Maura bit her lip and closed her eyes as, only inches away from her, Frank unbuttoned his trousers and relieved himself against the backyard wall. You dirty sod, she thought, resisting the urge to lift the washing paddle and hit him over the head with it. Buttoning himself up, he turned and stared at the wash-house door for so long that Maura felt as though she would pass out if she had to hold her breath a second longer. Then Frank walked away and the backyard gate slammed shut and she counted his footsteps down the entry until they disappeared.

*

Stepping into her kitchen, Maura flicked the switch and the overhead light spluttered into life. The kitchen was spotless, and she was home.

‘Oh, holy feck!’ she screamed as a rat ran across the kitchen door and, grabbing a kitchen chair, jumped onto it. Suddenly the door to the stairs opened and little Paddy dashed in and scooped up the rat, followed by Harry.

‘Paddy, what is that?’ Maura demanded, pointing at the rat little Paddy was slipping into his pocket, the intrusion of Frank the Skank and Mr Heartfelt instantly forgotten.

‘It’s Max, Auntie Maura, but don’t tell my da, please.’

Harry was grinning from ear to ear and then he said, ‘Ma, did you hear all that? We were hiding on the stairs.’

Maura jumped down from the chair as little Paddy said, ‘I did, and Frank the Skank is a bad man.’

‘He is, Paddy, and it would seem Mr Heartfelt isn’t the upstanding citizen he likes everyone to think he is.’ Maura pushed the chair back under the table as little Paddy walked over to show her Max.

‘Would you like to stroke him?’ he asked. ‘And Auntie Maura, who is being turfed out into the street? Maybe we should go and warn them. Is our mam back yet. Where is she, Maura?’

Maura grabbed little Paddy by the shoulders and pulled him into her. ‘She will be here soon and no one is being turfed out, Paddy, no one.’

Harry stood close to them and said to Paddy, ‘There’s no point struggling, Paddy. She does that to me too, you just have to grin and bear it. It won’t last for long.’

And as Harry smiled up at Maura, he looked the happiest Maura had seen him since the last time he had been with his best friend in her kitchen. ‘You’re more like brothers, you two. I should never have let you be separated,’ she said as she stroked little Paddy’s hair.

After a few moments he said, ‘Auntie Maura? You’re crushing Max.’

‘Well, I’m very sorry, Max. But shouldn’t he be in bed now, Paddy?’

‘Oh, no, Auntie Maura, rats are nocturnal, they run around the streets, they come up from the river and…’