Now the children gazed at each other from across the garden, caught up in the excitement of the early morning drama but not sure yet whether it meant anything interesting for them or not.

‘Is it ours or yours?’ Angie asked, looking at the fence.

‘We don’t know for sure,’ Sophie replied. ‘We think it’s yours, but we need to check.’

Jack and Alan started lifting the panels and debris together and stacking them to one side. Meanwhile the older two Taylor children had emerged to see what all the fuss was about.

‘We’ll get it fixed ASAP if it’s ours,’ Angie said. ‘Although we can’t be the only people this has happened to after the storm, so it might take a while to get someone to come out.’

‘There’s no rush, don’t worry,’ Sophie said as she looked behind her and noticed that Tom and Katie had disappeared.

‘Where are the kids?’ she asked Alan, assuming that they had got bored, or cold, and gone back inside to have breakfast.

‘They’re over here,’ Angie replied, gesturing behind her. Sophie took a couple of steps forward so that she could see into next door’s garden and spotted her children playing on the neighbour’s climbing frame as if it was a public playground.

‘Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I was so busy gawping at the fence I didn’t even see them sneak off,’ Sophie exclaimed. ‘Tom! Katie! Come back here!’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Angie said. ‘It’s fine.’

Sophie watched anxiously as Ellie and Freddy joined Tom and Katie on the climbing frame. She was embarrassed by her children’s boldness although Angie didn’t seem perturbed.

‘We’d better get the kids inside, Soph,’ Alan called out to her, his voice competing against the residual wind. ‘It’s freezing out here and they’re still in their pyjamas.’

‘I’ll round them up,’ Sophie agreed, calling out to them. They reluctantly returned to their own garden and with a final wave to Angie, they all raced back inside.

‘That was fun,’ Tom said as he tucked into his cereal. ‘Their climbing frame is really cool.’

‘I’m sure it is but you can’t go wandering into their garden any time you like, okay?’ Sophie told him sternly. ‘Just because the fence is down doesn’t mean you have the right.’

Tom and Katie nodded solemnly. But later that day after school, they both ran through the house and disappeared out of the back door the minute they got home, leaving a trail of discarded bags and lunchboxes in their wake. The wind had died down but it was still cold and Sophie watched them from the kitchen window and shivered. Children never seemed to feel the cold in the way that adults did. She moved away to put the kettle on and when she turned back to the window, a few seconds later, they had both disappeared.

‘Dammit,’ she exclaimed crossly, reaching for her coat and trainers and yanking them on. She trudged huffily up the garden and looked through the gap in the fence until she saw her children, as pleased as punch, sitting in her neighbour’s treehouse. She frowned at Tom, who had obviously been the instigator. Katie would never do anything so rebellious without her brother.