“Babies can’t talk,” she said, putting it back in his mouth, and this time Ben allowed himself to suck gently on the alien object in his mouth, it felt weird, but he wanted to please Hannah. “Promise you won’t tell anyone, but it’s mine. I’ve got a couple. I sleep with them sometimes. But I want it to be yours now. I like being Mummy more than the baby.”
“I don’t understand,” Ben said, his words hard to understand through the dummy.
“I’ll explain it to you properly another time, if you promise to meet up with me after this trip, out of school. But let’s just say there are people who like to pretend to be babies, and people who like to be their mummies and daddies.”
“Adults?” Ben asked, the dummy falling out of his mouth.
“Shhh, babies don’t need to ask questions.” Hannah put the dummy back in Ben’s mouth. “Do you need to pee?”