One of Ivy’s eyes has grown hooded and cloudy with age. Back then her eyes were still wide and grey, giving the impression that she spent her time looking into the distance. Chanel used to say that Ivy’s eyes made her seem vacant, but Ivy can be very sharp. For a moment I was afraid that she’d insist on going to the vet with me. But Ivy doesn’t like vets – they’re too close to doctors. Her dread of the medical profession is totally irrational. She says, ‘What do doctors know? They know about blood, eyeballs, what it’s like on the inside of your lungs. We have nothing to say to each other.’ Long ago back home, Ivy had a kidney stone. When they finally operated, the stone was so big that it was put on display in a medical museum. The surgeon said that the pain would have been unimaginable. Ivy had put up with it for five months rather than consult a doctor.

Ivy said, ‘Brave boy.’ She kissed the springy white fur on top of Alan’s head and lifted him down.

When I came home, Ivy was in the kitchen. She saw me dangling Alan’s lead attached to his empty collar, and lurched sideways as if she’d been hit. I told her the harmless, comforting story that Chanel and I had prepared. Alan’s heart gave out the minute the vet lifted him onto the table, I said. ‘It was very quick and peaceful.’

‘I should have known,’ said Ivy. ‘It was the four of clubs this morning – deceit.’

‘It was a kindness,’ I told her. ‘You know yourself how slow Alan had become. There was no lingering this way, no pain. Everything happened for his own good.’

Ivy said, ‘You mean for the good of your couch.’

She spoke as if I had no feeling for Alan. But I’ve never forgotten the time when Sydney talked about him at school. His teacher said, ‘Oh, you have a dog? For some reason, I thought your family were Muslims.’ We were frightened when we heard that – what if other people made the same mistake? Chanel and I chose photos of the children cuddling Alan for our screensavers, and we bought a ‘Beware of the Dog’ sign for our gate. When Islam was banned and the arrests followed, who knows what difficulties might have come our way if not for Alan? Of course I was sad when he had to go.

I’ve just remembered that when the ban came in, Ivy told the children that no one could ban the new moon. She said that Muslims would be able to look up at it and take heart from the symbol of their faith. We had to warn the children against repeating her nonsense to anyone. That’s the kind of thing we’ve had to put up with from Ivy over the years.