‘She recorded her own life story? That takes some courage, you know, she sounds like a real tough woman. Makes me feel proud.’

It was Shelly who felt proud, her heart melting to hear her son speak like that. ‘Well, not brutally tough in the way we imagine. It seems she was always afraid of one thing or another, and as she was only eighteen when she went to war, she was unbelievably naïve, especially when it came to young men.’

Shelly told DJ about the cassette and tapes. ‘We’ll make you a copy too, if you’re interested.’

His smile was slightly mocking in a mischievous way. ‘No, you don’t need to do all that, just upload them to the Cloud. You only do it the once, then we’ll all be able to access them at any time.’

Shelly and Gordon stared at him, then at each other.

‘The Cloud, Dad,’ Shelly said with mock seriousness. ‘Get onto it, will you?’

‘Right, our Shelly. I’ll just give Bill Gates a call, an’ tell him I need a hand, all right?’

DJ grinned at them, strong, white, even teeth like his father, Shelly thought.

‘I can come and do it next weekend if you like.’

‘I’ll be away in Greece next weekend, near where your great-great-grandmother’s ship went down.’

‘But you must still come for Sunday lunch,’ Gordon cut in. ‘I’ll be here with Bill, and we could fire up the old steam engine. Anyway, why don’t you come for the weekend? Yer mother’s convinced we’ll be up to no good, or that we’ll burn the house down.’

DJ glanced at Shelly.

‘Nothing would please me more,’ she said. ‘You can have my room, keep an eye on this old rogue.’

‘Aye! Watch who you’re calling old!’

DJ laughed and glanced from one to the other. ‘I’d love to, why not? I can cook for you, if you like, Gramps.’

Gordon grinned. ‘I’d like that.’

Shelly rolled her eyes. ‘I can see you two are going to be trouble!’

DJ threw her a grin. ‘Look, why don’t I come early and run you to the airport? Meanwhile, let’s upload a cassette right now? The longest part is playing a tape. We can all listen to a cassette, then you can continue uploading more after I’ve gone, or tomorrow. Whatever.’

‘A wonderful idea, if it’s not too much trouble,’ Shelly said. ‘Let me make tea or coffee while we listen to Gran Gertie for half an hour.’

‘No, I’ll make the drinks while you two see what’s inside the pillow-bag,’ Gordon said.

*