‘No, I need to learn to channel my energy and communicate with my guides. Then I would be able to read the forces surrounding my clients. I would be able to work with my guides.’

Geranium for PMT, petunia for a sluggish kidney, clary sage for mood swings. The scents of the oils hung around him. He could only shake them off when he got to work. He worked night-shifts as a welder. As he napped during the day, he would hear the new age music coming down from above him.

Another black cat loped around the house. Elaine made sure they ate only protein-rich cat food. For the family, she cooked wholesome, organic meals despite Adam’s occasional protests. When he craved red meat, he had to go and sit alone in Burger King.

That summer she took the girls and disappeared for two weeks. Adam started to put on the weight she had shielded him from. He lost the daily blessing of the two little ones. Often he was worried but they came back tanned and healthy. He hugged the girls and watched Elaine move around the house dressed like a gypsy.

‘We travelled with the fair,’ she explained. ‘From city to city. The weather was perfect. We picked strawberries and had picnics on the beach. These girls haven’t watched television in all the time they were away!’ She sounded like she was boasting.

Adam felt even more left out. ‘Aren’t you going to ask what I’ve been doing?’

She folded her arms across her chest and said in a flat voice, ‘So what have you been up to?’

He deliberately went through his boring routine, hour after hour, day after day.

But she had had enough, ‘You should have just come with us. Why didn’t you?’

‘Because you never asked me,’ he shouted.

He had taken the night off work to be with her but she sat up in bed hugging her knees as if she was in pain, ‘There is so much I want to do, so much I want to see. I should have been in India by now.’

‘It’s not practical. It never was. There’s the girls to consider, the house …’

‘You go on about the same things but I am ahead of you, Adam.’ She rocked from side to side. ‘I am so, so ahead of you now. This is exactly what Indigo said.’

‘Who the hell is Indigo?’

‘A psychic clairvoyant. Indigo has been able to communicate with the Spirit all her life through vision, hearing and scent. She can tune into clients with amazing accuracy. She said someone close to me is holding me back.’

‘I’ve done nothing to hold you back. All I’ve ever done is support you.’

‘She smelt you Adam! She smelt grease and oil.’

‘This marriage is over, isn’t it?’ he said.