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false giggle that seems to echo through the trees. A woman passing with her dog stops to take in the scene. She gives Lewis a long look, as if she will need to remember him. Cars are queuing on the road that cuts across the green.Lewis throws his bag over his shoulder and walks fast, not caring that he’s heading straight into the traffic, feeling his face and neck burning hot. Something bounces off his back, and again something hits him, and then a third missile flies past his head. Chips. They’re throwing their chips at him. They’re throwing their chips and they’re calling him names.

FOUR
    So, what d’you think?
    Brendan pushes back the metal door, revealing his handiwork to Anna. She’d texted him from Great Yarmouth station to tell him the news, and before she had even got on the train, he’d texted back: BIG suprize @ home.
    He led her straight through the garden—which had not been altered—and across the yard to the lock-up.
    It’s my car, says Anna, Just where I left it.
    You mean you can’t tell the difference? God, you’re going blind as well as deaf. Take a closer look.
    Anna walks round the car. The outside has been washed and polished, and there’s a new badge on the bonnet. Anna pings it with delight.
    New badge, says Brendan, pointlessly, I got the man from Merc to take the old girl away for a day or two. He took that badge off a wreck. He was
very
helpful.
    Did he fix the leak? asks Anna, running her hand over the bonnet.
    No, he couldn’t be bothered . . . Of
course
he fixed it, that’s why I called him in the first place. That—and one more thing. Look inside.
    Anna opens the door. The interior has been valeted and the passenger seats cleared of debris. It smells of fake pine,but underneath is the more familiar, warm scent that Anna loves: old car.
    CD player, says Brendan, Thought we’d bring you into the twenty-first century.
    Brendan, it’s fantastic. How much do I owe you?
    Let’s call it a gift, he says, but before she can thank him, he adds, Well, okay, then, let’s call it rent.
    Rent, she nods, suddenly catching on.
    Because you’ll want to rent this place out while you’re gone, Brendan muses, leaning a hand on the hatch, And I can’t think of anyone more trustworthy, and—aw, no!
    He holds his fingers close to his face and sniffs them, Is nowhere sacred? Those squirrels crap on everything.
    How do you know it’s the squirrels? says Anna, Could’ve been a rat.
    Trust me, he says, I know. All my washing got ruined. No wonder you don’t use that clothes-line.
    How have they been? she asks, watching as Brendan scuffs his hand against the gatepost. Even though she’s been gone just a couple of days, she feels a peculiar sense of guilt at abandoning them. Brendan’s face fills with horror.
    A great big fella came and knocked on the kitchen window yesterday morning. I tried to ignore him, but he kept knocking with his paw—do you call them paws?—honest, what’re you supposed to do?
    Ah, smiles Anna, That’ll be Kong. I usually throw a handful of muesli out. They’ll leave you alone once they’ve had their breakfast.
    Breakfast? I’ll be getting myself a water pistol, says Brendan, Speaking of which, how’s mater?
    Mater is as normal as she can be in the circumstances. Some old thesp called Vernon Savoy is ‘looking after’ her until I go back up.
    The
Vernon Savoy? Brendan’s face lights up.
    Is he famous, then? Asks Anna.
    Is he? He is the
famous
Vernon Savoy. Don’t you remember him?
Saturday Night at the London Palladium
?
    I didn’t do much telly watching as a kid, Brendan, says Anna, Too painful on the ears.
    Brendan laughs at this unintended joke.
    You’re not kidding! And didn’t he have a dummy in the act for a while? What did he call him? You know, the butler, with the s-s-stammer. What
was
he called?
    Brendan, I