Her eyes shone at Nora.
‘I don’t know,’ Nora said. ‘I don’t think anyone knows for sure.’
She frowned. This didn’t satisfy her. This didn’t satisfy her one bit.
‘Listen,’ Nora said. ‘There is a chance that just before you die, you’ll get a chance to live again. You can have things you didn’t have before. You can choose the life you want.’
‘That sounds good.’
‘But you don’t have to have this worry for a very long time. You are going to have a life full of exciting adventures. There will be so many happy things.’
‘Like camping!’
A burst of warmth radiated through Nora as she smiled at this sweet girl. ‘Yes. Like camping!’
‘I love it when we go camping!’
Nora’s smile was still there but she felt tears behind her eyes. This seemed a good life. A family of her own. A daughter to go on camping holidays with.
‘Listen,’ she said, as she realised she wasn’t going to be able to escape the bedroom any time soon. ‘When you have worries about things you don’t know about, like the future, it’s a very good idea to remind yourself of things youdoknow.’
‘I don’t understand,’ the girl said, snuggled under her duvet as Nora sat on the floor beside her.
‘Well, it’s like a game.’
‘I like games.’
‘Shall we play a game?’
‘Yes,’ smiled her daughter. ‘Let’s.’
The Game
‘I ask you something we already know and you say the answer. So, if I ask “What is Mummy’s name?”, you would say “Nora”. Get it?’
‘I think so.’
‘So, what is your name?’
‘Molly.’
‘Okay, what is Daddy’s name?’
‘Daddy!’
‘But what is his actual name?’
‘Ash!’
Well. That was a really successful coffee date.
‘And where do we live?’
‘Cambridge!’
Cambridge. It kind of made sense. Nora had always liked Cambridge, and it was only thirty miles from Bedford. Ash must have liked it too. And it was still commutable distance from London, if he still worked there. Briefly, after getting her First from Bristol, she had applied to do an MPhil in Philosophy and had been offered a place at Caius College.
‘What part of Cambridge? Can you remember? What is our street called?’
