All of them turned to look at him. Tommy felt the silence pushing at his sides. “The other kind is carvel,” he said. “The non-Viking kind.”

“Well, I haven’t heard of either,” his mother said, “so all of you are much cleverer than me.”

Tommy waited for his father to speak. He didn’t dare look up, and he knew Nicky would be staring down at his plate too, thinking how stupid Tommy was, how he always ruined things.

“Do you think you know better than everybody else?” his father said. He didn’t sound angry. He sounded curious.

Tommy shook his head. A throbbing had started up in his ears.

“He doesn’t think that, Dad,” Nicky said, and Tommy was astonished at his brother’s bravery, his loyalty.

Their father held up his hand to silence Nicky, but Nicky added all the same, “It’s just that he really, really loves the Vikings. They’re his favourite. Dad, will you take us to a museum to look at Viking things sometime? Mrs Brown says they have some stuff in Glasgow.”

The cleverness of him. Tommy couldn’t look at his father, so he kept his eyes on Nicky instead. Nicky looked entirely innocent.

There was a long pause, and then their father said, “Yes, we can do that.” After a moment, he added, “Tommy. Nobody likes a know-it-all.”

Tommy nodded quickly, staring down at his plate.

Their father picked up his cutlery and put a piece of chicken in his mouth. “It’s dry, Katrina,” he said. But he spoke calmly. After a few minutes of eating in silence, he pushed the plate away from him and stood up. “Better get back to work,” he said, and left the kitchen.

Tommy felt himself letting out a slow, shaky breath, and thought his mother and Nicky were doing the same.

Their mother said, “Crumble for pudding. Finish up, boys.” She reached over to ruffle Tommy’s hair, and feeling this, and thinking of the crumble, and of how Nicky had saved him, Tommy felt a surge of joy so pure and keen it was like the rush in your stomach on a swing.

Later, when they were upstairs in their bedroom, Nicky said, “It is clinker, Tommy. I knew you were right.”

Tommy nodded. He heard without Nicky needing to say it what lay behind his brother’s words: we got away with it this time. Be more careful in future. Nicky went back downstairs and Tommy stayed in their room, reading his book about the Vikings.