“Why do you have to speak French to them all the time? It sounds ridiculous. They’re the ones who chose to come to England; they should bloody well learn to speak English. How do you expect them to integrate?”

“I imagine they’ll learn.”

“Yeah, like, if they stay here the next fifty years,” Artemio says, sarcastically. He goes over to the television, picks up the remote control.

“No television till you’ve finished your homework.”

“But Mumma, it’s the weekend!”

“You know the rules.”

He zaps the remote control absentmindedly at his mother. “Why didn’t we ever meet them before?” he persists. “Like, all these years, we never even knew they existed and suddenly they’re living with us.”

Gillem, coming in from his studio, pauses at this last sentence. Kisses Artemio, who is now plopped on the sofa, flipping through the pages of the television guide, and then Kate, who is unloading the groceries into the kitchen cupboard.

“Did you have a good time at the party, Artemio? Who was there?”

“Nobody of interest,” says Artemio, quickly. “Is Morgan going to go to English school next year?” he pursues. “He can’t even say ‘Hello’ properly—he’s, like, ‘Allo!’ If he stays, I should think they’d have to put him in nursery school.”

Kate restrains herself from pointing out that Morgan may not be able to say “Hello,” but he’s already succeeded in making friends with those Queens Park hoodlums who are the terror of every middle-class mother and the awe of those mothers’ sons.

“Are Celia and Morgan out?” she asks her husband.

“I suppose they must be.”

“Do you have any idea where they are?”

Gillem looks vague. “Aren’t they supposed to be helping out at Mirjana’s boyfriend’s café?”

“Really?”

“Yes. I think that’s where Celia said they were going.”

“Nobody said anything to me about it.”

“Didn’t Celia tell us that Zoran had said he could give her some work at the café?”

“This is the first I’ve heard about it,” Kate repeats.

“Oh, I don’t think it’s anything very serious—just serving tea to the customers. But she seemed excited about it.”

“That’s very odd. I do remember her raising the subject of finding some kind of summer job, but my understanding was that we had told her we didn’t think it was a very good idea, among other things because we’re all about to head off for the country. I do think it’s a bit naughty of her to go ahead without asking.”

Kate suddenly finds herself unreasonably angry. And she knows, once she’s started, it will be impossible to back down, because Gillem has this passive resister’s way of going all opaque and withdrawn that only makes her the more indignant.