“I can’t come and get you, Mother. I have to leave here in twenty minutes to pick up the

“I can’t come and get you, Mother. I have to leave here in twenty minutes to pick up the children from school,” says Georgina.

“Why don’t you get that…that goonyou live with to pick them up?” says Bunty, her voice prickly with irritation. Georgina closes her eyes and counts to ten. Behind her Vinnie is tucking into a slab of apple pie with noisy relish.

“You know, it would make more sense if Vinnie came to you,” Georgina says.

“Georgina, I’d rather drink a bottle of anti-freeze than be forced to endure more than a couple of seconds in that ghastly man’s company-“

“Please stop being so melodramatic, Mother. I’ll tell him to bring his tools. He’s a wonderful mechanic. He’d probably be able to fix your car straight away.”

This gives Bunty pause. She is always willing to push aside her value judgments of a person’s character if they can be of some use to her.

“Very well,” she says with a haughty sniff. “But only because you have left me with no other choice. And if he robs and murders me and dumps my body in a ditch, it will be all yourfault, Georgina!”