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bath, said Kalem) and I’d shown them Rodent, David’s dad collected them both and suddenly the house was quiet again.
    “Give me a hug and off to bed,” said Kate. “By the way, I rang your father when you were at the cinema and he is coming over tomorrow and we’re all going to have a chat… But Tao, there’s nothing for you to worry about. Good night. Love you.”
    Nothing to worry about? Easy for her to say. I was tired after my birthday and now I was fed up. I hate it when adults say that there is nothing to worry about because it always means that there is. The last time Dad and Kate had a “chat” with me was to tell me that they were splitting up.
    “A chat about what?” I asked, but I didn’t really want to know. So when Kate said it could wait until the morning, after I had had a good night’s sleep, I didn’t argue, I just said good night and went up to bed.
    “Night, night,” I said to Rodent and lifted his cage onto the floor.
    Rodent was obviously not sleepy because he was galloping around his little wheel thing. I watched him for a bit – he looked really intense, like he was practising for the Olympics.
    Thirteen things in one day. That was a lot. No wonder I don’t even remember nodding off.

Chapter 7
    I didn’t sleep very well. I kept wondering what was so important that Dad had to come over to “chat” about it. With Kate. They’d probably end up fighting with each other like they always do.
    Why is everything always much worse at night? When I woke up in the morning, it all seemed a bit silly. Suddenly I realized what the “chat” was going to be about. They were going to tell me all about sex and babies and stuff. Kalem’s parents told him all about it when he turned ten and he told me, but it was hard to follow.
    It was probably Kate’s idea to have Dad there for “a man-to-man talk”. I bet he wasn’t that bothered. He’d just think that Kate was being a drama queen again. I heard Dad’s car already pull up and the door open while I was still in bed. He probably wanted to get it over early so he wouldn’t be late for his Sunday golf.
    “This is going to be so gross,” I told Rodent. I wasn’t looking forward to it. All that yucky stuff.
    I went down to the kitchen. Dad and Kate were already both there, sitting at the kitchen table.
    “Sit down, Tao,” said Dad. “Your mother and I have something to tell you.”
    He sounded serious but kind too. He was probably a bit embarrassed – I know I was. Kate was smiling in a lopsided way. I sat down. My face felt red.
    “It’s OK,” I muttered, “you don’t have to tell me. I know all about it already.”
    “You do?” said Dad, turning to Kate, an astonished look on his face.
    “Yeah. Kalem told me.”
    “Told you what?” asked Kate, looking very puzzled.
    I really went red then. My face was burning up. Surely she didn’t expect me to explain it back to her.
    “You know,” I mumbled, “where babies come from … and how they get inside the mummy and all that stuff.”
    Kate looked at Dad and he looked at her … and suddenly they both burst out laughing. That was not what I had expected. They never did that. Even before Jo took Dad away from us.
    “Oh, Tao,” said Kate, still half laughing and ruffling my hair, “we don’t want to talk to you about the birds and the bees!”
    I jerked my head away.
    “Who said anything about birds and bees?” I was cross now.
    “You got the wrong end of the stick there, Tao,” said Dad, smiling. “That talk is for another day. Now let’s get to the matter at hand,” he continued, glancing at his watch.
    “Can’t you miss your damn golf for once?” said Kate and suddenly it seemed like they were about to start one of their rows.
    “Then what DO you want to talk to me about?” I put in quickly to distract them. I was really confused by now.
    “You got a phone call last night from a girl named Mimi,” said Dad, looking straight at me.
    “It was a wrong