“As you might know, Neptune is King of the Seas, and he rules all of the mighty oceans. What is not as commonly known is that he had a twin brother. He was called Nullor.” Teeth flashing, Jorzy takes a bite of apple. “Thing is, when the twins were born, their mother was only expecting one baby, so when Neptune popped out–” Babet rolls her eyes at the end of the table, “–his mother gave Neptune dominion over all the seas. Well, by the time she realised there was another bubby, she had to think fast – what could she give this one? She looked around and thought, I’ll give him dominion over all the marshes.”

Jorzy finishes off his apple and takes the pipe out of his shirt pocket.

“There’s nothing wrong with marshes, in my opinion,” he adds, probably for Nanna’s benefit and her attachment to our family history. “Very necessary places, marshes.”

“What about Nullor?” asks Ma, getting caught up in the story.

Jorzy tamps down his nugget of tobacco. “I’m afraid Nullor wasn’t very impressed with marshes. And as he lorded it over his soggy marshes, with the toads and the snakes, his gaze was drawn constantly to his brother and the sea. His brother, I might add, was also better-looking than Nullor and got to carry around a great big trident.”

I’m sucking on my second quarter of apple, trying to make it last, imagining Neptune’s trident. I picture a golden fork, with very pointed prongs.

“All in all, Nullor felt he’d got a raw deal. So he plotted to find a way to claim the dominion of the seas for himself, and get the nice trident to boot. He thought and thought, sitting in his marshes, until he came up with the perfect plan …” Jorzy, enjoying himself, blows a stream of smoke towards the ceiling. “This is what he did: every evening, Neptune had the habit of calling for one of the marsh fairies to come and sing him to sleep. These were sweet little fairies, with a light that glowed in their bottoms, just like a glow-worm.”

Babet giggles. I’ve heard the imaginary games she plays with her friends where the glowing fairies are cast in walk-on roles.

“But one of these fairies was not as sweet and cute as the others. Her name was Mig–”

“She was the bad fairy,” whispers Babet.

The scent of Jorzy’s tobacco fills the room, reminding me of my father, who also used to smoke a pipe.