“Fred! Ellie!” shouted Janine Stone, rising from the TV as the credits played over a man counting some money. “Where are they?”

“I think … Fred said something about a football match today,” said Eric. His voice was muffled and at first Janine couldn’t tell where it was coming from. But then she realised.

“What are you doing in here, Eric?” she said, opening the door to the playroom.

“Oh, I don’t know, J. I asked the kids to write a Christmas list, but they’ve not got round to it, so I thought I’d just have a look at the sort of stuff they like …”

Janine scanned the room.

“I think it’s fairly obvious what sort of stuff they like.”

Her eyes, though, suddenly alighted on something that wasn’t a video game. She bent down to pick it up, holding on to Margaret Scratcher as she did so to stop the cat falling off her arm.

“Goodness,” she said. “What’s this doing in here? I thought it’d got thrown in the rubbish years ago.”

“What is it?” said Eric.

“A big, flat, cardboard shoe. I bought it for Fred, to help him learn how to tie up his shoelaces …”

“Oh,” said Eric. “It didn’t really work, did it?”

Janine shook her head. “No,” she said. “He still has to have someone else do it for him, doesn’t he?”

“Yes,” said Eric. “Mainly Ellie.”

Janine nodded.

Then both of them looked at each other.

Guiltily.

“What time does the match start?” said Janine.