Danielle's Dad

has magical pockets.

People come from all over the estate.

They pay and hurry away.

We watch from our bedroom window,

through bunkbed bars, we pretend we're in prison.

We ask Danielle, What sort of magic?

She says, Dunno.

Danielle is not very clever.

She thinks the Woolwich Ferry is the Titanic.

Look! She said as we drove around the roundabout,

The Titanic!

Even Mum pretended not to laugh.

When Danielle is playing over,

we can only play cheat-Scrabble

as she isn't very good at spellings or maths either.

We just write our names

then add our letters together.

Out of Rachel, Maria and Danielle,

I am the winner.

Sometimes, Danielle's dad reaches into his pocket

and yanks out a black Lab puppy called Bo.

Or a quadbike for JJ.

Or lacy pink curtains for their screaming mum.

But most often Danielle's dad yanks out fistfuls of coins .

The most coins I've ever seen in a real-life hand .

When we're playing out with Danielle, he'll say,

Oi, ghels, go get some iscream or sumfink.

We cheer, we shout, Thank you, Danielle's dad!

He doesn't even count it, just pours the thick gold

into our cupped hands till they bubble over.

We skip towards the ice cream man.

When we pay, we remember to cover our boobs

with our other hand. We don't take a lick

till we're back behind the garages.

As he kisses my earlobe before bed,

I tell Dad, Danielle's dad is richer than you.

Hmm, I bet he is, Dad says.

Source: My Darling From the Lions (Tin House Books, 2021)