‘I’ve got to get something out of me coat pocket.’ With his carry-out box under his arm, he made haste to the cloakroom. They only got three-quarters of an hour dinner break, so every minute was precious. And he was concerned about the fairy cakes that had been left in the bag in his pocket since he’d bought them the day before. They’d probably be a mass of crumbs by now with his luck. But he couldn’t let Ruby see them or there’d have been ructions. He could almost hear her shrill voice shouting that she couldn’t afford the luxury of cakes on the money he gave her, but he could find it for his mates all right. He’d never have heard the last of it. Bob breathed a sigh of relief when he opened the bag and found that the sponge cakes, in their crinkly white paper cases, appeared to be in one piece. Thank goodness for that, he thought, hurrying to the canteen where, even from this distance, he could hear Peg giving forth on the joys of motherhood. ‘What a night I had with those blinking kids of mine.
