‘You’re to come straight home today,’ she instructed Rita. ‘Do you hear me, Reet? No going round your gran’s and bothering her.’ ‘Yes, Mum.’ Rita was very subdued. She had heard the crashing plate last night, and she’d heard Mum helping Uncle Jimmy up the stairs. She’d stayed still and quiet in the bed and at last drifted off to sleep. But in the morning she remembered it all, and it frightened her. She was pleased when she and Rosie set off for school before he came downstairs. It was some time later that Jimmy pushed open the kitchen door and peered in. ‘What’s for breakfast?’ he asked by way of greeting. ‘Can make you some toast,’ Mavis suggested cautiously. ‘That’s not much for a man to go to work on,’ he grumbled, flopping down at the table. There was a pot of tea made and Mavis quickly poured him a cup, before putting a couple of slices of bread under the grill. ‘You got the job, then?’ she ventured. ‘Course I did. Told you that last night when I come home.
