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Notwithstanding the ministrations of $3,000 dentists, Zan and Viv have given up trying to break Sheba of her thumb-sucking. Amid everything else, they’ve decided it’s a problem that will have to resolve itself; in the meantime they’ve not so much learned the rule of Sheba’s thumb but that there is one — such as in the way she now takes her thumb from her mouth in order to fix on what she sees outside the pub window.

Sheba has been looting her way across London all morning, from the shops of Piccadilly to Covent Garden — all of it boring for the kids because Zan can’t afford to buy anything — but now a calm overtakes her so sudden and extraordinary that the father feels accosted by it. When she slightly turns in her seat, Zan turns to look as well, following the girl’s line of sight; with a start, his attention is as seized as Sheba’s. “What is it?” says Parker.

What appears to be a young African woman stands across the street watching Sheba back.


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