The man glanced at the sign. He appeared unmoved. Still, he released his squirming charge, who sat clumsily on the tricycle and started pedalling up the path, and then took his phone out of his pocket, which suggested action. After another few beats, in which he was clearly deciding whether he could be bothered to help, he called out, finally.

‘I SUPPOSE I COULD DO THAT FOR YOU.’

Ellen thought he had a slight accent, perhaps French, but it was hard to tell when he was yelling.

‘Yessss,’ she heard Ben mutter behind her.

‘THANK YOU,’ she replied quickly, before he could change his mind. ‘IT’S JUST WE DON’T HAVE OUR PHONES BECAUSE WE DIDN’T MEAN TO GET STUCK UP HERE,’ she added.

After another beat, the man crouched down to say something they couldn’t hear to the toddler, who didn’t seem to respond. Ellen realized she was now holding her breath.

‘What’s he doing?’ asked Ben, stretching over Alexa’s head.

The man stood up again and shouted up to the attic. ‘GIVE ME A FEW MINUTES TO GO GIVE HIM BACK TO HIS MUM.’ He scooped his little boy off the seat of his tricycle. On cue, the child wailed. They all watched as the man picked up the tricycle and – again, glancing both ways – prepared to cross the road. He turned. ‘I’LL BE BACK IN A MINUTE.’ He walked across the road and then remembered something. He turned again. ‘WHAT’S YOUR NAME?’

‘ELLEN,’ she shouted back. ‘FISHER,’ she added, for propriety.

He did an awkward thumbs-up in response, then walked back up the path to his own home, the child thrashing in his arms. He placed the tricycle beside the front doorstep and – after a little difficulty juggling both toddler and keys – opened his front door. The pair disappeared.

There was a brief silence as they all stared at the impassive door.

‘Do you think he’s coming back?’ Jack asked, eventually.

‘I’m not certain,’ Ellen admitted. ‘He didn’t sound very enthusiastic.’

‘I think he will,’ Alexa said, though her brow was furrowed. ‘He seems like a nice man.’

‘You just think that because he’s got a small child,’ Ellen said.

‘He’ll come back,’ Ben said, confidently. He stepped back from the skylight and stretched his arms behind his back. ‘He’ll be calling a locksmith or something right now.’ Clearly satisfied with his reading of the situation, he turned and sat back in the centre of the room.

The housemates remained at the window, watching the door opposite.