I got scared a lot, because Nan is seriously popular and everyone keeps popping round to have a natter with Rita. That’s Nan’s name. Everyone treats my nan like they want to be her best friend. She got nearly two hundred Christmas cards; Patsy and I counted them. Nan sticks them up all over the walls with Blu-tack so they look like festive wallpaper. Nan does Christmas so beautifully. There’s a big tree with glass balls and sugar cane candy and tinsel and fairy lights and a fairy doll tied to the top. She’s got wings and a wand with a little silver star. Loretta’s baby Britney absolutely adores the Christmas tree. I pick her up and walk her round and round and she waves her little hands. She likes the fairy doll best of all, reaching up to try and take hold of her, cheeping like a little bird. ‘Yes, darling, the fairy!’ I go, and I whirl her around as if she’s got fairy wings and is flying through the air. ‘Shall we make a fairy wish, Britney?’ I say, and I whisper in the tiny whorls of her ear.
