She had expected sleep to claim her within minutes, but midnight struck, then one, then two, and still her fretful thoughts forbade relaxation, let alone sleep. At five-thirty she fell into an uneasy doze and a bare hour later a paper boy, whistling down the street, awoke her. After that, she made no further attempt to sleep but must have dropped off anyway, because she slept through the alarm and didn’t wake until Gran called from the kitchen that it was gone eight and the pet shop opened at nine. As she got up and began to wash, she told herself that at least her sleepless night had given her time to think, and those thoughts were no longer chaotic or frightening. She knew what she must do and told herself that she would consult Gran; Gran would know whether the decision she had come to in the night was right or wrong.

Satisfied, she rubbed herself dry on a rough towel and began to dress.

Gran was in the kitchen about to dish up the porridge when Tess entered the room.

‘Morning,’ Tess said cheerfully. ‘Another nice one judging from what I saw when I drew back the curtains.’

‘Good morning, my love,’ Gran said. ‘You had a long day yesterday, so no wonder you slept in.’ She looked shrewdly at Tess, noting her heavy eyes and her pallor, but said nothing. She thought she could guess the reason for Tess’s obvious inability to sleep, but knew it would not do to remark on it. She must wait until Tess chose to confide in her, if she ever did.

‘I see you’ve stolen a march on me,’ Tess said. ‘Honestly, Gran, I meant to get the breakfast this morning because it is my turn, but I didn’t have a very good night; it must have been after six before I actually fell asleep, and when you called it was all I could do to crawl out of bed and reach the washstand. But splashing lovely cold water on to my face woke me up just enough.’ She crossed the kitchen, took the kettle off the stove and began to make the tea in the big brown pot. ‘Gosh, that porridge looks delicious. I didn’t have any supper last night, what with the angora bunnies having to be made comfortable . . .’ She sat down at the table and drew her porridge bowl towards her, glancing up at the clock on the mantel as she did so. ‘Oh, dear, I can see I shall be late opening, but there’s never much trade first thing in the morning, and Mitch will be along dead on nine, with Elsie in tow as usual. They don’t have a key, of course, but I can nip down and open up and then leave them to it until I’ve got myself together.’

Gran sat down opposite Tess and spooned honey over her porridge. ‘I’ll go down when Mitch arrives,’ she volunteered. ‘I’ll start the feeding and filling the water pots, because I can manage that if I’m careful only to use my right hand. If I forget and try to use the other one my grip isn’t reliable. And I’m really keen to see the rabbits you bought yesterday. What colour are they? The card of wool you gave me is bluey-grey, but I understand angoras come in a variety of shades.’