We must have been in Somali waters a week, at least. I was trying to leave the cinema room after sunset. We had just had soup, made by Felipe using tins from the stores, and toasted bread from the freezer. The pirates had taken a lot of our tins, though, to go with their pasta, and I knew we were getting low on plenty of stuff – I knew it from the looks between Dad and the crew, even though none of them had said anything. — Where are you going? he asked. Why don’t you stay and play Scrabble with us, Amy-bear? — I need air, I said, which was a lie, but was also, obviously, true – we all need air. — Oh, come on, said the stepmother, to my surprise. It’s no good playing without you on my team. Your dad and Damian are too good. And so I ended up playing one game with them to keep them happy, and, under the circumstances, it was actually kind of fun. The stepmother and I beat Dad and Damian, while Tony read some book about Magellan.
