It was bound to happen. Or some version of it. Right afterwards, people said it was incomprehensible. The papers called it ‘baffling’, newscasters ‘an unthinkable tragedy’. But later, those who stopped to consider, those who knew us, thought otherwise. No-one said it completely, certainly not around me, but after the initial shock died down, and all the right things had been said, people began to speak more freely. They started sentences, or ended them, with no single person ever managing to reach point B after starting at point A.

‘If you follow the trajectory …’ Aunt Jo said.