Anthony Blackshaw, 05 Jul '12

On a cold November night in a small dingy room at the top of the Stepney Causeway shelter for homeless children, Charlie and Alice Orrow sat looking up at the night sky.

The light from the full moon shone through the single-hung window they sat in front of and projected an array of soft lit rectangles across the dusty wooden floorboards. It was so cold their breath turned to vapour and hung in the air. For warmth they huddled together wrapped in a blue tattered woollen blanket barely big enough for one.

The room in which they sat was furnished with a modest desk, several equally modest chairs, a bookcase, and at the far end a small unlit fireplace next to which was an empty coal scuttle. Charlie and Alice sat under the desk looking out through the window.

“We're lucky really, it would have been hellish out there tonight” said Charlie seeing the first flakes of snow land and stick to the glass planes of the window.

Alice didn't say anything but she smiled and nodded.