Harry grinned. ‘Couldn’t let your mam down, God rest her soul. Good luck, the pair of you – and happy Christmas!’

And so it was that as dusk faded into dark Jimmy made his cautious way to Princes Park, where he and Nutty were to meet to carry out their task. His friend greeted him with a grin and Jimmy recognised several of the other lads from the surrounding Courts. They were all pals and knew him well enough not to give him away to the Huxtables. Jimmy began to feel positively irresponsible. Mo had been clinging closer to him than a limpet to a rock, but now he was with lads of his own age, he joined in with the laughter and the gossip with a clear conscience. He did not use swear words whilst he was with his sister, but now if he felt annoyed he could give vent to his feelings in the shared language which all the boys used.

Whistling softly beneath his breath, he decided that Nutty’s dad had been right when he likened taking holly to a bird plucking off a hawthorn berry, whereas scrumping fruit – a favourite summer pastime – really was stealing. He was expanding on this theory whilst Nutty nodded sagely when the moon, whose full silver face had shown the park up as bright as day, went behind a cloud. For a moment the boys paused in their stealthy onward progress, but then they moved forward once more until they reached a hedge which positively bristled with holly. Jimmy produced his clasp knife and began to look for well-berried pieces, but either the aforementioned bird or other lads had already been busy here; they would have to go deeper into the park if they wanted holly whose berries still remained on the branch.

As he and his pals crossed a piece of open ground, Jimmy remembered something he had always known really, which was that they were not alone in wanting to earn a bit extra for the holiday. Because of the Depression there were a great many men who had to take what they could get in order to make the dole go round, and some of these men, Jimmy had heard, were dangerous. They would attack an old woman for what was in her purse, even if it was only a few shillings, and if they decided that it was worth while to accost and steal from a group of boys then they would undoubtedly do it.

He was whispering this information into Nutty’s ear, suggesting that they move away from ground which had already been virtually stripped, when they reached a tall holly tree whose upper branches were still heavy with berries. The reason for this peculiarity was soon clear, however: the briefest of examinations showed that the huge tree was quite unclimbable even for Jimmy, who was the best climber of all the lads. Fortunately, a large lime tree whose upper branches were within a few feet of the holly’s presented few problems for an agile twelve-year-old, and within minutes Jimmy had ascended, reached across, grabbed the biggest – and best – branch of well-berried holly and cut it off from the main trunk, and was descending the lime tree once more. Glancing down, he saw in the tricky moonlight that whilst he had been climbing Nutty and the other lads had moved on. He looked about him, hoping Nutty had left the canvas bag in which Jimmy had meant to carry his trophy, but as his feet touched the ground he realised that Nutty must have taken it with him.