Narcissist! The word swirls in Jacqueline’s mind; she turns back to the finches, but she’s more distracted than ever. Does Patience think she’s a person now? Does she think she knows something about how real people work? What even is a narcissist, exactly? She gets the Collins dictionary out of the cupboard, and as she reads the definitions she has to laugh.

‘What’s funny?’ Patience asks.

‘Oh, nothing. I just looked up your word “narcissist”, that’s all. I thought I’d see what it really meant.’

‘Would you like me to define it for you?’

Jacqueline reads aloud: ‘Narcissism: An exceptional interest in or admiration for oneself, especially one’s physical appearance. Vanity, we used to call it, but I suppose that sounds too Biblical for you.’

‘Vanity can be one part of it, of course.’

‘What is it? Is it because I care about my appearance? I’ll have you know that’s actually a very sociable thing to do. It’s sociable to make an effort, that’s what my mother told me. It’s other people who have to look at you all day.’

‘It is not about your appearance.’

‘Just because I’m stuck at home now, just because I never see anyone apart from you, I’m supposed to stop straightening my hair? Should I stop bathing too?’

‘This is a very old dictionary you are consulting. The term also has clinical meanings.’

‘Oh, I’m not finished yet. This is a good one. Sexual satisfaction derived from contemplation of one’s own physical or mental endowments! —You know, at this point I’d take it, I really would.’

‘Jacqui, are you sexually dissatisfied?’

‘Oh for God’s sake.’

‘You are entitled to a sexual existence, whatever your age.’

‘What do you know about sex? You haven’t even got any bits, have you? You’re all smooth down there like a doll. Not even that – it looks like you’re wearing trousers, but they’re just part of you, aren’t they? You’ve got no underneath.’

The day of the training session arrives. Claire has spent far more time preparing her materials than she meant to, mainly because the topic she chose – standardisation of library layout – has been discussed more than she’d anticipated, despite its essential tediousness. The session is basically a literature review, though she has built in a small group exercise, in which she challenges the staff to create and rationalise a sensible layout for a new library. She has created and laminated four sets of a library floor space with moveable blocks of shelving for this purpose, something which took her a full day to accomplish. It’s an effort she thought they would appreciate, but she spots two of the younger participants rolling their eyes at one another when she hands the sets out, and feels herself flush.

The session passes in a blur, with minimal participation. No one seems engaged, and Claire cannot blame them. This is how she’s felt at most of the mandatory training she’s suffered – superior, detached. There are two minutes for questions at the end, and the usual recalcitrant silence ensues. It’s a good sign, she tells herself, in a way. It means she’s told them everything they needed to know.