This was a game they played a lot, though Tommy wasn’t sure Nicky liked it that much either. They both claimed to love Star Wars because their dad did. He had shown them all the films, which he had on video, even sitting between Tommy and Nicky on the sofa to watch with them, an arm round each of them. The films had bored and baffled Tommy, seeming old and clunky and silly, although he’d tried hard to believe in what was happening. But he knew he would never stop pretending; his dad was always in a good mood when they watched the films. “Star Wars changed my life,” he’d said to them once. “It showed me there was a whole world out there beyond my own small one on the island. I knew your mum was the one for me when she said she loved Star Wars too. Most women don’t get it.”

Young as he was back then, Tommy had had the disquieting thought that perhaps his mum was pretending too.

Now, Nicky said, “I’ll be Luke Skywalker and you can be Darth Vader.”

Tommy drew himself up for the familiar battle. “I don’t want to be Darth Vader. I’m always Darth Vader.”

“Well, you have to be or it doesn’t work.”

“I want to be Han Solo.”

Nicky shook his head in disbelief. “You can’t be Han Solo fighting Luke Skywalker. That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, why don’t you be Darth Vader then?”

Nicky looked at him patiently. “That’s not how the game works, Tommy.”

Tommy had decided he disliked being called Tommy. He’d expended a lot of effort over the past couple of months trying to insist that everybody call him Tom, which sounded older. But in truth, he still thought of himself as Tommy. He had already realized in a vague way that you got your idea of yourself from other people. You didn’t choose it yourself.

“I want to be Luke Skywalker,” he told Nicky stolidly.

“You can’t.” Nicky gave the matter some thought. “If you really, really want to,” he conceded generously, “you can be a stormtrooper.”

“I don’t want to be a stormtrooper.”

“Tell you what,” Nicky said, “I’ll be Luke Skywalker for a bit, then we’ll switch and you can be Han Solo and I’ll be a stormtrooper. That’s fair.”

Tommy considered. It sounded fair, like most things Nicky suggested, but he had a suspicion it would be almost teatime before Nicky allowed them to switch, and then he’d hardly get a turn at being Han Solo. He could see, though, that there was no point arguing any longer; he never won. “O.K.”

They spent a while looking for the sticks they used as lightsabers, and found them at last about ten metres from the house, where they must have thrown them down a few days before.