Sheep

‘He was smoking,’ said Kim.

‘What is that?’ said Delphine.

‘It’s a way of taking a drug called nicotine. To begin with, it makes the user feel good. But once people start smoking, it’s almost impossible to stop because it’s really addictive.’

 ‘If it makes a person feel good, is that a problem?’ Xavier’s brow furrowed as he tried to understand what Kim was telling him.

‘Yes. It’s really bad. Nicotine can kill you: it causes lung cancer and all sorts of bad health problems.’

‘In that case, I do not understand why anyone would start smoking.’

‘It’s a complicated thing to explain Xavier. Usually it’s young people, teenagers, who take it up. They copy one other, following each other like sheep. One starts and they all follow. And the worst of it is, people still smoke even though they know it’s bad for them.’

While they had been talking, Emma had closed her eyes, leaning against Delphine, who shook her gently and then appealed to Xavier.

’She’s not functioning well, I think she may be powering down.’

‘Will she be all right until we get her home? It’ll take us about half an hour,’ said Joe who had been checking the route on his phone.

‘I think so.’ Xavier was inspecting something at the back of Emma’s head. ‘But when she reboots she may take an update - it depends what has been changed in the system.’

‘Let’s go then,’ said Kim. ‘Buckle up everyone and I’ll get us home as quickly as I can.’