Trying not to keep the home fires burning

摘要

I was 12 when I first met Lee. He lived with his mother and brother near to the house I grew up in. At that age we spent most summer holidays playing football in the park, and occasionally we would stop and talk about whatever it is you talk about before you like girls and after you stop playing with toys. I guess we would talk about football a lot, and Lee was no exception. Except one day he told us all how he acquired the scars that trailed down one side of his face, under his shirt and out onto his arms and hands. He told us that his mother had fallen asleep one night and a cigarette she had been smoking started a fire. He lost a brother in the fire, he got the scars going back into the house trying to save him.