in several weeks-she looked at the calendar and realised it had actually been five-and it didn't take much to make her feel like a selfish cow who'd abandoned her calf. So she felt the need to excuse herself to Mrs. Flo and she said, "I've been working on these murders...the young boys? You might have read about it. It's been a rough case, and time's dead crucial. Has Mum-"
"Barbie, dear, you're not to go on like that," Mrs. Flo said. "I just wanted you to know Mum's had a few good days. She's been here, and she still is. So I thought that as she's a bit more in the present and out of the Blitz, it might be good to take time for an examination of her personals. We might be able to do it without sedating her, which I always think is preferable, don't you?"
"Bloody hell, yes," Barbara said. "If you'll make the appointment, I'll take her."
"Of course, dear, there's no guarantee that she'll be herself when you have to take her. As I said, there have been a few good days recently, but you know how it is."
"I do," Barbara said. "But make the appointment anyway. I can cope if we have to sedate her." She could steel herself to it, she told herself: her mum slumped into the passenger seat of the Mini, slack of jaw and bleary of eye. That would be nearly unbearable to behold, but it would be infinitely preferable to trying to explain, to her disintegrating ability to understand, what was about to happen to her when she was asked to put her legs into the ghastly stirrups in the doctor's surgery.
So Barbara and Mrs. Flo reached an agreement, which consisted of a range of days when Barbara could drive out to Greenford for the appointment. Then they rang off, and Barbara was left with the rueful knowledge that she wasn't as childless as she looked to the outside world. For certainly her mother stood in place of progeny. Not exactly what Barbara had in mind for herself, but there it was. The cosmic forces governing the universe were always willing to give you a variation of what you thought your life was meant to be like.
She headed for the bathroom again, only to have the telephone ring a second time. She decided to let her answer machine take the call, and she left the room to turn the shower on. But from the bathroom, the voice she heard was male this time, which suggested the night had brought another development in the case, so she hurried back out in time to hear Taymullah Azhar saying, "...the number up here should you need to get in touch with us."
She snatched up the receiver, saying, "Azhar? Hello? Are you there?" And where was there? she wondered.
"Ah, Barbara," he said. "I hope I did not awaken you? Hadiyyah and I have come to Lancaster for a conference at the university, and I realised that I did not ask anyone to collect our post prior to our leaving. Could you-"
"Shouldn't she be at school? Is she on holiday? Half-term?"
"Yes, of course," he said. "That is to say, she should be at school. But I could not leave her alone in London, so we've brought her schoolwork with us. She does it here in the hotel room while I'm at my meetings. It is, I know, not the best arrangement, but she's safe and she keeps the door locked while I'm gone."
"Azhar, she shouldn't..." Barbara stopped herself. That way led to disagreement. She said instead, "You could have left her with me. I would have been happy to have her here. I'd always be happy to have her here. I knocked you up the other morning. No one came to the door."
"Ah. We would have been here in Lancaster," he said.
"Oh. I heard music-"
"My meagre attempt to thwart burglars."
Barbara felt unaccountably relieved by this information. "D'you want me to check the flat, then? Have you left a key? Because I could collect the post and go in and..." She realised how bloody happy she was to hear his voice and how much she wanted to accommodate him. She didn't like this at all, so she stopped herself from going on. He was, after all, still the man who thought her unfortunately unpartnered in life.
He said, "You are very kind, Barbara. If you would claim our mail, I'd ask nothing more of you."
"Will do, then," she said