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He grins nervously and taps his watch Vanishes before I can call to hi"

"That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?" Vinyl says

"Only joking," I reply

"Tyler’s all right," Vinyl rowl

"What’s wrong with hies me, then smiles with icy sweetness before I can answer "It’s not the color of his skin, is it?"

I scowl at Vinyl but don’t say anything Because to an extent he’s right Dad’s a racist and proud of it He hates anyone who isn’t froland, especially if they’re dark-skinned In his ideal world the ruling party would be the Ku Klux Klan and he’d go riding through the streets of London on a horse every day with a load of hood-wearing buddies, keeping law and order with a thick length of rope

Dad’s alarning ers of racial tolerance He pushes Aryan books and pa by myself was Little Black Sas that Dad does I don’t want to be like hiot to live with hie his word So I put up with the ranting and raving I read the hate lit I laugh at his crude jokes I’ve even gone to a fewbloodyon an act is that sometimes it’s hard to tell where the actor stops and the real you begins It’s rubbed off onto hate Vinyl’s black as the ace of spades, but he’s my only friend who is And it’s not just because I know Dad would hit the roof if he saw enuinely fears the menace of those who are different I’ve read so much and heard so et that I don’t believe it

To be honest, I’ether ere tiny, before I started selecting my associates more cautiously When Dad beatto do with that horrible little black kid, that should have been the end of it I tried to avoid Vinyl after that but I couldn’t We got on too well He h, he never teased

I learned to sneak behind Dad’s back, never mention Vinyl at home, not be seen with him close to where we live He’sout of me Even one black friend is one too many as far as he’s concerned

"Co with Tyler?"

"I don’t like his face," I snap "What difference does it o," Vinyl says "He recognized ht we all looked the same to him"

"Hey," Trev says uneasily "Let’s drop it"

"He told noring Trev and staring hard atwhat they could teach chimps these days Asked me if I could peel my own bananas now"

I feel my face flush I’m ashamed of my mean-spirited, foul-mouthed father But I’m even more ashamed of myself, because I instinctively want to defend hi He shouldn’t have said that to Vinyl - to anyone - but part of me wants to take his side, because no matter what, he’s my dad and I love him

"I can’t control what he says," I ree with it?" Vinyl growls

"Of course not!" I spit "Tyler’s a whiny brat He gets upblack"

Vinyl eyesht then" He winks "You should tell your dad that you want to !" I snort

We laugh, buain In a weird, messed-up, unco a racist for a dad