It’s bound to be a bit of a conversation stopper, isn’t it? The death of an eleven-year-old boy. Only, strangely, it wasn’t. I don’t know, maybe it was the social-work thing kicking in, but Tony and Kathy seemed to know exactly how much and how little to say. And to my amazement, after a while it was Norman who was talking, not Leonard.

He told them Jax had been the best friend in the whole world, and Tony and Kathy nodded like they knew it to be true.

“He’s...actually, he’s...” Norman shot a sideways look at me and underneath the table we reached for each other’s hand at exactly the same moment. “He was the Rolls...the Rolls-Royce of best friends.” I squeezed gently and felt his small fingers link into mine.

With Tony and Kathy listening like it was an address to the nation, Norman told them about Jax and the first rules of comedy and the Five-Year Plan to get to the Fringe, which was now a new plan. Norman’s Plan. And how Leonard had set up practice runs along the way, which started with the open mic at the Noble Goat where we’d met Big Al and he’d done his first ever stand-up and wasn’t that genius.

“We’ve got another one here in Swansea this afternoon at the Tally something pub, and even though none of the places... I mean the ven-venues from the Fringe have got back to us yet about a real show, Leonard reckons there’s still loads of time, right, Leonard? Right, Mum?” I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Norman’s surprisingly firm squeeze of my hand at that very moment, but I nodded and smiled.

I hadn’t heard Norman talk that much since, well, it felt like forever, but I suppose it was really just a couple of months. It was like accidentally finding a rerun of your favorite show on telly and even he looked slightly surprised at the sound of his own voice. I didn’t want it to stop and I held on to that small hand with all that I had.

“So, Leonard, the Swansea open mic thing, it’s not at a place called the Taliesin, by any chance, is it?” After the breathless tumbling of Norman’s voice Kathy sounded calm and unhurried.

“Yes, yes, that’s it! The Taliesin pub.” Leonard seemed delighted that Kathy knew the place, probably because that might mean there would be a slightly larger audience than the Noble Goat. “Are you familiar with it?”

“Mmm-hmm. And the thing...the event’s called Swansea’s Got Talent, right?”

“Yes indeed, that’s right!” Leonard clapped his hands together. “But it’s okay. You don’t have to be from Swansea, I checked that. You just need to have talent, of which our Norman most certainly...”

I saw a look pass between Kathy and Tony and a faint alarm began to sound in the back of my head, nudging some words over my tongue and cutting Leonard off midsentence.

“Kathy? What’s the... I mean, is there a problem? Is it canceled or something?”