“She was asking the kids questions, nobody could go home until they’d been interviewed. It was brutal. I think lady cops are a very good idea. They just talk to you instead of hitting you all the time.”
**
“Anyway she bluffs too much, she’s always abusing our TV just because it’s made of wood and it’s very old. We got it from the cancer shop, it used to belong to a dead person. The picture doesn’t come straight away, you have to wait for it to warm up. When the picture first comes it’s proper dark, then the real colours come after. The whole thing takes donkey hours. You can even go and greet the chief in the time between turning the TV on and the picture coming. I even tried it and it works.”
**
“I don’t even know where the real chickens are. Everybody just buys them already dead and plucked. It even feels crazy. I miss their faces. Their dead eyes were lovely, like they were dreaming of all the good times when they were running around in the sunshine pecking each other in the head.
Chicken: ‘Peck peck peck peck!’
Other chicken: ‘Peck off!”
**
“I don’t have a favourite raindrop, they’re all as good as each other. They’re all the best. That’s what I think anyway. I always look up at the sky when it’s raining. It feels brutal. It’s a bit hutious because the rain’s so big and fast and you think it will go in your eye. But you have to keep your eyes open eye. But you have to keep your eyes open or you won’t get the feeling. I try to follow one raindrop all the way down from the cloud to the ground. Asweh, it’s impossible. All you can see is the rain. You can’t follow just one raindrop, it’s too busy and all the other raindrops get in the way.
The best bit is running in the rain. If you point your face up to the sky at the same time as running, it nearly feels like you’re flying. You can close your eyes or you can keep them open, it’s up to you. I like both. You can open your mouth if you want. The rain just tastes like water from the tap except it’s quite warm. Sometimes it tastes like metal.
Before you start running, find an empty bit of the world with nothing in the way. No trees or buildings and no other people. That way you won’t crash into anything. Try to go in a straight line. Then you just run as fast as you can. At first you’re scared of crashing into something but don’t let it put you off. Just run. It’s easy. The rain on your face and the wind makes it feel like you’re going superfast. It’s very refreshing. I dedicated my rain run to the dead boy. It was a better present than a bouncy ball. I kept my eyes closed the whole time and I didn’t even fall over.”
**
“Mamma says giving up is a sin. It’s the same as lying. It’s even worse than that because it’s lying to yourself.”
**
“When there’s a star on a flag it stands for freedom. The star points in all directions, it means you can go anywhere you want. That’s why I love stars, because they stand for freedom.”
**
“Terry Takeaway: ‘Wanna buy some DVDs? I’ve got some good ones, there’s one with zombies somewhere.’
Me: ‘No thanks. If you buy a pirate DVD the money goes to Osama Bin Laden. We learned it at school.”
