Your child is suspended from school because of what she brought to class. Now everyone turns on you and your family.

Should you tell the journo that you’ve often wondered how quickly the thin veneer of society would fall away if push really came to shove? You’ve seen Cheryl’s behaviour if the line of cars waiting to collect kids at the school gate doesn’t move along promptly. You’ve heard Dave from number 24 defend a very unlikely position when Juli shaved Rafi’s head to try and make him “seem whiter”. Your brother in law’s politics always raises eyebrows (and temperatures) at Christmas lunch…

But now, unfortunately, you know first hand just how thin that veneer is, how watery blood can be, how quickly neighbourliness can turn into harassment.

“I’ll start at the end”, you say, “no one died. Only two people actually got sick and the officials aren’t sure if they had other exposures. It’s true that when I sent Emma off that fateful Thursday she had a runny nose and was complaining she didn’t feel so great. But it was sports day, which she’s never liked and I had that important presentation to make to Mike. Maybe if she’d stayed home I’d still have my job, our car would be spray-paint-slogan free and my friends would still be my friends… If Principal Skeine had shared different reasons for her suspension. If there hadn’t been a breakout in the community that caused the pub to go into receivership and the aged care home to lose another 21 residents. It’s been proven they had a different strain to Emmas you know, but no one will listen to reason. The removalist comes in a few hours, I really need to keep packing, is that enough?”