This is for Shaun and Paul:

“So,” said internationally famous author and quite religious bloke CS Lewis, draining the last drop from his pint pot. “One more from the road?”

The Inklings stirred, The Eagle and Child was warm and the fug of pipe smoke wrapped them in comforting blankets of contentment.

“Whose round is it?” Lord Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil, Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College grumped, slamming his tankard on the oak table. “I bally well got the last one!”

“I’ll get it,” JRR said, sallying forth from the comfort of his seat by the fire and setting out on his quest. Then he paused. For long moments he stood in the centre of the pub like some giant, ancient statue being admired, over and over and over again, from many angles. Then he shook himself. “But first, I need a piss.”