Ma wipes my eyes with the flat of her hands. It might be a dog turned to real, and we could call it Lucky.' I can't stop, I have to talk through the crying. 'I don't want the dumbo drawing.' I'm crying. 'Your present was from me, remember? It was the drawing.' 'That's different, Jack, that's stuff we need that I ask him for.' She points to Dresser, there's a blue folded up. 'But if you told him, he'd brung me something.' 'You're meant to be asleep when he's here.' 'Why you didn't tell him before that it was my birthday?' Ma gives me some and she's doing 'Singing in the Rain' very quietly. I wake up in Bed and it's raining, that's when Skylight's all blurry. Ma and Old Nick are talking a bit but I don't listen. I hear the TV switch on, it's just the news planet, I see bits with tanks through the slats that's not very interesting. I don't know, maybe Ma does the counting. I don't know what would happen if I didn't count, because I always do. I always have to count till he makes that gaspy sound and stops. When Old Nick creaks Bed, I listen and count fives on my fingers, tonight it's 217 creaks. I don't mind dark but I don't like when it surprises me. There's some clinks, I think she's giving him cake. 'Here, I'll get you a plate, maybe the middle's not too bad.'

'And thanks for the groceries, and the jeans.' 'Like pulling teeth sometimes,' says Old Nick. 'Thanks for that.' Ma doesn't sound like her. I think he's doing sarcasm, when he says the really opposite with a voice that's all twisty. 'I'm just the grocery boy, take out your trash, trek around the kidswear aisles, up the ladder to deice your skylight, at your service ma'am. I wish I didn't whisper fi five so he heard me, I wish I didn't anything. It's not Ma he's saying that to, it's me. 'Want to come out of there and try on your new jeans?' 'Five.' I whisper it.īut she must hear me, because she comes close to Wardrobe and says 'Jack' in a mad voice. 'Should have reminded me, I could have brought him something. 'Oh, it's just the last of the birthday cake,' says Ma. 'Looks tasty.' Old Nick's voice is extra deep. I get up on my knees and look through the slats, but all I can see is Dresser and Bath and a curve of Table. Door makes his thump that means Old Nick's in now. The air that comes in is freezing, I think it's a bit of Outer Space, it smells yum. Ma jumps up and makes a sound, I think she hit her head. My fingers go choo-choo along her red line.īeep beep, that's Door. Ma carries me into Wardrobe, she tucks Blanket around my neck, I pull her looser again. I have lots on Bed but my mouth is sleepy. ' 'They eat the dirt between your toes - ' ' ' 'They eat your eyes, they eat your nose - ' '

' 'They eat your guts like sauerkraut - ,'' I sing. For a song I want a funny, she starts, ' 'The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out - ' '

Room novel by emma donoghue