I can’t live here, thinks June. Clover Hill. She’s never been to this part of town before: leafy, manicured, and quiet. Why are there tiny pebbles on the front of that house? Why is there a hedge cut into the shape of a duck, or is it meant to be a chicken? And she’s never seen a cul-de-sac before, let alone a cul-de-sac on a slope. It looks to her as if some higher power has slid a finger under the earth and tilted the landscape so that one terraced row stands considerably higher than the other. Can’t her husband see that with their house on the top row, all their good fortune will drain away?

Yes, they’re lucky to have got off the waiting list so soon. Yes, she should be grateful. But what, she wants to know, is the hurry? Can’t they wait another year, if only to get a better deal?

“It’ll give a bad impression, Jun-Jun,” explains her husband. “Remember what the lady from the housing office said? If we don’t take a council house when we’re offered one, they’ll think we don’t need it as much as everyone else. They might not even let us back on the waiting list.” He takes her hand. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but you’ll see.”

She knows he’s trying his best. And she knows he’s a good man, though she feared early on that she’d made a mistake. He’d left for England a few months after their wedding, following in the steps of countless men seeking better prospects overseas, and she’d expected him to forget her and take up with a young Englishwoman. But he’d sent her a letter each month with reports on his health, the weather, and his living and working conditions. He always included bank notes wrapped in butcher paper, even when he was between waiter jobs. He’d write, “Thank you for your patience, dear Jun-Jun. I am working hard to prepare a good situation for your arrival.” She told him she didn’t need the money, as she had her own income from the hair salon. But he’d insisted, and she’d dutifully relented, understanding that it was for him a matter of pride, and to some extent consolation, for failing to send for his wife in a timely manner.