“Eaten?” said Emma. “I can’t even think about food right now.”

“Wrong.” He pointed a stern finger at her. His bearing had changed as his voice had on the telephone, Lulu thought: he had become older than all of them and had taken control. “We all might be here for a long time, and we need to get some fuel in. You two.” He switched the finger to Matthew and Jamie. “Go to the cafeteria now, get yourselves some nourishment, and come back.” He rummaged in his bag for a couple of small parcels, and turned back to Emma and Lulu. “As for you two, I’ve brought you peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate to keep you going for the time being—you can have either or both, but you have to have something. And now.” He returned to the bag and drew out a large red cardboard box. “We three are going to play Scrabble.”

There was a silence.

“Scrabble,” said Emma.

“Scrabble,” he assented. “I’ve been in hospital waiting rooms before, as might be apparent by now. There’s nothing you can do but wait, and while you’re waiting, there’s nothing you can do but think, and that can get ugly at times like this. We want something to distract you, and I find Scrabble works as well as anything’s going to. So how about it?”

There was another silence.

“Actually,” said Lulu, “that sounds like a really good idea to me.”

Emma shrugged weakly.

“Why not,” she agreed.

It was years since Emma and Lulu had played Scrabble together. In that time Emma had discovered opera, shared a flat with a girl who had subscribed to Yachts and Yachting, and fallen in love with a computer professional; Lulu had acquired a degree in biochemistry.

“I do not believe,” said Emma shortly into the game, “that isomer is a word.”

“It’s as much a word as applet,” said Lulu. “An isomer is a compound that has the same molecular formula as another one but in differing proportions. Everyone knows that.”

“If everyone knew it,” said Emma, “then you wouldn’t need to be explaining it, would you? I didn’t understand a word of what you just said, and I think you made isomer up. I think you’re cheating.”

“No, I’m not,” said Lulu. “I don’t cheat. I think you’re confusing me with Sophie.”

The name hung shivering in the air for a moment.

“Does Sophie cheat?” said Tom, then.

“Cheat!” said Lulu. “She forges vast new territories and claims them for her own. She’s both fearless and legendary. She’s the Christopher Columbus of the invented word.”

“Remember koalish?” said Emma. “Not quite a koala bear but something that reminded you of one.”

“I liked elmee,” said Lulu. “A person who has been knocked down by a falling elm tree.”

When Matthew and John returned from the cafeteria, they were surprised to find the sisters engrossed in a dispute over forestay.

“The food’s not gourmet,” said Matthew. “But it’s not as bad as it could be. They have chicken, Emma, and some okay-looking salad.”