Under her reproving gaze he put a very large donation into the box and scurried away, his children clinging to his hands and rocking with laughter.

‘Oh, Daddy, you are funny.’ Mitzi giggled.

‘I used to sing that at school,’ he remembered. ‘It got me into trouble then, too.’

Strolling around later, Mitzi noticed something that made her gasp with joy.

‘Daddy, look! Santa Claus!’

The precinct’s Santa was just embarking on his last stint, complete with grotto and tree. Mitzi looked up at her father eagerly, but Bobby touched her arm and shook his head.

‘We already saw Santa,’ he urged. ‘Yesterday.’

‘We saw him last week too,’ she pointed out, ‘and the week before.’

Alex watched to see if his son would be stuck for an answer. But he wasn’t.

‘They were just pretend Santas,’ he said. ‘The one we saw last night was the real Santa.’

‘How do you know?’ she demanded rebelliously.

‘I just do.’

‘How?’

‘I do.’

Mitzi subsided, apparently satisfied with this brand of logic. Bobby looked up at his father and received a wink, which he returned.

‘Why don’t we go in there?’ Alex said, pointing quickly at a store that sold books, CDs and various related items.

As soon as they were inside he struck lucky, coming across a display of ‘Marianne’ picture books, with one prominently displayed featuring Marianne as a rider.

‘Has she got that?’ Alex muttered to Bobby.

‘No.’

‘Here.’ He shoved some notes into Bobby’s hands. ‘You get it while I distract her.’

The teamwork went like clockwork. In a short time Bobby was back with a parcel wrapped in anonymous brown paper.

‘What’s that?’ Mitzi demanded.

‘What?’ Bobby looked innocently around.

‘That!’

‘I don’t see anything. Do you, Dad?’

‘Not a thing.’

Making a covert purchase for Bobby was harder, because he couldn’t use Mitzi as an agent. But he struck lucky, noticing a series of video cassettes titled ‘Water-colour Technique’. Managing to catch the assistant’s eye, he mouthed, ‘How much?’ pointing at Bobby to explain the reason for silence.