"Meryl, hold on."

"Yes, Peggy."

"I've that typing for you you said you would?"

"Of course I did."

"For the Red Cross and the Wildlife."

"No problem."

"Can't thank you enough, don't know what I did before you came. Oh, Meryl, you couldn't manage the Institute's minutes? Fanny's got an awful cold I think there's a lot of it about."

"Thanks, Meryl."

"You should get on home, Peggy. You look like a hose has been turned on you."

"I tell you, Meryl, those people seeing Frank when you were out they drove right through a puddle, could have avoided it. I used the F-word and all. Quite made my day, using the F-word."

Stephen had left the door open and the rain was driving on to the hall tiles. She took off her coat and shook it hard outside. She called, "Frank, we're home."

"I'm in the kitchen."

There was no light on downstairs. Stephen would have gone straight to his room, for his books and his toys. She went into the kitchen. He sat at the kitchen table, but it was too dark for her to see his face.

"You all right, love?"

"Fine."

"Had a busy day?"

"No."

"Visitors?"

"No, no visitors."

It was the first time in the four years she had known him that she could have proved he had lied. She said she would make a pot of tea, and switched on the light.

Kicking a cat would have been too easy, and beating his balding head against a wall would have been poor satisfaction.