From her bedroom window, Clara had watched the children flying, seven houses away. The scene idyllic; a scene she'd savoured ever since early June.

Now the time had come and, in the early hours, letting herself out of her bedroom, she crept through the corridors of Red Roofs Retirement Home, down the winding back staircase, into the huge kitchen.

Still slim and agile, Clara clambered through an open window and, marching down the meandering drive, she reached the main road. Not pausing, she continued her steady pace, eyes staring straight ahead, counting house numbers as she passed them by until she arrived at the corner of Mount Pleasant Road.

For a moment, her courage faltered as she gazed up at a large Victorian sem-detached house. Then stirring, cat-like, she moved up the drive and around the side of the house into the back garden.

Stopping in the shadows, her gaze fell upon her reason for trespass. Smothering a joyous gasp, she saw it waiting for her in the moonlight. Waiting for her to climb aboard.

Step by step, she moved across dewy grass, kicking her slippers off as she went until she reached her goal. Scrambling up onto the trampoline, smothering a laugh, Clara started to bounce and, as her bounces took her higher, her chuckles grew into raucous laughter that soon woke up the sleeping neighbourhood.