Nell: What are they doing?
Me: Our hotel room overlooks Heathrow so we are counting planes.
Nell: You sound happy.
Me: I am. It’s so wonderful to have them here. Hasn’t Baby Snail grown?
Nell: You mean Faye Raine, or Rainbow. Yes, she certainly has and Jonathan Sky too.
Me: Yes.
Nell: You all enjoyed your dinner, didn’t you? You had ice cream.
Me: How do you know that?
Nell: Just guessing.
Me: I wore my shawl, by the way.
Nell: Good. I would wear it today too, if I were you.
Me: An odd thing happened yesterday evening.
Nell: Really?
Me: A pigeon was waiting outside the hotel and followed us.
Nell: How annoying. They can be a little pushy. Silly creatures.
Me: It was wearing a peaked cap.
Nell: I expect it was windy. Kev likes to wear his cap in this weather too.
Me: It looked like Walter.
Nell: They all look like Walter.
Me: It appeared to be listening.
Nell: Birds do that. They cock their heads to one side.
Me: And nodding.
Nell: They do that too. Haven’t you noticed?
Me: If I didn’t know better I would say it was spying on us.
Nell: Don’t be ridiculous. Who would want to spy on you?
Me: Yes. I wonder.
Nell: What utter nonsense.
Me: I know you’ve been bugging me.
Nell: Good grief.
Me: Just admit it.
Nell: If you must know then yes, we have. It was a trial run.
Me: Did it work?
Nell: Excellently. Horst was able to whisper the information to Walter who flew it home to HQ.
Me: So Big Mother has been watching me.
Nell: We are simply keeping you safe. Just come home now, please. We are all waiting for you. Poppy has baked scones.
Me: Yes. Sorry.
