Tess, Gran and Albert stood on the pavement outside the pet shop staring at the window, which was all set now for the opening the next day. Tess had spent a great deal of time and thought on how the window was to look, and after half a dozen tries had finally settled on the display the three of them were now examining. In the middle was a large aquarium decorated with water plants, clean sand and a couple of branches of coral as well as forty or so tiny goldfish. The price of the coral had made Tess gasp, but Gran had pointed out that this was a commodity she would only have to buy once and there was no doubt that it improved the look of the aquarium as well as giving the fish something to swim round. To one side of the aquarium was a box of kittens, one ginger, one tabby and one black and white. Normally they would have been playing with each other or with one of the woolly balls which dangled from the top of the box, but now, with only the streetlights to illuminate them, they were snoozing.

On the other side was another box, containing two puppies. A canary in a cage hung from the ceiling and to the rear of the window, where once Miss Foulks had put her most expensive hats, stood a large cage with half a dozen rabbits in it.

Tess turned from her examination of the window. ‘What do you think?’ she asked huskily. ‘Will it attract customers? I’ve taken your advice, Albert, and not put any prices in the window so that if folk are serious they have to come inside and enquire.’ After Albert had nodded his approval she turned to Gran. ‘I took your advice as well, and stopped trying to get virtually everything I sell into the window, and I must say it looks all the better for it. But now I’m going to lower my lovely new blind so that we can all get some sleep, including the pets. So we’d best say good night, Albert.’

The door to their staircase was still open, but Albert shook his head. ‘I’m coming up with you; I’ve bought a bottle of fizzy Spanish wine to drink to the success of your venture, and I mean to broach it right away,’ he said. He positioned himself closely behind Edie. ‘Carefully as you go,’ he advised her. ‘If you were to fall down now, everyone would assume you’d drunk more than your fair share of the wine, and we can’t have that, can we?’

The shop had been busy all day, for December was well advanced, but the crowds were thinning now as dusk approached. Tess was considering swinging the open sign on the door round to read: Sorry, we are closed when somebody came into the shop. For a moment, Tess thought it must just have been the wind, for she could see nobody, but then she looked again and realised that the intruder was a very small and very grubby boy, whose head scarcely came above the counter. Inwardly, Tess sighed. This customer was a sixpenny goldfish if ever she saw one; probably he was already holding, beneath the counter top, a glass jar into which she would decant the goldfish of his choice. And then he would bring out a collection of pennies and ha’pennies which might have taken him weeks to collect and would tell her that the goldfish was a present for his mam, and she would feel mean at taking money so hard earned.