Hearing the front door slam, Eddie helped the man up and sat him on the sofa. ‘The thing is, mate, I know that you’re lying to me. You never got no car fixed or brought no fucking fridge-freezer. You spunked my money in the pub and the bookie’s, didn’t you?’

‘No, I never. I swear I –’

Annoyed at being lied to, Eddie stopped the man in mid-sentence by grabbing him around his scrawny neck. ‘Don’t lie to me, you cunt, ’cause I’ll kill you.’

The man started to sob. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to spend it. It’s so hard looking after my Elaine, a drink and a bet is my only release.’

Eddie looked at the man with pure disgust. He knew for a fact that he fucked off out every day and left his poor disabled wife indoors to fend for herself. The grapevine was a funny old thing and there wasn’t much went on that didn’t reach his ears.

Eddie knelt down and moved his face inches away from the man. ‘Now listen to me and listen very carefully. I’ll waive the money you owe me, on one condition.’

‘What? I’ll do anything, I promise,’ the man said.

‘I want you to look after your wife properly. If I hear that you’ve left her sitting in her own piss and shit for hours while you’re larging it in the pub or betting shop, I swear I’ll come back and personally fucking cut you to shreds.’

The man started to sob. ‘Thank you Mr Mitchell. You have my word.’

Over in Upney, Joycie Smith was busy showing her friends the new machine that Eddie and Jessica had bought her for her birthday.

Rita crouched down and stared at the object in question. ‘What’s it called again? And what does it do?’

‘I’ve already told you twice. It’s called a video recorder and you can record programmes off the telly and watch them at a later date.’

‘But how can it do that?’ Rita asked, bemused.

‘You have to put a tape inside and pre-set it. I recorded Corrie the other night and I only watched it this morning.’

Hilda looked at her in awe. ‘It’s marvellous, ain’t it? Bleedin’ marvellous.’

Joyce went into her peacock mode. She could almost feel her feathers spreading out like a fan. ‘It’s modern technology, ain’t it? Because Jessica and Eddie are so wealthy now, they know all about these things before anybody else does. You should see their new house – like a palace, it is.’

Hilda and Rita glanced at one another. They wouldn’t upset Joycie for the world, but they’d already heard about Jessica’s new house a thousand times before. So much so, the pair of them felt that they knew every tile, carpet and room inside out.