Night of the Hats

  Small Prophets Michael Sleep’s girlfriend Clea vanished nearly seven years ago and he’s not really got over it. He lives in her house, which is full of the boxes from her storage units when she sold antiques and things, and he’s recreating a photograph of a childhood Christmas. His neighbour Clive wants him to tidy up the garden (house values) and generally disapproves of his eccentricities; Clive’s wife and his other neighbours just take him as he is. He works in a DIY store, where he continually annoys his ineffective boss. Things start to change though. Clea’s brother Roy has been going through a bad patch and is preparing to have Clea declared dead, after which he will inherit the house. Michael’s father Brian, in a retirement home, is having memory problems. But he also has records of the time he grew homunculi, who can answer questions. Someone is trying to locate Michael and it’s not clear why. Michael makes friends with Casey at work, and when he starts to grow the ...