‘Hello?’ called out a cheerful voice. ‘We’re here from the London Fire Brigade. Lewisham lot. Heard you guys were in a spot of bother.’ A pause. ‘We’re here to rescue you.’

‘In here!’ Ben, Ellen and Alexa called out in eager unison. Alexa could not help noticing that Jack was now regarding the door as though it was about to blow.

‘Right, guys,’ said the voice from the other side of the door.

Ben moved towards it.

‘We’re going to have to knock this door down to get you out of there. So can you all please make sure to stand well back? Wouldn’t want to hit one of you, or we’d probably have to get an ambulance here too, eh?’

None of them replied, although Ben stepped back a few paces again.

‘We’re well back from the door,’ Alexa shouted. Her voice sounded reedy.

There was the loud crack of wood splitting again and the blade of an axe appeared in the door. Through this crack, they could make out a yellow helmet. There was a second crack as the axe swung again, this time taking most of the door with it. The firemen wrestled with what was left of the door and then, having dismantled it, two of them ducked slightly in order to step through the large hole they’d created.

With two burly men in the room, the place suddenly felt even smaller. The taller one took off his helmet and held it under his arm. The firemen paused for a few beats as they took in the scene around them. Alexa suddenly felt like Jack’s cousin, who’d got their head stuck in the railings. She hoped that no one at work would ever, ever find out about this.

‘Hello,’ said the smaller fireman, who was still pretty tall. He also removed his helmet in order to rest it under his arm.

‘Bit of a predicament you’ve found yourselves in, eh?’ said the first one, with a grin. He had long eyelashes and a superhero’s jaw.

‘And it looks like one of you didn’t make it,’ added the second fireman, pointing at the dead mouse. Alexa had forgotten about him. ‘Poor thing,’ he added.

The four of them stared at their two rescuers. As they gaped, a third fireman appeared and climbed through the splinters of the door, taking up position beside his buddies.

‘Hello,’ he said, waving. He faltered as he noticed the strange atmosphere.

‘We’re just doing introductions,’ said the first fireman, clearly enjoying the moment.

Alexa’s brain felt swamped, as if she were trying to drag speech and thoughts from the very bottom of some ocean. She was missing something, and she had a feeling it had something to do with Jack.

The firemen smiled back, good-natured in the face of the housemates’ stupefied silence.