Nell: I need you to report back on your visit to the beach with Harriet and the children.
Me: It was lovely down there, Nell. The sea was so refreshingly cool.
Nell: Just the facts, please, it’s far too warm for flowery extras.
Me: I wasn’t being flowery.
Nell: You do realise that I have an exhausted Labrador here who sounds like a seagull and eats mackerel for breakfast.
Me: Did Harriet actually want mackerel for breakfast?
Nell: I have no idea. Poppy said she sounded like she did. Now, tell me what happened.
Me: Harriet was nervous at first and climbed onto Chris’s lap in the car but as soon as we got to the beach she was really happy.
Nell: Squawking away with the other seagulls, I suppose.
Me: That’s the interesting thing. Jonathan noticed one of the seagulls was barking.
Nell: They are a little unstable.
Me: No, actually barking in Harriet’s voice.
Nell: Was it a run of the mill sort of seagull, or a Beefy?
Me: Definitely a Beefy. It had a nasty glint in its eye.
Nell: Maybe the Beefy swapped voices with Harriet?
Me: Yes.
Nell: We have to get it back.
Me: How are we going to do that?
Nell: The answer is obvious.
Me: Is it?
Nell: We’ll have to organise a cocktail party.
Me: This isn’t the time to be thinking of parties, Nell.
Nell: This isn’t any old party. The clue is in the cocktail.
Me: Is it?
Nell: Harriet lost her voice drinking a Bantham Breeze at the Saucy Seagull bar on the beach.
Me: Correct.
Nell: So, let’s ask Sandy Shore to open the Saucy Seagull here.
Me: We’re not on the beach.
Nell: It’s a pop-up. It can go anywhere. Do keep up.
Me: Yes. Sorry.
