Greg shrugged. ‘Pretty good. Martha was in there earlier, checking on them. They’re waiting for their breakfast. You know what they’re like.’

We followed Gerrit to a concrete basin, a few metres tall and filled with water.

Dark shapes swam beneath the surface. As we approached, the seals swam up to greet us. Their dark eyes were haunting. They looked like hungry orphans.

‘Oh,’ Marieke breathed. ‘They’re so small.’

‘These three are all rescues,’ Gerrit said. ‘Adolescents who’ve got lost or been separated from their families. Once they’ve been here for a little while and built up some resilience, we’ll release them back into the wild. You stay here and get to know each other. I’ll be back in a minute.’

He disappeared into a small brick shed, returning with a bucket of fish. Handing us some gloves, he held out the bucket. Marieke wrinkled her nose, but she picked up a fish all the same. The orphaned seals swam closer, until we could almost reach out and touch them. I picked up a shining body, tossed it to the nearest seal who caught it in her maw, gulped it down and swam a joyful half-circle before returning to beg for more.

Gerrit laughed. ‘They’ve got a good appetite on them. Like most teenagers.’

‘They’re gorgeous.’ Marieke’s face shone. She squealed as one of the seals flicked up her flipper, spraying us with water.

‘This one’s new,’ Gerrit said, pointing to the seal who had splashed us. ‘You can name her,’ he said to me. ‘Every seal has to have a name, at least for recording purposes.’

I thought about it for two seconds. ‘Let’s call her Anna.’

After we’d finished feeding the seals, Gerrit dropped Marieke and me over at Bram’s pizza shop. Bram was standing at the counter when we got there, helping Sem take orders, and waved us over.

‘Nico was just here,’ he said, dusting off his flour-coated hands. ‘You missed him.’

‘Why didn’t he stick around?’

Bram waved a hand. ‘Something about Anneke. You know what she’s like.’

‘Did something happen?’

His forehead creased. ‘She heard from her mother.’

‘Oh, no.’

He sighed. ‘From what Nico said, Anneke managed to track Tess down this morning. She wanted to invite her back to Texel – something about the dress exhibition. Tess must have refused and the rejection upset her. Don’t worry, though, Nico will sort Anneke out.’