WINTER COAT

My first question is, what do we do with the body?’

Jean looked down at the table and gave a little shiver. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I’ve never had to deal with this before.’

Helen regarded the small, very still hamster laid out on a face flannel in front of them and sighed. Hammy had been a part of the family for nearly two years now. ‘What do we tell Davey?’ she wailed.

‘DO I SAY THAT HAMMY’S GONE TO SLEEP?’

‘Ah yes. Davey.’ Jean regarded her younger friend with amused affection. When Helen, her husband and baby Davey had first moved to Primrose Close over five years ago, there had been some in the cul de sac who had been less than welcoming. There had been mutterings about noise, parties and the inevitable influx of more children, drawn to young Davey like iron filings to a magnet. Jean had ignored them, and been the first to welcome the new family with cake and a bunch of flowers. She’d never once regretted