Nell: Come over here.
Me: I’m busy.
Nell: Right now.
Me: Okay, bossy boots. What’s the matter?
Nell: Stop annoying Harriet.
Me: I’ve just been telling her she’s my darling sweet girl.
Nell: She’s trying to rest before Sunday Songs.
Me: I need her to know she’s loved.
Nell: Why?
Me: Because Jim is out in the field with Rita Pawreno.
Nell: Alone?
Me: No. The llamas are with them and the Welsh Corgi Choir and I think I saw the Whippets Institute minibus.
Nell: So, Jim is simply getting ready for Sunday Songs?
Me: But Rita Pawreno is there. With a flower in her hair.
Nell: Everyone is welcome.
Me: Harriet’s not going to like it.
Nell: How do you know that?
Me: If Kev brought his pretty little dancing girlfriend here from Torquay I wouldn’t be best pleased.
Nell: Kev doesn’t have a pretty little dancing girlfriend in Torquay.
Me: It’s hypothetical.
Nell: And neither does Jim.
Me: You seem ever so sure about that.
Nell: I am.
Me: How can you be?
Nell: Jim and I may have talked yesterday.
Me: Tell me what he said.
Nell: No. You’re the last person I would tell. Look at the way you’ve been behaving with Harriet.
Me: What do you mean?
Nell: Fussing over her. Calling her a ‘poor little thing.’
Me: She is.
Nell: She’s nothing of the kind and by the time Sunday Songs is over you will know why.
Me: Please tell me. I promise I’ll keep quiet.
Nell: Jim only went to Torquay to rehearse some special songs for Harriet with Rita Pawreno.
Me: He did?
Nell: Yes, the whole of Sunday Songs today is celebrating Jim’s love for Harriet.
Me: My sweet darling girl will be overjoyed.
Nell: Not a word.
Me: No. Sorry.
