“That’s less distinguished… Musicians all seem to be disabled, as far as I can see.”

“Bach had to have an eye operation. But it didn’t work and he went completely blind.”

She had gone all thoughtful.

“In those days, it can’t have been much fun, going to hospital and having your eyes messed around with,” I said.

“No. I expect things have improved since then.”

Anyway, as soon as I arrived at her house on the day I got my report, I laid it out in front of her so that she could compare our results. Her hair had grown since the beginning of the school year and while she was reading her face was completely invisible, swamped by its flaming foaminess.

She smiled, parting her lips to expose a row of teeth polished bright like pearls.

“Tootin’ Carmen…? Wait… You didn’t really, did you? I can’t believe it… Do you mean Tutankhamun? I can’t think how you come up with these things. One could rack one’s brain for weeks without thinking up anything so funny.”

“I find it difficult to copy down from the board. I promise you that’s what was written in my exercise book. I’d revised Ancient Egypt.”

“This we have to celebrate.”

We went downstairs to the kitchen. Marie poured the pomegranate juice into a big jug and put it on a tray with a plate of biscuits. Then we went into the sitting room.

“Sit over there on the sofa.”

She got the cello out of its case and began to apply rosin to the bow. The vigorous way she rubbed at it reminded me of horse riders I’d seen brushing their horses with handfuls of straw, to stop them catching cold. Maybe the cello was like a delicate animal too. She opened up some sheet music on her stand. It was covered with complicated symbols that marked out time and I wondered how she could possibly get her bearings. Then she put the cello between her knees and began to attack it with her bow as though this time she wanted to smack it or saw it right through. It took me a while to get the rhythm and tune, because it was an awkward kind of music and I wasn’t used to it. I couldn’t get my head around the deluge of notes. But little by little I felt like I was waking up and I allowed myself to be carried along by the unfamiliar sounds. There was another world to discover… And perhaps, after all, there was something somewhere as beautiful as “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones. It was difficult to imagine, but why shouldn’t there be?