there were stacks of books piled around a decrepit sofa fat charlie remembered from his childhood , and there were photographs in frames : one , in black-and-white , of fat charlie 's mother when she was young , with her hair up on top of her head all black and shiny , wearing a sparkly dress ; beside it , a photo of fat charlie himself , aged perhaps five or six years old , standing beside a mirrored door , so it looked at first glance as if two little fat charlies , side by side , were staring seriously out of the photograph at you .