‘I don’t know,’ said Tony. ‘Stock up, I guess.’

‘Exactly. And that’s what people are going to start doing tonight, as soon as they realise how serious this situation’s going to be. Take a look at it now – have you ever seen so many people here on a Sunday evening? And look at those people there – those shopping carts are filled to the top.’ Tony peered through the window of the office into the store. ‘I guess you’re right,’ he said, slowly. ‘Look at that woman there – she’s got herself a train of three carts tied together.’

‘That settles it,’ said Mike. ‘I’m going to close the place up.’

‘What for?’ Tony wanted to know. ‘If things go on this way, we could make ourselves three times the weekly turnover, all in one night.’

‘You don’t understand,’ Mike told him. ‘We’ve got a responsibility to the whole community around here – not just the first fifty people with enough wit and enough money to clear the place out. And even if we do sell everything tonight, there’s no guarantee that we can restock until next week. If at all.’

‘Well, I’m sorry, but I think you’re wrong,’ said Tony. Mike looked at him sourly. ‘You can think what you like, but right now I’m the manager and I say we close. So get to it. And make sure you put up the steel shutters.’

Tony saluted him. ‘Jawohl, mein Führer,’ he said, with no pretence of a German accent.

Mike had only just gone back to his desk when his buzzer went. He returned to the window, and saw that there was a scuffle going on in one of the aisles. He quickly opened his office door, and made his way beside the cold meat counter to the scene of the disturbance.

‘All right,’ he demanded. ‘What’s going on?’

The woman with the three shopping carts tied together was jostling with an elderly man in mirror sunglasses and a pale-blue shirt. She was loud, and rinsed with strawberry blonde, and Mike could see at once that she was going to be difficult. One of his assistants was trying to hold her back, while another one was picking up boxes of cereal that had scattered all across the aisle.

‘This lady thinks she can corner the cereal market,’ protested the elderly man. ‘All I want is a couple of packs of cornflakes, but she’s got every single box in the store.’

‘They’re all out of cornflakes, that’s all,’ snapped the woman. ‘Is it my fault if they’re all out?’

‘I think I have more cornflakes in the stockroom,’ said Mike. ‘How many did you want?’

‘Two packs, that’s all,’ said the elderly man. ‘I’m not an hysterical hoarder, like this lady.’