On Friday Joseph could have wept following an insight into a man he regarded as a pillar of the local community. Aloysius Pratt waxed lyrical about his collection of nuts and bolts through the ages. They were displayed in old jam jars on wooden shelves that lined his shed. However, it was when Aloysius selected a dome-headed screw and held it up to the light as if it were a thing of beauty that Joseph made a swift departure.

Back at the vicarage, Vera was following a pattern from her Woman & Home magazine. She was knitting a cardigan in midnight blue embroidered with Tyrolean flowers – namely her favourite, starry-white edelweiss. Vera was always very precise. She had been into York to purchase seven ounces of Lister’s 3-ply wool and was working at a tension of seven stitches to the inch with No. 8 needles. Although the pattern suggested it would fit a bust of up to thirty-seven inches, Vera had made the necessary adjustment and reduced it appropriately. After all, she liked a slim, close fit.

When her brother walked in she could see he was severely stressed. He was staring forlornly at his list. ‘Only two more sheds to go.’

Vera put her arm around his shoulder. ‘Remember, Joseph, you can’t add years to your life with worry – but it can steal life away.’

‘I’m in a fix, Vera. I shouldn’t have taken it on.’

‘God will guide you.’

‘Yes, I’m sure he will … but He didn’t have a shed.’

As Lily left school on Friday, Tom walked up the drive to meet her and stood next to her bicycle. He handed her a brown paper bag.

‘I thought you would like this, both for yourself and then for the children.’

Lily looked inside. It was the newest novel by C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

‘That’s a wonderful gift, Tom. Really thoughtful. Thank you so much.’

‘And are we still fine for this evening?’

They had taken to going to the cinema on a regular basis now. Tonight it was Singing in the Rain with Gene Kelly. As he walked away, she thought how lucky she was to have found such a fine man, faithful, true … and honest.

Honesty, she thought – an important virtue. Perhaps she was close to sharing what was on her mind with Tom. She stared down at the book and felt like a small boat on a troubled sea, not knowing if the next big wave would take her to shore or dash her to pieces.

By six o’clock on Friday Joseph also felt as though he were sinking fast. All the men he met appeared perfectly normal until they set foot in their sheds.