‘Dad, could you do me a favour?’ Terence Munday regarded his daughter-in-law. Her plump, squat body always reminded him of an over-full plastic shopping bag. ‘Of course, Gloria, if I can.’ ‘It’s the next two weeks. My boss is away, and all his work is landed on me. I’ll have to go in one hour early, just to keep my head above water.’ ‘You want me to take the children to school and collect them in the afternoon.’ ‘That’s right, Dad. You can drive them straight home and leave them there. They quite like being their own bosses, and Victoria is very good at sorting out any problems.’ Terence kept shtum on whether he would leave the children to their own devices at their home or bring them there to his own semi in one of the western suburbs of Leeds. ‘I can manage quite well for a fortnight,’ he said. ‘I think I’ll enjoy it.’ And enjoy it he did. He had always liked the three children and he wished that Gloria and his son Martin showed more evidence of loving them, or of having wanted them in the first place.
