CHAPTER 18
There was an inquest two months later, as we had had a death, and an infant’s at that. It was my first one for a child, and the first I was required to attend, as the others had been happy simply to use my witness statement. I quickly grasped why, as several of the questions related to whether the seat was secured or not. It was an interesting atmosphere, because the whole tone was gentle rather than confrontational. Our boss had been clear in his advice.

Magnolia Blooms & Sakura Petals
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman

Prologue

The whole house was asleep. Which afforded me a measure of privacy I did not have during the day. According to the wall clock on the kitchen wall it was twelve o' ten in the morning. A rerun of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was playing in the background. And I was sitting at the family's computer. Trying my best to write something. I needed to write something. I had this burning desire to write something, I had ideas, but I did not have the voice.

CHAPTER 16
I looked round the room, remembering Elf’s words.

‘Marlene won’t allow face coverings, after the Admiral Duncan bombing. No furries, no puppy boys, but everyone else, aye? Safe space’

Safe space.

“What can you offer, Lil?”

“Careful who you say that to, woman. What’s your usual poison?”

CHAPTER 4
“Anyway, what did Lynn say, Julia?”

I looked at her as she composed her thoughts, someone who had just shared the most literally horrendous personal information, and asked myself exactly how self-absorbed I must be. All of this was entirely down to me, in the end. Not Mary, not work, just me I wondered if there might be a way of rebottling the genie, for all of the very few seconds it took me to realise how stupidly unrealistic that thought was.

“Lynn? Oh, don’t worry. She didn’t spot a bra strap, or some unwiped mascara”

A gala drawing gives Samantha a role Samuel never asked for: princess. But helping a frightened child may force him to see the experience differently.

CHAPTER 3
“Take a seat. Please”

He slumped into one of the armchairs, setting his briefcase upright on the floor beside him, where it promptly fell over.

“Harry… “

He stopped abruptly, looking down at his clenched hands, then slowly relaxed his fingers before looking back up at the two of us on the settee.

“There have been rumours, you know. I wasn’t sure… Short form, then. Mary, could I have that tea after all? Please?”

She brought an extra mug from the kitchen, and the three of us sat silently as she poured and handed him the cup.

“What do I call you? Harry seems a bit awkward”

“What everyone else does”

“Ellie? I always did wonder about why you pushed that one. Bit too glib, I thought, and I was right, wasn’t I? So, please, executive summary”

I looked quickly at my wife, then jumped in. Soonest humiliated, soonest over.

“Lots of cliché stuff, really, so I won’t go into the usual rigmarole”

Having been invited out by an old acquaintance Barb goes with Cindy a short shopping trip.

CHAPTER 15
I had indeed been squeaky new when I had met Hira, just settling in at the Cardiff hub as I was. I had realised early on in my training that while I was competent at driving the big box of an ambulance, I didn’t have the spatial awareness of someone like Tom, who seemed almost to wear the vehicle like a second skin. My forte was that of an advanced nurse practitioner, with extra trauma skills, so I concentrated on those aspects. It meant a lot of mixing and matching crews for a long time, but eventually Tom and I gelled.

I wake at half past four to something wrong with my underwear.