The Displaced Nation

Jack and I sit at the kitchen table, surrounded by the Disney Valentine cards and heart-decorated pencils I bought in January. It’s serious business, writing out sixteen Valentine cards when you’ve only just learned your alphabet — Jack, not me — and over the course of this afternoon’s school project, Jack’s right fist has acquired […]

Jack lies on the kitchen floor in his red pyjamas, legs and arms flailing, his face a puce, wet, dripping mess. He looks like an overripe tomato. “I want Fergus!” he wails, then hitches in a breath for more volume. “I — want — Fergus — baaaack!” Despite all the episodes of Supernanny that I’ve […]

Fergus looks up at me, down at his empty dish in the corner of the laundry room, then back at me again. I could be imagining things, but I think his lip is curling. “No,” I say to him, as I pull one lot of washing out of the dryer and insert another wet load. […]

The paediatrician pinches a wad of baby flesh and plunges her syringe into the right thigh of an unsuspecting George. A couple of seconds of silence while George’s bottom lip sticks out and he fixes me with a reproachful stare. Then, tears squirting from his eyes, he opens his mouth wide and lets rip a […]