He asked me to tell him right from the beginning what had happened. And before I started he said, ‘Now, my dear Dorcas. You and I know you are a splendid teller of tales, a quality I much admire because I myself am a man of infinitesimal imagination. However, on this occasion, I would be most grateful if you would look hard at the words you are saying, and check that they match up perfectly with the events of the day. Is that a reasonable request?’

‘Right-o, Uncle Paul,’ I said. This meant I spoke quite slowly and screwed my eyes up a bit in the telling to make sure I did the matching thing he was seeking. I explained everything to him, including my fear that Maynard wouldn’t remember me, and that I needed to check that Ruthy and Caleb and Mr Driver were okay, although I knew Mr Driver’s details, so that wasn’t a problem. I explained that I didn’t write to Daniel because Ruthy did that for all of us, and he didn’t write back much anyway.

Uncle Paul listened very carefully. He looked at me the whole way through the story, a bit like the way Mrs Johnson and Mr Driver used to do. When I was finished, he said to leave it to him and he would make sure I had all the addresses and numbers I needed. He took me into the kitchen where, in the corner, was a little telephone table with a green Telecom phone on it. We didn’t have a phone that sat on a table anymore. Mum had asked Dad for an apricot-coloured one that hung on the wall. But I knew the Roystons wouldn’t want the latest phone, probably just on principle, but maybe because they were poorer than us.

He told me to sit down and get ready for some talking. He looked up the Christadelphian phone book, and he rang Aunty Maisie and asked her to put Caleb on the phone. I couldn’t believe my luck. Aunty Jean came into the kitchen and asked what was going on, and he just turned and gave her a look and she stormed out again. I have a feeling he didn’t use that look all that often, but when he did, Aunty Jean knew he meant it. There’s a bit in the Bible that says the man is the head of the family and wives have to obey their husbands. I didn’t really like this quote, but at that point in time I could see some benefits. After I’d spoken to Caleb, who was still very worried about the sacrifice thing, for a few minutes I hung up and wondered what I should do next. Uncle Paul came out of his little room and looked up another number. He rang the Hodgesons and asked them to put Ruthy on the phone.