The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

quietly and went into my own room.
    I wanted to look at the envelope but I didn't want to make Father angry, so I hid the envelope underneath my mattress. Then I walked downstairs and said hello to Father.
    And he said, “So, what have you been up to today, young man?”
    And I said, “Today we did
Life Skills
with Mrs. Gray. Which was
Using Money
and
Public Transport.
And I had tomato soup for lunch, and 3 apples. And I practiced some maths in the afternoon and we went for a walk in the park with Mrs. Peters and collected leaves for making collages.”
    And Father said, “Excellent, excellent. What do you fancy for chow tonight?”
    Chow is food.
    I said I wanted baked beans and broccoli.
    And Father said, “I think that can be very easily arranged.”
    Then I sat on the sofa and I read some more of the book I was reading called
Chaos
by James Gleick.
    Then I went into the kitchen and had my baked beans and broccoli while Father had sausages and eggs and fried bread and a mug of tea.
    Then Father said, “I'm going to put those shelves up in the living room, if that's all right with you. I'll make a bit of a racket, I'm afraid, so if you want to watch television we're going to have to shift it upstairs.”
    And I said, “I'll go and be on my own in my room.”
    And he said, “Good man.”
    And I said, “Thank you for supper,” because that is being polite.
    And he said, “No problem, kiddo.”
    And I went up to my room.
    And when I was in my room I shut the door and I took out the envelope from underneath my mattress. I held the letter up to the light to see if I could detect what was inside the envelope, but the paper of the envelope was too thick. I wondered whether I should open the envelope because it was something I had taken from Father's room. But then I reasoned that it was addressed to me so it belonged to me so it was OK to open it.
    So I opened the envelope.
    Inside there was a letter.
    And this was what was written in the letter

    451c Chapter Road
Willesden
London NW2 5NG
0208 887 8907

    Dear Christopher,

    I'm sorry it's been such a very long time since I wrote my last letter to you. I've been very busy. I've got a new job working as a secretery for a factory that makes things out of steel. You'd like it a lot. The factory is full of huge machines that make the steel and cut it and bend it into watever shapes they need. This week they're making a roof for a cafe in a shopping centre in Birmingham. It's shaped like a huge flower and they're going to stretch canvas over it to make it look like an enormus tent.
    Also we've moved into the new flat at last as you can see from the address. It's not as nice as the old one and I don't like Willesden very much, but it's easier for Roger to get to work and he's bought it (he only rented the other one), so we can get our own furnature and paint the walls the colour we want to.
    And that's why it's such a long time since I wrote my last letter to you because it's been hard work packing up all our things and then unpacking them and then getting used to this new job.
    I'm very tired now and I must go to sleep and I want to put this into the letterbox tomorrow morning, so I'll sign off now and write you another letter soon.
    You haven't written to me yet, so I know that you are probably still angry with me. I'm sorry Christopher. But I still love you. I hope you don't stay angry with me forever. And I'd love it if you were able to write me a letter (but remember to send it to the new address!).
    I think about you all the time.

    Lots of Love,
Your Mum
X X X X X X

    Then I was really confused because Mother had never worked as a secretary for a firm that made things out of steel. Mother had worked as a secretary for a big garage in the center of town. And Mother had never lived in London. Mother had always lived with us. And Mother had never written a letter to me before.
    There was no date on the letter so I couldn't work out when Mother had written the letter and I