But once again, wiser heads prevailed. Albert had had an excellent Christmas and willingly put money into the pet shop venture as well as doing a great deal of work on their business plan, but he pointed out that this was only possible because he closed his shop at two o’clock, since trade was always slow at this time of year.

‘And if you open now, with the weather so miserable and folk having overspent at Christmas, you’ll find you’ve got animals on your hands and no money to buy the necessary food,’ he said gently. He had been sanding down the long counter and now he stopped and leaned over to squeeze Tess’s shoulder. ‘Look out of the window, queen! That’ll tell you more than I can.’

Tess looked and saw that, bundled up in warm clothing and bent double against the mixture of rain and sleet which was blowing into their faces, the few people on the pavement showed no inclination to linger, let alone window-shop.

She sighed. ‘You’re right as always, Albert,’ she said resignedly. ‘What do you think about opening just before Easter? We could do a special offer on day-old chicks; give away a packet of chick food with every half dozen birds sold. And then there’s the Easter bunny . . . now what could we do to bring people flocking in to see the Easter bunny?’

Gran had been sitting behind the counter in an old rocking chair which Albert had bought cheap at an auction, and now she laid her knitting down in her lap. She was doing it continental fashion with one needle tucked under her left arm, leaving her right hand to do all the work since her left was almost useless. She smiled at Tess.

‘A pet shop is wasted on you, or rather you are wasted on a pet shop; you should be running the country!’ she said. ‘Are you going to advertise? You could get a reporter from the Liverpool Echo to come and look at your stock and perhaps write a little article. If you open before Easter – just a few days before, mind – then they might give you space, because April is often what they call a slow news time.’

‘I’ll try that,’ Tess agreed. ‘But for now we’ll stock the shop with animal food, fish food and stuff for poultry. Then when Easter arrives all we’ll need will be the animals themselves.’ She grinned at Albert. ‘And thanks to your foresight, Albert, everything will be ready for the arrival of our pets.’

The Friday before the shop was due to open Tess was hurrying home from her latest part-time job as a waitress in a small tea room on Church Street when Snowy galloped up beside her, a grin spreading over his face as he skidded to a halt. ‘Phew! You don’t half walk fast,’ he complained. ‘I saw you as I passed that big jeweller’s shop on the corner. Are you heading for a tram stop or shall I offer to carry your bag? Any news?’