Callum had never wanted to see the tall wooden gates of Walton Jail ever again, or hear the jangle of the keys, the turning of the four locks followed by the sliding of the four bolts. He’d felt sick to the pit of his stomach as the small door opened and Jimmy stepped out into the bright sunlight. Callum was filled with shame at the memories of the time he had spent there. Since he’d got out, Jerry Deane had been like a father to him, had showed him that hard work paid and it was his fervent wish to ensure that Jimmy turned over a new leaf, that he had walked out of those same doors for the very last time too.

Seeing his brother, Jimmy’s face lit up and he ran across the road to greet him.

‘Hey, did Mam send a butty? I haven’t had any breakfast yet.’ He slapped his brother across the back of his shoulders and sides and Callum couldn’t help himself; he grinned as he thumped his brother back.

‘She did, but you’ve just flattened it.’

Both boys laughed out loud as Callum removed the bacon sandwich from his jacket pocket. Jimmy ripped off the paper and bit deep into his breakfast. ‘Oh that’s good, I’ve missed Mam’s cooking.’ The squeak of the bus brakes could be heard in the distance. ‘Where have you been, Callum? I was in there a whole year and you never got brought in once. I told the guards, when our Callum gets here, you can put us in the same cell.’

Callum pushed his hands deep into his pockets. ‘I’ve kept out and that’s the way it’s staying. I’m never going back in that place again.’

Jimmy stopped chewing and gave his brother a quizzical look. ‘You must have been practising the running, or you’ve got smarter at not getting caught!’

Callum looked at his brother with interest, his identical twin, his complete other half, his mirror image. Inseparable, they’d been; five minutes had divided them at birth and yet it felt to Callum as though a million miles separated them at that moment.

‘I’ve been too busy to be caught at anything, Jimmy. I’m earning an honest living down on the docks. Jerry Deane took me on, and if you talk to him, tell him you want to go straight, he’ll give you a chance like he did me. You don’t want to be back inside that hellhole again, you said so yourself.’

Jimmy looked at his brother as though he were speaking a foreign language. ‘I don’t,’ said Jimmy. ‘You’ve only been on the docks, that’s all you’ve been doing? You’ve gone straight? I thought Mam was just holding out on me, keeping secrets.’