Pictures of Lily

outside?’ he asks, baffled.
    ‘No, but I saw a spider in my room last night.’ I’m suddenly desperate to tell someone – anyone – about it.
    His eyes widen. ‘You haven’t slept in your sneakers, have you?’
    ‘Sneakers? You mean trainers?’
    ‘Is that what you call ’em?’
    ‘Yeah. Anyway, no, I put them on to go to the bathroom.’
    He nods. ‘I see. Spider give you a bit of a fright, did he?’
    ‘Yes, it was enormous. Brown and hairy.’ I shudder involuntarily.
    He casually waves his hand. ‘Sounds like a huntsman. Don’t worry, darl, they’re not deadly. Saying that,’ he adds thoughtfully, ‘and I don’t know if this is fact or one of those urban legends you hear about, but apparently huntsmans cause more deaths than any other spider.’
    I give him a quizzical look and immediately regret it because he continues, aided by animated sign-language, ‘Imagine you’re driving your car down the road, minding your own business, when you pop down your sun visor and a huge spider lands on your lap. BAM!’ he shouts, making me jump. ‘You crash your car and that’s the end of you!’
    I can’t drive yet, but I’m making a mental note to avoid sun visors when I learn.
    ‘Whoopsie, I’ve scared you again. All I’m saying is that hunts-mans don’t tend to bite. And if they do, they won’t kill you. You want to see some really venomous spiders, you should come to work with me one day.’ I smile feebly and he chuckles. ‘Or maybe cuddly koalas are more your scene.’
    My mum appears at the kitchen door. ‘Good morning,’ she chirps, beaming at me. ‘Hey, there,’ she says huskily to Michael, stretching up to plant a kiss on his cheek. He glances my way and looks embarrassed.
    ‘Blast. I forgot the tea.’ He bounds over to the other side of the kitchen. ‘I got distracted telling Lily about spiders.’
    ‘I saw a massive one last night,’ I interject.
    ‘Ew,’ Mum says dismissively as he grabs the kettle and fills it with water.
    ‘Yeah, I said she should come to work with me one day and check ’em out,’ Michael goes on. ‘I think she’d rather see the koalas though.’
    Mum nudges me. ‘You’d like to do that, wouldn’t you?’
    I shrug. ‘Maybe.’
    In fact, I’d secretly love to. The truth is, I’m dying to get up close to some real Australian wildlife. I adore animals. I once toyed with the idea of becoming a vet, but my grades were never good enough. And Mum wasn’t exaggerating when she said I didn’t want to go on holiday one year because my hamster was ill. I was twelve and I’d had Billy for two years, but the day before we were due to fly to Tenerife he started shivering and shaking. I was beside myself. I stayed up half the night watching over him and told Mum there was no way I was going on holiday and leaving him with our next-door neighbours if he wasn’t better by the morning. I couldn’t keep my eyes open after two a.m. though, and when I woke up at six, bleary-eyed and hopeful, little Billy was dead.
    As Mum excuses herself to go to the bathroom, Michael puts three mugs of tea on the table and pushes one in my direction. I stir in a teaspoon of sugar and look across at him.
    ‘My mum said yesterday that one of the animals at the conservation park was ill. A Tasmanian Devil or something?’
    ‘Yeah, yeah, poor old Henry was looking a bit dodgy there for a while, but he’s going to be fine.’
    ‘Oh, good. What is a Tasmanian Devil, by the way?’
    ‘It’s a carnivorous marsupial which is only found in the wild in Tasmania. You know Tasmania, that island that hangs off the bottom of the mainland.’
    ‘Yes, of course.’ Yep, I know Tasmania, but what the hell does a carnivorous marsupial look like?
    Mum re-enters the room before I can ask. Michael eyes me thoughtfully.
    ‘What did you and Josh get up to last night?’ Mum asks, pulling up a chair next to me and reaching for her tea.
    ‘Nothing,’ I mumble. ‘He went out with some mates.’
    ‘Have you got any plans for today?’
    ‘I don’t know, Mum.’ I can’t help but sound snappy. What does she think I’ve been doing all night while she’s been getting her rocks off? Going from door to door making friends with the neighbours? I get up, huffily. ‘I’m going to have a shower.’
    ‘What about your tea?’
    ‘I’ll take it with me.’ I pick up the steaming mug and try to block out the look of hurt on her face as I leave the room.
    An hour and a half later I’m in my