‘At the Grand, with rooms overlooking the sea.’

She’d booked two rooms-one for Carson and one for herself and Joey. As they unpacked Joey was in a fever of excitement, like any child at the seaside.

When can we go to the aquarium?

‘Soon.’

Now?

‘Not now. Your father has driven a long way. He’s tired and he needs a meal.’

After that?

‘As soon as we can.’

But today, today, today!

She looked at her watch. ‘I don’t know when the aquarium closes.’

Then can’t we go now?

And so they came back to the beginning of the argument.

It was a first-class hotel with an haute cuisine restaurant, but Carson, who was learning fast about his son, declined this in favour of a nearby burger place.

‘I think I deserve a medal for getting it right this time,’ he joked, watching Joey stuff himself with burger and chips.

‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘And it’s quicker eating here, so maybe we’ll get into the aquarium before it closes.’

‘We will. I’ve checked closing time, and we have another three hours.’ He saw her admiringly raised eyebrows, and said self-consciously, ‘Organisation. That’s the key to a successful enterprise.’

‘I’m impressed. Why don’t you tell Joey?’

Joey was eating with one hand and holding a brightly coloured pamphlet in the other. He showed it to them, pointing to something in the small print. They looked at each other and laughed.

The pamphlet was about the aquarium and Joey had found the opening times.

‘He’s not your son for nothing,’ she said. ‘He must have picked that up in the hotel foyer. Now that’s real organisation.’

‘Yes, it is.’ Carson regarded his offspring fondly.

‘Why don’t you ask him now to tell you about wrasse?’ she suggested, adding quickly, ‘You haven’t cheated, have you?’

‘No, I don’t even know how the word is spelled.’

She spelled it for him and Carson turned to Joey.

‘What can you tell me about wrasse?’

Joey looked quizzical, as though unsure how seriously to take this request.

‘Go on. Tell me.’

Joey needed no more encouragement. He began signing and spelling so vigorously that Carson had to stop him.

‘Steady,’ he said, speaking. ‘You go too fast for me.’

Joey nodded and went back to the beginning. Carson watched his fingers, his brow furrowed with concentration.

‘Wait,’ he said at last. ‘Do it again. I couldn’t understand-I thought you said-no, that must be wrong.’

Joey shook his head. Not misunderstand.

‘Go on,’ Gina urged. ‘Make it easy for your father.’

‘Thanks,’ Carson said with a grin.

Joey did it all again while Carson watched his fingers and his frown grew deeper.

‘You’re kidding me!’ he said explosively at last, forgetting to sign or speak slowly. But Joey understood and grinned.

‘Did I get that right?’ Carson demanded of Gina.

‘It is pretty incredible, isn’t it?’

‘He says wrasse is a fish. And they’re all female-that is, they’re all born female.’

‘Good. Go on.’

‘They live in groups of about twenty females to one male, and when the male dies one of the females changes sex, and becomes the resident male? You expect me to believe that?’

‘Don’t ask me. Joey’s the expert.’

He turned to his son, looking harassed. ‘That can’t be true.’

Joey nodded, then finger-spelled, Aquarium-wait.

After that Carson was as eager as his son to get going, because he wanted to find out if he was being taken for a ride.

As soon as they were inside the aquarium it was obvious that Joey was different from other children. Instead of lingering over the more colourful or outrageous creatures, he bypassed them, to spend long periods studying small fish and shells which to the untrained eye looked drab and uninteresting.

‘He’s like a little professor,’ Carson said.

‘Yes, he is. When he’s on his own subject he’s older than his years.’

Joey passed from one esoteric item to another, deeply absorbed, leaving the other two to pass the time with the more accessible exhibits.

‘I feel like I’m the child and he’s the adult,’ Carson complained, although not too seriously. ‘Joey.’ He tapped the boy on the shoulder but Joey, instead of turning, held up a hand, flapping it slightly in a gesture that clearly said, Not now. I’m busy.

‘Did you see that?’ Carson demanded.

‘Don’t get mad at him.’

‘I’m not mad. I’m just wondering what’s happening here.’

‘It’s simple. You’re in the presence of a superior intellect.’

‘I’m beginning to believe you.’ He sounded dazed.

Joey came out of his happy trance, smiling at them.

‘Wrasse,’ Carson said firmly.

Joey nodded like a teacher telling his class that the time had come, and beckoned them to follow him.

And there it was, wrasse, with a notice beside the tank, confirming everything Joey had said. Carson was speechless. Joey regarded his father with his head on one side as if to say, Believe me, huh?

Carson’s answer delighted Gina. He extended his hand. Joey placed his small child’s hand in it, and they shook, man to man.

There wasn’t time to see everything, but Joey was ready to leave, on the promise of a return visit next day. They paused in the bookshop long enough for Carson to load him up with enough literature to keep him happy for the evening. He also purchased a basic introduction to the subject for himself-a survival mechanism, he explained to Gina.

They had a merry evening. Joey was allowed to stay up late because it was a holiday, and by the time he was ready for bed the other two were feeling glad of an early night.

Another visit to the aquarium was the first thing on the next day’s agenda. Gina and Carson might feel that they’d seen everything, but the expert had barely started.

But at last he took pity on them, seeming to understand that not everyone could be riveted by a mollusc the size of a penny. They headed downstairs to where they could walk through the aquarium’s main attraction, a huge perspex tunnel through the water. Sharks swam beside them, flatfish drifted overhead, and lobsters scuttled beneath their feet. Joey pointed out what neither of them had noticed-a conger eel peering from its hiding place, motionless, cold-eyed and evil.

Over burgers and orange squash it was agreed that the adults needed a little light relief, and they headed for the funfair. Here Joey stopped being a professor and became an excited little boy, darting hither and thither, wanting to try everything at once. A go on the rifle range showed that he had a keen, straight eye. Not to be outdone, Carson also took a turn, but managed only one bull’s-eye to Joey’s three.

A contest ensued, at the end of which Gina was laden down with furry toys and plastic jewellery, and her two escorts were thoroughly pleased with themselves and each other.

At last Joey stopped in front of the Ghost Train. Skulls leered, skeletons dangled, hideous creatures darted and peeped. It was the most effectively horrible Ghost Train that Gina had ever seen. Joey gave a sigh of pure pleasure.

‘This?’ Gina asked him.

He nodded vigorously.

‘You’re sure?’ she said faintly.

He nodded again.

‘I don’t think we have a choice,’ Carson said.

He paid three entrance fees and they squeezed into a car, Joey on the inside, Gina in the middle and Carson on the outside.

‘I don’t like these things,’ Gina said. ‘I never did.’

‘But you have both of us to look after you,’ Carson pointed out mischievously.

A hideous wailing drowned him out. With a jolt the cars began to move, pushing through the black curtains ahead of them. Then they were inside, swerving violently from side to side, the ghastly moaning louder, sounding as though it was everywhere.

Neon skeletons appeared and vanished. Gruesome figures loomed and leered. Gina glanced down at Joey, but she needn’t have worried. The flickering lights showed that he was relishing every moment.

She wished she could say the same of herself. Of course her rational mind knew that it was only paint, cardboard and a few special effects. But her irrational side flinched from the things that swooped out of the darkness without warning. Something flapped in her face, making her jump and squeal.

‘Are you all right?’ Carson asked, slipping a protective arm about her.

She had to make him repeat it, as the noise was playing havoc with her implant. Understanding, he said it clearly in a brief interlude of bilious green light, and this time she managed to follow his lips.

‘Of course I’m all right,’ she said, trying for dignity. But the effect was ruined by a huge grinning skull that appeared in front of them, getting bigger and bigger-

Then the car charged right through it and the darkness enfolded them again.

‘Yuck!’

Carson’s arm tightened. At the same time she felt his fingers gently on her chin, urging her head to look at him.

‘As long as you don’t turn into a skull,’ she pleaded.

Crimson light came and went, casting his eyes into shadows and giving him a satanic look. It crossed her mind that if she were skilled in the traditional female arts she might use this situation. She could do a little swooning and screaming, then cast herself on Carson’s manly chest for protection, and the rest would follow. Maybe Victorian maidens knew a thing or two after all.

But she’d been reared in a different school, and for the life of her she couldn’t have put on such a performance.

Then help came in the form of a freezing skeleton that swooped down from the roof and caressed her face, before vanishing. Startled, Gina gave a perfectly genuine shriek and the next moment her face was buried against Carson’s shoulder. She could feel him shaking with laughter.