Charley dropped them in the bin and changed the water in the cut glass vase. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t come last week, mum, but there was a lot to do in the house. It’s in pretty bad condition — worse than we realised. The builders say we should really have a new roof.’ She held the flowers before the blank gaze of the old woman in the bed. ‘Michaelmas daisies. They’re from the garden.’ She arranged the daisies and ferns in the vase by the window. ‘We’re planting lots of flowers.’ A blind girl with a guide dog walked across the park below. ‘Lies death.’ She spun round, but her mother was staring motionless into space. She did not look as if she had moved or spoken. ‘What was that?’ Charley said. ‘What did you say?’ The old woman blinked once and continued her eternal motionless stare. ‘Lies death?’ No response. ‘Is that what you said, mum?’ Charley sat down beside her, took her bony hand.
