The La Marzocco was the property of Lou and Afterpay. She was determined to finish owning it in her new life. ‘If you take it, that’s one less misdemeanour for the council to pin on us,’ Gordon said.

‘And I’m the only one who knows how to use it.’

‘How will you get it up the stairs?’

‘I’ve got a brilliant idea. But it involves the StairLift, if I can get it working.’

‘Want me to help?’

‘You stay here. If I’ve learnt one thing about The Lodge, I won’t have to wait long for help.’

As the game started, with Ben’s team losing the toss and having to bowl first, Gordon shuttled among the crew.

Red Cap had brought a card table and a jigsaw puzzle, and Ron Grimes turned out to be a surprisingly sharp-eyed asset. Perversity was Ron’s last great joy: when the worst was expected of him, he would deliver his best. As they worked separate sections of the jigsaw, Gordon and his father exchanged reminiscences about family holidays, which were happier in memory than at the time. Maybe, Gordon thought, the only true moment is the present, and if I am content in our fictitious constructions, they overwrite the facts. Ron had come with his usual overnight bag, crammed, as if for a long stayover, with pyjamas, toiletries and the obligatory manila folders and file envelopes. Gordon didn’t press. It was such an uncommon morning, uncontentious and companionable, he wanted to preserve it.

Ron was convivial, behaving politely towards Norma. Red Cap talked jigsaw tactics with Ron, Josie brought cups of tea from the pavilion, and Tonsure Man listened with interest as Norma prattled about a golf club friend’s father who had been Tonsure Man’s dentist in the 1970s and removed a young TM’s impacted, infected molars.

Out in the middle, the gentlemen’s game proceeded in a manner befitting this cultured audience. The Cobcroft Boys’ wickets fell in an orderly sequence, Daniel bowling out the opposing captain and Ben staying out of harm’s way. He only had to field two balls in the first hour, and when he threw from the outfield nobody was audibly laughing. Gordon counted this as a win.