She returned from that visit almost sprightly (desperate?) in her attempts to please and to ingratiate herself into the household. Clare watched her listening, taking note, modifying her language and behaviour as carefully as an animal adapts its camouflage to fit into a new environment. She help...
They had a particularly idiotic row at the weekend. Mum asked if Dad minded her going out for the day on Sunday for some colleague’s birthday. He went, ‘Sure, fine,’ in the distracted way he does when he’s trying to read and you’re pestering him. But instead of saying ‘good’, she attacked him. ‘Y...
27 It’s morning; the sun has just come up into a clear blue sky, and is catching the snow with pink splashes of light. Everything is frozen still, and unreally beautiful in the late dawn light. What was pointless and hopeless last night is maybe still so, but I said I would tidy up, and the list ...
There is a revolving light outside. The orange glow flashes across the room from left to right, chased by darkness. It must be an ambulance or a police car. But there’s no siren. Breakdown truck? Roadworks? It doesn’t really matter. But he can’t close the curtains because of the suffocating dark,...