FIVE
More in hope than expectation, Mandy called for calm as she entered the CP room. Jack was encouraging Bombalini from his deckchair, while Bookshop was pushing a feather duster up Jack’s flappy trouser leg. Remarkably, the office settled, apart from Bookshop, who had nabbed Jack’s workspace and wheelie chair, they were almost there.
‘Bookshop, let Jane have his workspace and chair back please,’ Jo Jums asserted her matriarchal presence.
Jack looked to Bookshop, ‘Said you’d get in trouble,’ and wobbled his head to emphasise the point in that feminine way he had, though you wouldn’t want to mention that to him.
Mandy wobbled hers, and the effect said something very different, ‘Jane, a modicum of grown-up behaviour, please,’ and wiping a care worn brow, ‘Jo, if you could brief us on w
