SAFE BY DESIGN · EPISODE 12

The Chat That Moved Somewhere Else

A friendly teammate asked Arjun to move their chat somewhere else and keep it quiet. He brought it to his mum at bedtime.

Bedtime was when Arjun's real questions came out: why the moon follows the car, whether fish sleep. Riya had learned to stay on the edge of the bed a minute longer than she meant to.

On Tuesday he was quiet, then:

“Mumma, can I ask you something without getting in trouble?”

Arjun, 9

“Always,” she said.

It was about a player from his game. They had been on the same team most afternoons for two weeks: good at the game, funny in the chat, always friendly. “Today he asked me something,” Arjun said, “and I didn't like one part.”