His mother sent her a text to find out of she’d be home for supper, then she contacted Mrs Peters and spent ages chatting. By the time their lengthy call had ended, Charles was back in his housekeeping frock and was applying his make-up when his mother entered and told him that she’d just been chatting to Mike’s mother. “What did she want?” Charles asked in between applying his mascara.

“She’d read the article in Female First and wanted to talk about getting Michael trained up.”

“Really?!” Charles gasped.

His mother nodded. “She’s popping round later… so if you don’t mind, could you stay in uniform for a little longer tonight?”

“Yeah I suppose.” he sighed.

“And make sure you put a clean apron on.”

“OK.” he said as she hovered over him and perused his selection of lipsticks.

“Wear this one.” she said.