‘BALDO! BALDO! BALDO! BALDO! BALDO! BALDO! WAH!’

‘Sorry. Her cage.’

‘WAAAAAAAH!’

………

‘She certainly has! And the vet said she needed to be kept quiet for a few days, but she does seem to be quite … yes. Exactly. Quite revived.’

………

‘It is. I’m just so relieved …’

………

‘No, no, no. He’s long gone, now. I actually got shot of him the day after I …’

………

‘I haven’t. I did think long and hard about it, Carla, and I chatted to the vet about it, too, and we decided that it might be quite confusing for him – her – if I made any dramatic changes before she was …’

………

‘Exactly! And apart from anything else it would render a good half of everything she actually says completely incompre—’

‘BALDO! BALDO! BALDO! BALDO! BALDO! BALDO! WAAAAK!’

………

‘Ha! Oh yes. Yes, that’s definitely new. Could you hear the difference over the …?’

………

‘Yes. She’s been doing that since the vet’s. Apparently there was an injured baby jackdaw awaiting collection by an animal refuge in a nearby …’

………

‘They do. Yes. A kind of “waaak” noise.’

‘WAAAAAK!’

‘Exactly. Thanks very much, Baldo.’

………

‘Me too! Oh absolutely delighted! Although I suspect you didn’t ring me up to spend hours talking about …’

………

‘Really? When was this, exactly?’

………

‘Are you still with your dad, then?’

………

‘Oh yes, I know how antsy he gets about his phone bill!’

‘BALDO! BALDO! BALDO! BALDO!’

………

‘Early to bed, early to rise – I think the saying …’

………

‘Exactly!’

‘WAAAAK!’

………

‘So how long did it take you to …?

………

‘And you’ve just been stewing on it ever since?’

………

‘Well they were bound to upset you, weren’t they?’

………

‘I was exactly the same, Carla. Exactly the same. Because there’s the stock selection of images which they always tend to use in the press and a person gets … well, inured, but it’s entirely different to …’

………

‘Absolutely. That’s exactly how I felt. To a T.’

………

‘She did look well in them. But then looks can often be …’

………

‘Poor you!’

[Shrill, high-pitched whistle.]

‘Baldo! Enough! Enough!’

………

‘Yes. Yes it was a little … a little confusing just … just trying to slot yourself back into that whole original …’

………

‘I said that?’

………

‘Oh. Yes. Yes. In fact …yes …’

………

[High-pitched whistle.]

‘Enough, Baldo! Uh, yes, yes I did. I remember now. You were in your little red …’

………

‘Oh … Well I don’t exactly remember them being in any strict kind of order, as such …’

………

‘No. In fact you’re right, Carla. Yes. You’re perfectly correct. They were. They were numbered, on the back.’

………

‘Oh. Well it was probably quite early on in the …’

………

‘04?’

………

‘And number 40?’

………

‘40.04?’

………

‘I do have a vague recollection of that, yes. Very vague. But then there were lots of things that Orla said and … and did …’