The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan Page A

It won’t do him any harm.’

    Peter glared at Kenneth who sat contentedly staring at his own hand. ‘I don’t care about him. What about my marble?’
    ‘It’ll be fine,’ Kate said. ‘It’ll come out the other end.’
    Peter shuddered. ‘Thanks a lot.’
    Kate closed her book of spells. She leaned down and tick- led Kenneth. He laughed, and crawled towards her bed. She pulled him up and sat him beside her on the bed. ‘Do you know what I think?’ she said.
    Peter said nothing. He knew he would be told.
    ‘I think you’re jealous of Kenneth.’
    How irritating his sister could be. ‘That’s so stupid!’ Peter said. ‘That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. How could I be jealous of that thing?’ He glared at the baby, who stared back with simple interest, his huge head wobbling.
    ‘He’s not a thing,’ Kate said. ‘He’s a person. Anyway, it’s simple. He’s getting all the attention now instead of you.’
    Peter looked at her suspiciously. ‘You didn’t make this up yourself. Who said it?’
    His sister shrugged. ‘It’s true anyway. You aren’t the youngest boy in the house any more. That’s why you’re so horrid to him.’
    ‘Me horrid to him? He’s the one who ate my marble. He’s a lunatic. He’s a nuisance. He’s a monster!’
    Kate’s face was flushed with anger. She stood up and lifted Kenneth to the floor. ‘He’s a dear little thing. And you are awful. It’s time someone taught you a lesson.’ She snatched up her book of spells and left the room in a hurry. The baby lumbered after her.

    Half an hour later, Peter wandered downstairs. Kate was slumped in an armchair in the living-room with her book open on her lap. Kenneth was on the floor, peaceful for the moment as he chewed his way through an old magazine.
    Peter took a chair on the far side of the room. He wanted to continue the argument. He wanted to know where Kate had got her ridiculous ideas from. But he wasn’t sure how to begin. His sister was frowning at her book, and fiddling with the black magic wand that came with it. Kenneth had noticed Peter at last and crawled towards him. Using Peter’s leg as a support, the baby hauled himself upright until he stood unsteadily between the older boy’s knees.
    Peter stared over the baby’s head at his sister. She did not look up. She was still angry with him. It was just as well the magic set was nothing more than a toy. He looked down at Kenneth again. The baby was staring deep into his eyes, and frowning, as if searching for something in his mind, a memory, a lost clue to another life.
    ‘Gaaaaa,’ Kenneth said quietly.
    ‘Gaaaaa,’ Kate repeated from the other side of the room. She was pointing the wand at Peter.
    ‘Gaaaaa gaaaaa,’ Kenneth repeated.
    ‘Gaaaaa gaaaaa,’ Kate echoed and drew a circle in the air. The room began to brighten and turn floor-over-ceiling, and grow larger and larger until it was the size of an enormous hall in a palace.

    Peter was on his feet, swaying as he struggled to keep his balance. He clutched at a pillar. But it was alive and warm. It was a leg, a gigantic leg. Peter lifted his heavy wobbly head and tried to direct his unreliable gaze on the owner of the leg. He glimpsed a face, but it slipped from his view. He moved his huge head back and saw it again, a giant version of himself in school clothes, staring down at him with unconcealed disgust. Numbly, Peter looked down at his own clothes – a ridiculous jump-suit patterned with teddy bears and stained down the front with orange juice and chocolate. Terrible, terrible! He had swapped bodies with Kenneth.
    In his surprise, Peter let go of the leg and fell back on the floor into a sitting position.
    ‘Oops!’ he heard a musical voice say for him.
    This was awful, this was unfair, this was frightening. He was on the edge of tears, but he could not quite remember what it was that had upset him. His attention half drifted, half swam from one thing to another.
    ‘Help