She couldn’t believe that she was back here so suddenly … that the vivid dream was over. She rubbed her forehead, trying to wake up fully. Her hair was damp. She pulled her fingers through it and started to tremble. Her hair was damp because an hour ago she had stuck her head under icy water that had seemed surprisingly real. Had it been real? She had been just as wide awake then as she was now. She had known it all along in some part of her. Pretending it was a dream had cushioned the shock of what had happened—that, somehow, she had been spirited back thirty-five years to her mother’s childhood and now, just as mysteriously, had returned to the present. Think it out, she told herself dizzily. There must be a logical explanation. That was one of her mother’s favourite phrases. How long had she been gone? It had been about two when she had left the cabin. She looked at her wristwatch and shook it. The hands still pointed to two o’clock; the battery must have run down. Then she took out the other watch, the gold one hidden under her T-shirt.
