Danny was warming to his theme now. ‘We could ask Pop if he knows of anything through the ARP,’ he went on. ‘Not you being a warden or anything, but a messenger or something like that. You’re good at remembering detail and you know your way around here like the back of your hand. What about that sort of job?’

Tommy brightened. He loved meeting lots of different people and he could always find something to say – Kitty’s main complaint, echoed by Seth and Joan, was that he could talk the hind legs off a donkey. But if he was with the ARP, then Pop would want to keep an eye on him. He was even stricter than Danny. That wouldn’t be much fun.

‘Don’t know,’ he said, swinging his leg and then stopping when he saw Danny glare. ‘Suppose it would be better than nothing. While I’m waiting around, like.’

Danny recognised that this was progress indeed. ‘All right, so maybe you think the ARP are a load of boring old codgers,’ he said, knowing the way his brother’s mind worked. ‘But a messenger of some sort, then?’

Tommy shrugged, but his resistance was wavering.

‘I know,’ said Danny. ‘What about delivering telegrams? You’d have to be quick for that, and completely trustworthy. You’re giving people the worst news they could ever have; you can’t be careless about it. You’d have to show you were level-headed and responsible. It wouldn’t be a doddle getting in.’

Tommy now looked interested, although he was clearly trying not to show it.

‘You’d need a bike,’ Danny mused.

Tommy now sat up straight. ‘Ah, come on, our Danny. You can get your hands on anything. You could get me a bike, no bother.’

Danny pulled a face. ‘It might not be as easy as that. Things are different around here to when you went away. I don’t have the contacts any more and, even if I did, I’d hesitate to use them.’

‘Danny, you could do it,’ said Tommy, eager now. ‘Go on, say you’ll try. Think what I could do if I had a bike. I could fetch things for you and Kitty while you’re at work, for a start. You’ll wonder what you ever did without me in no time.’

Danny had to stop himself from laughing at Tommy’s abrupt about-turn. ‘I suppose the General Post Office might provide the bikes. I never thought, we’d have to check.’

‘Oh, that’ll be easy,’ said Tommy airily. ‘Someone’s bound to know. Pop might, he knows everything.’

‘All right, we’ll ask him,’ said Danny.