Picture Book Moss Side

It was like the end of the world as we know it. And if it was the end of the world there'd be no more school or telly and it would be so cold you'd have to wear your overcoat, vest and two pairs of underpants. If it was the end of the world there'd be no need to brush your teeth or comb your hair every day. There would be no semolina pudding and no matter how many times you counted to a zillion there'd be no one left to play hide and seek.

If it was the end of the world. But it wasn't. Even so, James didn't want to think of it no more as it made him sad and he wanted to get home as quick as possible. Anywhere there were people in the street, children playing break the window with a football, clothes hung out on washing lines across the street like a carnival parade, dogs cocking their legs and watering lamp-posts. Yes, he wanted to get home as soon as possible but he had to be very careful indeed as he was still in his Sunday best and he was stuck in the middle of the pool the size of a school yard. If he was really careful, and hopscotched his way along all the dry spots, with a bit of luck he would only have a bit of mud on the turn-ups and that was easy to get rid of. The tap in the backyard should do the trick. But even if he was caught he wouldn't mind getting into trouble and having to stay in for a whole week. And having to wash the dishes every night, going to bed early even though it was the holidays, to a bedroom with two bunks and a fireplace that was lit on cold winter nights when the taps would freeze all night and it would be all right in the morning because the sun would come out and melt the cold away, and the taps and the bedroom and the house and Rose Laura Felicia Mum and Dad would still be there long after the sun had melted the pool which was once Fairlawn Street, St Bees Street and another road James couldn't remember the name of, down to the size of a peanut.

(Forever and ever amen, pages 53 to 54)