The Johnsons answer the door

A short while after ringing the doorbell, Mrs. Johnson opened the door and invited Andrea in from the deluge, saying, “Thanks for looking after our little Billy on such short notice”.

As if on cue a crash could be heard from upstairs, followed by the sound of footsteps as the child ran down the stairs pursued by his father straight into his mother’s legs, who picked up the struggling child.

“Now listen here, you be a good boy for Andrea here and we’ll bring you back a present”, Mrs. Johnson bribed her child, pacifying him for the time being.

“We’ll be back by 11, and his bed time is at 9. He’s already had dinner, but you can give him a snack around 7. Also we know what babysitters get up to, and we don’t mind if you invite anybody around or help yourself to what’s in the fridge, so long as you get Billy to bed on time and don’t wake him up”, Mrs. Johnson instructed, her husband adding “And stay out of my scotch!”, with a grin, receiving an elbow nudge from his wife in return.

With a “Be a good boy for Mommy and Daddy, we’ll see you in the morning, slugger”, the couple left for their function, leaving Andrea to lock up with a spare key.

There was an uncomfortable silence between Andrea and ‘her’ charge, as Billy sized up his caretaker. Andrew internally sighed; he had never had to babysit anybody before now, so would be flying by the seat of his pants.

But quickly enough, he thought of something to break the ice.