‘Like I always say, if you’d gone to university, you could be a lawyer now, not just a secretary. You could be a lawyer specializing in taking to task all those multinational petrochemical companies …’ The alternative life Rhona had built up for her daughter didn’t lack for detail. ‘Then you could feel that you’re doing some good. Which, of course, you can’t, having got married so early …’

‘Mu-um …’ said Shannon plaintively

‘… and marrying someone whose work involves supporting the petrochemical industries. Selling petrol, for a start, and then repairing cars and encouraging people to go out and spread pollution all over the place.’

‘Mum, please. Jude doesn’t want to hear all this.’

The Jude in question didn’t mind, actually. She was permanently curious about her fellow human beings, and constantly amazed by the diversity of their interests and behaviour. The work she did gave her unrivalled access to the lives of others.

‘Well, I speak as I find,’ said Rhona. Her daughter’s reaction showed it was another line she heard with considerable frequency.

But Rhona hadn’t finished needling. She should have realized by now that nothing she said was going to bring down her daughter’s marriage, but she still had to keep chipping away at its foundations. ‘You know Billy’s plans for the garage, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ said Shannon wearily.

‘He was talking to me about them only yesterday,’ Rhona persisted. ‘He makes no secret of them. One of my Fethering friends heard him sounding off about them in the Crown and Anchor. When he gets control of Shefford’s, he wants to turn it into a dealership with one of the big companies; a foreign one – Nissan, Toyota, Honda, one of those Eastern ones. Billy reckons that’s where the money’s going to be in the future. He says there’s no profit in filling cars with petrol and doing repairs.’

‘Mum …’ said Shannon with a long-suffering sigh, ‘Billy’s told me all this. I know what his plans are.’

‘Yes, but Jude doesn’t know, does she?’

Jude thought it rather strange that she was being brought in to help in the demolition of Rhona’s son-in-law. It wasn’t a position she particularly relished, but she kept quiet.

‘Anyway, it’s all going to change soon,’ said Shannon.

‘What’s all going to change?’

‘The motor industry. In twenty years’ time, there won’t be any fossil fuels. If Billy does get his dealership, he won’t be selling petrol-driven cars. They’ll all be electric.’

‘So they say,’ Rhona intoned darkly. ‘The politicians. Mind you, politicians will say anything if it’s going to squeeze out one more vote for them.’ Shannon’s face suggested this was also a view she’d heard expressed many times before.