A tick beside Percy Graham on the list in the hallway is so rare that he leans in till his nose nearly touches the page, making sure the mark is not misplaced from Luke Flanders above or Ben Hawthorne below.Percy does not recognize the handwriting. But the stamp is a little Queen’s head in cream on mulberry, announcing that the sender is in England. Inside, the letter had been written on a typewriter and signed with a scrawling Mick above more typed words in parentheses: (Michael Malloy, your father).Percy stuffs the letter into his jeans pocket without reading it, and sits down right there on the stairs outside Matron’s office, where the post is distributed. His chest is suddenly tight, and he wonders where he left his inhaler. He’d better be able to breathe before he reads a letter from the dad not seen for nine years.“Christ,” says Adrian, purposely tripping over him. “Could you pick a worse spot, Chicken Boner?”Percy Graham does not have his father’s name, because, as his mother frequently reminds him, he does not have a father.
