adults are different from kids. We can’t just ask each other to play. It’s not simple for us.’

‘I asked other kids to play today. Freddie was the only one that would,’ Luna said.

That took the wind out of Poppy’s sails. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah. He’s nice.’

‘Is he?’ Poppy sighed, annoyed.

‘Yeah. He let me play with his pterodactyl.’

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