Why should I be denied this pleasure, thinks Lorna, and then instantly feels guilty as Eva casts her a timid smile. At the weekend her son, Rob, arrives as usual with his dirty sports bag, his scuffed trainers, his unshaven chin. Suddenly the house becomes alive again. He lets Eva's boys climb all over him and kicks a ball with them on the wet grass. Eva watches silently through the bay window, but her shoulders have imperceptibly lifted and her narrow neck is not so tense.
Mealtimes become noisy and messy, and mashed potato is trodden into the carpet.
Rob instigates a game of hide and seek, and one of Lorna's crystal vases shatters. They run out of hot water for showers, and the burglar alarm goes off accidentally at night. Lorna decides there is really not room for six people in the house. She will call up the organizers on Monday and explain. Through an interpreter she has been informed she cannot stay where she is because the space is not sufficient for her family.