It hasn’t stopped raining for four long days.

Carl’s eyes are red-rimmed, his face a bloated mess.

“I can’t do this much longer,” he cries.

“You’re doing great,” I assure him but right now—and I’m not ashamed to admit this—I hate him. We’ve been here before. Seven times.

Eszter Molnar is a former teacher who lives by the windswept British seaside with her partner and two children. She has been published in one of the UK’s biggest subscription magazines for children. By day she cleans up after preschoolers. By night she writes picture books and middle grade fiction.