Timmy lived in a twenty-five room estate. The thirteen bedrooms would easily accommodate a house party of twenty—and even more if the two guest cottages were used. The boys, Dashiell, his brother Darren and six others, were kindly invited to use the cottages, while ten girls shared one wing of bedrooms in the sprawling house. Our first night was awkward with Gwen’s parents looking down their noses at us while we danced to a jazz band and refused the simple party games they thought were appropriate for young people our age. Timmy was a regular tart; everyone knew that including her dear parents, though they would probably deny that to themselves to their graves. They held on to her purity as if they could never have produced such a wicked lady.
That first night, after some torrid danci
