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‘Sweet,’ Katie repeated. ‘Being the sweet little boy he was, he couldn’t bear to sleep thinking that the moon was upset because of him, so he waited until his parents were asleep and crept out of the house to try and smooth things over with his lunar friend. And to make things worse, in his head, that meant he needed to be as close to the moon as possible…’

‘What happened?’ Amrita was loving picturing little Jamie talking to the moon.

‘He broke into the church – because he didn’t think the vicar would mind when it was for an important apology – and climbed to the top of the tower. He stayed there for hours, talking to the moon and apologising.’

‘Aww, that is sweet.’ Amrita smiled.

‘Gets better.’ Mia rolled her eyes. ‘When his parents found his bed empty, they obviously panicked, and pretty much the whole town went out to look for him. Except that by this point, Jamie had been up the spire for so long that he’d fallen asleep up there, cuddled up in his dinosaur onesie and blanket.’

‘While the town was starting to panic and launch a search-and-rescue mission, Jamie was snoring his head off!’ Katie added, grinning wickedly.

‘You did hear the bit about me being six years old, right?’ Jamie looked to Amrita, who had firmly covered her mouth with both hands, trying not to laugh.

‘And there was the feud with the crows.’ Mia giggled. ‘I never knew what he did to start it…’

‘That’s because I didn’t start it!’ Jamie complained.

‘Yeah, yeah. Crows don’t feud without reason.’

‘Crows?’ Amrita asked. ‘Like the birds?’

‘Yeah.’ Mia laughed. ‘There was one summer where it seemed like all the crows around here were picking on Jamie.’

‘How much trouble can birds cause?’

‘You might be surprised,’ Katie muttered.

‘His lunch would get stolen by them. And the clacker beads he put on his bike wheels to make it sound like he was going faster than he really was went missing one by one. And it was dangerous to stand too close to him outdoors.’

‘Why?’ Amrita asked, a mix of fear and intrigue.

‘Droppings.’

‘You’re kidding.’ She turned to Jamie. ‘They’re kidding, right?’

‘I wish they were. For a while, it felt like I was getting shat on every day. Then I got smart and started carrying an umbrella.’

‘Everywhere. In the middle of summer.’ Katie giggled. ‘It was hilarious.’

‘So, what happened? Are you still at war with the crows?’

‘No. I apologised. Even though I was innocent to start with! But it did seem to stop it.’ He chuckled.

‘Then, of course, there was the time he managed to get lost on his way home from school,’ Katie said, leaning forward. ‘And he rang me in a panic convinced that everything was slightly wrong and the streets were reordering themselves around him, and⁠—’

‘You look hungry, Katie.’ Jamie grabbed a roll and shoved it into her open mouth. ‘You should eat. Now.’

Amrita laughed. ‘But I want to know the end of the story.’

She missed Jamie as he caught Katie’s eye and shook his head slightly.

‘Not my story.’ Mia shrugged. ‘I don’t remember that one. Maybe I was asleep at the time.’

‘Probably,’ Jamie replied, his eyes still not leaving Katie as his tone darkened slightly. ‘Mia was very sleepy for a long time.’

Amrita looked around the table, wondering what was going on. Sylvie was cutting up cheese, not really paying attention, but Aiden quickly picked up a bag and started searching through it while Mia suddenly became very interested in folding napkins. It was clear to Amrita that she’d missed something, but she had no idea what. ‘But obviously everything worked out?’ she asked, hoping to guide the mood back to the light, fun feeling it had had a few moments before.

‘Of course it did.’ Katie dropped the roll to her plate. ‘I went and found him – exactly where I’d expected to – called him ten types of idiot and then took him home.’