I wondered how only children did it. Who held the strings of their safety net taut? Did they have no secret language with someone who had known them since before they’d mastered bladder control, share no knowing looks across the living room when their mum went on a tangent about another post middle-aged male disappointment? Who could you be your truest, most switched-off self with if not a sibling? I didn’t even have to hide the fold of my double chin as I scrolled ever deeper in
