The Uninvited

have begun to imitate electronic devicessuch as car alarms and doorbells, andeven incorporate them into their songpatterns. When it comes to ringtones, theyfavour Nokia. Then I’d ask him: but whatif they start to copy a ringtone that is itselfa bird-call? Then you might get blackbirdsposing as toucans and marsh waderspretending to be mynah birds. Which inturn would copy something else.The boy would like that. He’d laughand you’d see his little teeth. There’susually a gap somewhere, with a new onepushing through. He doesn’t like brushingthem, so to cajole him into it, I used tostand next to him in the bathroom andwe’d do it together, trying to hit a kind ofsynchrony. We’d end up pulling grotesquefaces, gurning at the mirror and spitting