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PETE

IT WAS JUST AN ordinary day

If this were a color piece or a feature, the kind of thing I used to write on a daily basis, the editor would have rejected it just for that opening sentence Openers need to hook people, Pete, she’d tell es back at me across my desk Paint a picture, set a scene Be dramatic In travel journalism especially, you need a sense of place Take me on a journey

So: It was just an ordinary day in Willesden Green, north London

Because the fact is, before that knock on my door, it was just an ordinary day An unusually nice one, ad, the air was crisp and blue There was still so in corners, but it had that soft sugary look snow gets when it’s all butinto the Acol Road Nursery and Preschool could be bothered to get theirto scoop it up for snowballs

Actually, there was one s out of the ordinary As I took Theo into the nursery, or rather followed hiiven him a scooter for his second birthday, a chunky three-wheeler he was now inseparable from—I noticed three people, a wo us The younger e, thirty or so The other was in his fifties Both wore dark suits with dark woolen coats over them, and the woman, a blonde, rapped up in a kind of fake-fur parka, the sort of thing you ht see on a fashionable ski slope They looked too smart for our part of London But then I saw that the older loved hand An estate agent, I guessed, showing some prospective buyers the local childcare facilities The Jubilee Line goes all the way from our Tube station to Canary Wharf, and even the bankers have been priced out of West Hampstead these days

Soerto thrash and screa left She hadn’t realized that the trick is to make sure they walk into nursery on their own rather than being carried, which simply makes the moment of separation more final Then there was a note about World Book Day on the nursery door that hadn’t been there yesterday—God, yet another costuanize—and after that I had to separate Theo froh into the coat pockets that they wouldn’t fall out—I still hadn’t gotten around to putting na, deep aive him a final pep talk

“Okay, bigto play nicely today?”

He nodded, wide-eyed with sincerity “Yef, Dad”

“So no grabbing And take turns That’s very important Remember we said we’d take turns to choose lunch? So today it’s your turn, and tomorrow it’ll be mine What do you want for lunch?”

“Booby sht

“Blueberry smoothie,” I repeated clearly “Okay I’ll ”

I gave him a kiss and off he went, happy as a clam

“Mr Riley?”

I turned It was Susy, the wo for Theo to go “Can I have a word?” she added

I snapped et another one today—”

“It isn’t about the sippy cup,” she interrupted “Shall we talk in my office?”

—

“IT’S NOTHING TO WORRY about,” she said as we sat dohich of course instantlyto worry about “It’s just that there was another incident yesterday Theo hit one of the other children again”