Eric stirring the vendors. Them probably plotting to blow him up. Bob doing his chimney impressions. Norm paying out on Eric whenever he got the chance. The three of them coasting along until it was their turn for the tunnel. It was like the factory was their great escape. If they had problems at home they left them there. They mucked around and laughed and talked about nothing but sex. School without the teachers. But I carried my problems with me. I desperately wanted to talk to someone about Mum. But how do you talk about stuff like that? You don’t, not with people who were almost strangers. You couldn’t trust them. Sick in the body was okay. Sick in the head wasn’t. ‘You’re a bit quiet, tonight, Dreamy,’ said Norm. Eric looked up from a girlie mag. ‘Get a knock-back, did ya?’ I was trying to think of what to say when he struck again. ‘No, that can’t be right. I forgot — you wouldn’t have lost yer cherry yet, would yer?’ He called out to Bob. ‘Whatcha reckon, Supers?
