‘I thought he was dead.’

‘Come on, let’s go and see him.’

She turned to Adrian. Aggie’s head lolled heavily against her; her legs dangled clumsily down.

‘Goodbye,’ she said.

‘Goodbye.’

He hugged Sasha and whispered something in her ear, lifted Clem high in the air, laid a finger against Aggie’s cheek. Her eyes snapped open and she stared beadily at him.

‘I’ll call,’ he said.

‘Fine.’

For a moment he hesitated, poised between his past world and his present one. Then he turned on the pathway. Frankie, sitting in the car with one hand laid across her plumpening belly, turned on the engine as he came towards her. Irene stood in the doorway with the girls, watching him leave.

Thirty-five

‘Once upon a time,’ said Irene, lying on Aggie’s bed with a book on the pillow between them.

‘What time is it?’ asked Clem.

‘Nearly eight o’clock.’

‘I don’t mean here, I mean in my body.’

‘I suppose it’s early morning in Australia – but in your body it’s probably not just Australia any more. Lots of times are crashing into each other.’

‘Like cows.’

‘What!’

‘Go on with the story,’ said Aggie. Then she put her thumb in her mouth and spread her fingers in a chubby lattice across her pink face.

‘Once upon a time, in a far-off land, there was a giant who was very sad because no one …’

‘Not from a book,’ said Clem. ‘Tell us a story from your own life. Tell us about when you were young.’

‘Yes,’ said Aggie, unstoppering her mouth. ‘Tell us.’

Sasha appeared in the doorway. She had had a bath and was already in her night clothes. She sat cross-legged on the floor between the two beds and put the damp end of one of her plaits into her mouth. Irene put a hand on her warm head and Sasha gave her a cautious smile.

‘Let me see …’ said Irene, casting her mind back. It was always easier to remember sad stories than happy ones, the times when things changed, not the times they remained the same. ‘There was this one time when I found a baby bird, lying in the garden. It was really young, it had only just grown its feathers, and it was completely helpless. It was making these pitiful piping sounds, and its mother was calling back to it from the tree above, but of course she couldn’t do anything for it. It was going to die. We decided we would try and save it.’

‘We?’

‘Me and your granny.’

‘And Grandpa,’ said Clem.