‘Gran’s all right . . .’ A mischievous smile quirked her mouth. ‘Same as always.’ Then a slight frown creased her forehead. ‘Grandpa’s – all right, I suppose, but, well, he seems to get tired a lot quicker now.’

A look of concern for her brother crossed Peggy’s face. ‘Well, he is sixty-eight, you know.’

Ella gasped and stared at her. ‘Is he really?’

Peggy smiled. ‘Trouble with all of us, we’re still about twenty inside our heads and still think we can act that age.’

‘How old’s my gran, then?’

‘I’m not absolutely sure. She’s certainly two or three years younger than Jonathan.’ Peggy paused and then added, ‘I should have retired a couple of years ago but, well, my life would be so empty without work that they let me stay on.’

‘I don’t blame you,’ Janice put in. ‘I wouldn’t want to give up if I worked in such a lovely shop.’

Peggy gave a small smile and sighed. ‘I suppose it will have to come to it soon. I’ll have to make way for a younger person.’ Peggy seemed to shake herself and say, with deliberate cheerfulness, ‘What about you two? When do you leave school and what are you going to do?’

‘I’ve already left,’ Janice said promptly. ‘I’m a bit older than Ella. I work in a café at the moment. It’s okay in the summer, but this time of the year, it’s dead!’ She cast her eyes upwards in a gesture of hopelessness. ‘I’d like to get something better some day.’

‘I’m sure you will, Janice.’ Peggy smiled and then added, ‘What about you, Ella?’

She pulled a face. ‘Gran wants me to leave school and work on the farm, but I want something more than that.’

‘What sort of thing?’

‘I don’t know, really.’ Her voice dropped. ‘I still miss the city.’

‘What about dressmaking and tailoring like – like your mother?’

‘I’m not that good. Oh, I can sew neatly and make things on Mum’s sewing machine, Gran’s seen to that. But I haven’t got Mum’s flair for it. I want to get my O levels and then see.’

‘Very wise.’ Peggy nodded and, getting up, said, ‘Well, I’ll have to go.’

Downstairs she silenced their protests and insisted on paying for all three meals. ‘It’s my treat. Come and get the house key from me if you want to go home before I can leave tonight. It’ll be after six by the time I get away.’

Ella nodded.

Outside on the pavement, Peggy asked, ‘How’s the shopping going?’

Ella told her and added, ‘I can’t think what to buy Grandma Eland and Aunty Rosie, or Gran, though Grandpa’s given me some money to buy her something pretty.’ She laughed. ‘He told me to get her something really frivolous.’