Mum came back to the living room.

"Here you are Glen I-"

She stopped which concerned me.

"What's wrong?"

"He fell asleep."

I stood up to take a good look at Glen. He was sleeping. She sat by him and stared at him.

"You are beautiful."

Glen slightly moved, his head was facing us.

"Shh, go back to sleep, shh."

She started singing a lullaby to him.

"Rock a bye baby, on the tree top, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock-"

"When the bough breaks the cradle will fall."

Mum glared at me and smiled. Then the phone rang.

"Damn," Mum said.

She got up.

"Come Audrey, let's let him sleep."

We left the living room. Mum went to call her friend, I went to the kitchen to get a little snack, decided to get a tub of roasted peanuts, it's Daddy's but who cares. I came back with the tub. Mum opened the door to the living room, we walked in. The door slammed shut and we saw Glen in chair behind the door holding a doll. Mum was startled.

"You're gonna make up for lost time."

"What?"

"Twenty four years, twenty four years without proper care, protection, and love. Isn't that right?"

"I-"

"Or am I just a dirty little secret?"

Glen twisted the doll's head.

"No, not to me, never."

"Hmm."

He turned to me.

"At least she gave it to you."

"She was a grown woman then, that's why," I replied.

"Hmm."

He sat back down in the chair.

"You can call me Adrian if you want."

"I'd rather call you Glen, it fits you better," I said.

"You never gave me a light in the dark, you never waited outside the school gates, you never let me follow your finger on the line of words."

"I-"

"Once upon a time, all that, all that sort of stuff."

"I told you stories in my head, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin."

"Would you tell me them for real? Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? Will you will you will you? A man came marching down the high road. One two one two! He had a knapsack on his back and his sword at his side, and on the way, he met a witch."

"Witch?"

"Hmm hmm, she wanted him to get a tinderbox for her."

Mum changed the subject.

"How about some sherry, or would you rather have a wash first?"

Glen groaned.

"A wash, do I have to have a wash?"

"Good way to stay clean," I said with a sarcastic grin.

"You don't have to have a wash-"

"Are you gonna make me have a wash?"

"What are you playing at?"

"I don't wanna wash, I don't want to!"

He stood up and had a little tantrum.

"I won't, I won't, I won't!"

"Stop it! Stop it at once!" Mum yelled.

Glen stopped. He murmured something inaudible to me.

"You're gonna have some even if you don't."

Mum poured a glass of sherry for Glen and herself. Not me, I'm only twenty.