‘What’s it worth?’ Bobby asked.

‘What-? You’re my son.’

‘And I’m up to every trick. You said so.’

‘But, like any skill, it should be used wisely,’ Alex said. ‘There’s a time for using it and a time for not using it.’

‘This is a time for using it,’ Bobby said firmly.

Alex eyed him with respect mixed with caution.

‘I want to come to the shops,’ Mitzi said. ‘Mummy said she’d get me a doll’s house.’

‘It’s in Bellam’s Toys,’ Bobby explained. ‘There’s a big range, and number four is going cheap now because they’ve just brought out number five. So Mum promised her number four.’

His eyes met Alex’s. ‘Of course, Mitzi would really prefer number five.’

‘Mummy said it would cost too much.’ Mitzi sighed.

‘But we’re holding all the cards,’ her brother told her.

‘You are, aren’t you?’ Alex said in appreciation of these tactics. ‘Number five it is, on condition you stay at home.’

Mitzi scampered off to tell Jimmy, whose head was aching, that he was going to have the pleasure of her company and they could talk and talk and talk.

‘What about you?’ Alex asked his son. ‘What’s your price?’

‘Nothing,’ Bobby told him.

‘But you just said-’

‘I always meant to stay at home anyway.’

Alex looked at him with sheer admiration, although he felt compelled to point out, ‘But, like you said, you have all the cards. I’d have paid. You missed a trick there, son.’

Bobby shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t,’ he said earnestly. ‘Don’t you see? I didn’t really.’

Alex’s amused irony faded and he took Bobby’s hand. ‘Yes, I do see,’ he said seriously.

‘Good luck, Dad.’

He knew everything, of course, Alex thought.

‘I’ll do my best,’ he promised his son.

The road to the shopping centre lay through open country. The snow had stopped falling and now lay settled thickly on the ground, the perfect picture of a white Christmas.