Viv squeezed her sister’s arm, urging her not to blow a fuse. Aggie had explained the situation politely.

Queenie’s lips pursed. ‘What exactly are you trying to say? That there’s something wrong with my boys? Cause the only wrong un I see ’ere is you. The so-called friend who blanked my letters throughout the Blitz.’ Seeing her friend’s lip tremble, Queenie’s fuse blew. ‘Fuck you, Aggie. I dislike you immensely and never want to see you or your notright kids again.’ As Queenie made her exit with Viv in tow, she thought of Mrs O’Leary. Mary had never liked Aggie much either.

‘Wait there,’ Vinny ordered his brothers when they reached the corner of their road. For as long as he could remember, Mrs Beard had been a bit of an obsession with him. When he was little he’d been scared of her. She looked like a witch with her unkempt long black hair and missing teeth. And her name suited her perfectly; reason being, she had thick black hairs sprouting out of her chin. She also had loads of black cats as pets. All the kids were certain she was a real witch and they’d hang around outside her house to torment her. Not for long though. Mrs Beard hated children and within seconds of clocking any close to her property, she’d come flying out of her front door with a broom, shouting abuse and shooing them away.

Vinny got on all fours to check the coast was clear, then crawled back around the corner. ‘Right, I’ll go inside her front garden and tie the string to next door’s fence. You tie it this end, Roy, and you be lookout, Michael.’

Roy suddenly had a bad feeling about this. He didn’t like Mrs Beard. She was scary. But his mum always insisted they must respect their elders and Mrs Beard was very old now. ‘It’s raining, Vin. Let’s just go home. Mum’ll be back soon with our pie and mash, and if she catches us ’ere, we’ll be in big trouble.’

‘Shut it, Nancy Boy,’ Vinny hissed. ‘We’ve been saying for ages we gonna do this. She’s bound to land on her broomstick and fly off. How else we gonna find out if she’s a real witch?’

When his brother crawled around the corner, Roy rather reluctantly tied a knot in the string. His belly was rumbling now. He was starving.

Vinny tied his string in a double knot, checked the coast was clear, then crawled back around the corner. ‘Right, cross the road now and start being as noisy as we can. We don’t wanna stand right outside her house.’

The deranged old woman flew out of her front door, broom in hand, with a face like thunder. ‘Get away from my house, you little buggers,’ she yelled.

Seconds later, Mrs Beard fell flat on her face. But instead of flying off on her broomstick, she landed on top of it and stopped moving.

‘Shit,’ Roy mumbled. He could see blood mixed with the rain on the pavement.