“For goodness sake!” snapped Julie as she glared down at her son, grabbing his hand as she spoke, “Why must you play with that stupid toy?” Ben didn’t reply. Instead, he continued to push his little red fire engine along the floor of their local supermarket, his knees covered in dust as he went. Julie grabbed a basket and headed for the fruit, as Ben raced his fire engine to the scene of a mighty blaze at the end of the aisle.

Julie was thirty years of age, a single parent to a five year old and no stranger to stress. Bags draped from beneath her eyes, and the frown lines etched on her forehead did little well to show her real age. Julie was a stereotypical single mother, she had become defensive and uptight through lack of sleep, and her vile temper was enough to scare anyone, let alone her own son.

Ben was a quiet, mischievous little boy, who liked to spend much of his time on his own, allowing his vivid imagination to take him to far off places and on exciting adventures. Like his mother, Ben was a daydreamer.

“Nee-Naw!” yelled Ben as he and his fire engine extinguished the blaze and whizzed past his mother’s heels, off to explore the supermarket. Julie had placed a bag of bananas in her basket and seemed to be fully focused on getting the shopping finished as quickly as possible. She moved from shelf to shelf, not paying attention to anything around her, appearing to be a world away. At the same time, Ben sped off round the corner and out of sight, as the supermarket began to fill with a swarm of busy shoppers, all eager to do their weekly shop.

Julie awoke from her blur of shopping as she placed a final bag of crisps on top of her basket and noticed the hustle and bustle of the many people around her. “Stop playing about Ben!” ordered Julie as she checked all she had all the items in her basket. “Ah, there you are!” she exclaimed, taking a hold of the boy’s hand, “Now hurry up, we’re leaving”.

The young boy’s face showed a picture of pure terror.

“Let go of me!” he cried , full of fear at the thought of what was happening and where he was being taken. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he yelled. Oblivious to the noise, Julie marched on towards the checkout.