Now it was Alice’s turn to roll her eyes towards Jerry, who, sensing an escalation in the banter between the two women, glanced at the clock to see how long it was until he would be able to escape. There was a slap of card on paper as Nellie slammed her book shut and, looking up, grinned at her da. They were very much on each other’s side, himself and the child he shared with his first wife, Bernadette, who had died shortly after giving birth to Nellie.

Kathleen carried on undeterred, ‘I definitely saw it in there, in Shelagh’s leaves, a very dark cloud, right in the middle of the bottom of the teacup. And if I see it, I say it. That’s why the women from around here come to me and not Mrs King on Upper Parliament Street. I give them the facts, facts that are true,’ she finished with a flourish as she removed her handkerchief from her apron pocket and began to wipe furiously at her steamed-up glasses.

‘Isn’t that the whole point of a fact, that it’s true?’ said Alice with more than a hint of sarcasm.

But Kathleen was on one of her rants and no longer in the mood for interruptions. ‘Be quiet, Alice. I don’t see that cloud very often, so I don’t.’ She pushed her spectacles back up her nose and peered down at Jerry as she walked closer to him, her brow furrowed. Round and matronly, Irish eyes often twinkling, tonight, Kathleen looked concerned.

‘Oh, Mam, don’t be doing that to me,’ said Jerry, digging into his pudding. ‘Could you take a look into the leaves and tell me about the ship that’s berthed down on the docks that everyone seems to be so secretive about? No one batted an eyelid tonight at Captain Conor’s ship docking – the police were marking the one already in but it hasn’t yet unloaded and nor do we know when it will be. It’s very odd.’

Kathleen leant towards her son. ‘I saw that ship and the police at the bottom. I said to you, didn’t I, Alice, we’ve not seen that one here before.’

They all stopped as they heard the click of the backyard gate. Seconds later little Paddy stood framed in the doorway.

‘Paddy, what are you doing here?’ asked Jerry. ‘Your da is in the pub with Seamus and Eugene.’ His immediate thought was that big Paddy had failed to tell Peggy where he was going and little Paddy was looking for him.

‘Kathleen, have you seen our mam?’ Little Paddy asked Kathleen. ‘Only she went out ages ago to take Shelagh’s pram back and she hasn’t come home yet. Shelagh says she will have gone to the bingo, but I don’t think she has.’