Lara had had four puppies and Thea had made three lots of tea when a problem seemed to develop. Lara had been straining for some time, with no result. Suddenly she leapt on to the sofa with surprising swiftness and passed a lot of black fluid all over the cushions.

‘Oh,’ said Thea.

‘It’s all right. It means the bag has burst inside her. It’ll be a dry birth and the puppy might be breech.’

‘It doesn’t sound all right at all and here’s us without a vet.’

‘You could look in the Yellow Pages.’

‘I don’t know where they are, or whether they even exist in Ireland. I don’t get through the door of a house and check it out for telephone directories before I’ve even got my coat off. I see now it’s a terrible failing of mine.’

‘There’s no need to panic’

‘I’m not panicking,’ said Thea, who was. ‘I’ll have a look round.’

‘If we have to manage without a vet, we’ll have to manage. Ah, I can see something coming. It’s a leg. Two legs.’

‘Does that mean it’s breech?’

‘Yup.’

Lara gave a howl, which tore Thea’s heart. A bit more puppy emerged and Lara began to panic. She jumped off the sofa and ran round the room, squealing, trying to escape from the pain.

Thea scooped up the puppies already born and got them out of her way while Ben pursued Lara. When Thea had settled the puppies by the fire, where no one, including Lara, was likely to tread on them, she joined Ben.

‘Hold her head and reassure her while I try and get this little fella out.’

Thea held the head the size of a bucket, hoping that, in her distress, Lara wouldn’t turn vicious and bite. Many a woman would have bitten her husband or the midwife if they’d been able to reach them, going on what she’d seen on television.

She watched admiringly as Ben gently teased the little form through an opening which seemed too small for it. He murmured to Lara while he did it and, although she still whimpered, she seemed calmer. Thea was about to say that Lara knew Ben was helping her when she realised she would probably sound dreadfully sentimental. She felt a bit tearful as it was.

‘There we go.’

The puppy landed in Ben’s hands and opened its mouth to squeak. Lara flopped down where she was, behind the dining table.

As she watched Ben give Lara the puppy to lick, she had a strange feeling that this moment was significant, as if she had learnt something extremely important, but had instantly forgotten what it was. She shook her head quickly and decided it was something to do with the puppies. Her hormones coming out in sympathy with Lara’s.