Gordon had confessed to Ben that he feared cricket balls too. ‘I’d feel safer if you were getting whacked around in rugby league. Bigger boys know when to stop hurting you, but a cricket ball doesn’t.’ Yet Ben wouldn’t be turned off, and now that he’d taken his first-ever catch, accident or not, he was fully on the hook.

‘Daniel hugged me so hard he pulled me onto the ground,’ Ben told Grandma, a cloud coming over his face. ‘Then he realised everyone was looking, and he got a bit angry at me.’

‘Was Daniel’s dad there?’ Gordon asked.

‘Yeah, but he wasn’t watching. He was talking with Mr Stoyle. Mr Stoyle’s a good coach,’ Ben told Grandma earnestly. ‘He played for the state.’

‘Well then,’ Grandma said, ‘I’m sure he recognises your talent.’

‘We’re in the final,’ Ben said in a small voice. ‘If he picks me it’ll be amazing.’

‘We’ll be there,’ his grandmother said. ‘With bells on.’

‘And Mum?’

‘I don’t know, pal,’ Gordon said.

‘Of course she will!’ Grandma blurted, with a significant look at Gordon.

‘And Uncle Carl?’

Before Gordon could reply, Norma said, ‘Don’t tell me that awful piece of work is back hanging around.’

‘Must be some financial inducement,’ Ron said.

‘Is he into cricket?’ Ben asked.

‘Well,’ Norma concluded disapprovingly, ‘he is very Indian; it came out stronger in him than in Kelly.’

‘Anyway!’ Grandpa said, folding his Herald with a snap. ‘You won’t need to rely on Gordon to drive you, pet. I am taking leave from the nursing home, and I shall become your primary carer. Don’t worry about anything. I can come and go in your car, save these poor boys the trouble.’

‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous,’ Norma snapped. ‘You can’t even take care of yourself, and I can’t look after you. How do you expect to look after me?’

Grandpa waved away her objections. ‘I’ll do the shopping, I’ll drive you to your appointments.’

‘You’ll do no such thing. You’ll go back to the nursing home and Gordon will look after me.’

Grandpa said to Gordon, ‘Give me five minutes with your mother.’ He issued a little get-lost whistle and flick of his hand.

Gordon took Ben along the corridor to a snack machine. For most of his life, Ben had not been able to hear when his stomach told him it was full, and, like a labrador, he would eat until food was pulled away from him. This too had been a source of family friction. His mum thought he should see a doctor, while his dad thought he had to learn self-control. For all that, his dad took pleasure in the ability to patch over awkward moments by buying him a sneaky chocolate bar.

‘Kit Kat?’ Gordon scanned the vending machine. ‘Fanta?’

‘Wait, what?’

Gordon nodded to the machine.

‘No, not hungry.’