Tommy wanted them to be Vikings because that’s what they’d been studying at school, and he liked the Vikings a lot, how fierce they were and how far they’d travelled, though Nicky said the Vikings were their enemies. Tommy himself hardly ever left the island, and even then it was only to get the ferry to Oban once a month to go shopping with his mum. Apart from that, he’d only been to Loch Lomond on holiday, which didn’t count, and never even once to Glasgow or London or anywhere on a plane. Almost nobody he knew had been anywhere interesting. But Angus, who was the only other boy at school (though the Wilson twins were as good as boys), had been to Portugal with his grandparents from Dumfries the summer before and wouldn’t stop talking about how hot it was and how bright. When Nicky finally told him to shut up, Angus had just given them both a pitying look and said maybe they’d be able to go one day, and Tommy had been so enraged that anyone should talk to Nicky like this, especially someone who was two years younger, that he’d hit Angus on the arm. Angus had cried even though Tommy knew he wasn’t really hurt, and Mrs Brown had made Tommy apologize and miss out on playtime. But Tommy was pleased to have restored balance, because though he’d had to apologize, Angus had still cried. He’d thought Nicky would thank him after school, but all Nicky said was, “You shouldn’t hit people,” and Tommy was annoyed again because here was Nicky pretending to be a grown up, just like always.

When Tommy suggested, shyly, the Viking idea, Nicky said no. He said two wasn’t enough to play Vikings, which made no sense to Tommy because they always played with just two, unless Angus or the twins were round. You could do almost anything with two. You just had to imagine the other characters you needed in the game, or each take on more than one part. Occasionally they even made Beth stand in, but she was never much use. Either she sat on the ground chewing anything she could get her hands on, or she hauled herself to her feet and tried to toddle unsteadily away, so that they had to break the game and give chase.

“Well, what do you want to do then?” he said to Nicky, trying to sound sulky enough that Nicky would know he was annoyed, but not so sulky that Nicky would call him a baby.

“Star Wars,” Nicky said.