He had told all of his dull cares to be gone. He had contemplated the way that worrying too much could turn a young man’s hair silver, or an old man’s heart to clay. Peter Matthew Barrie, eleven years old, dark-haired, suited, and wobbling on the slight heels of his new dress shoes, brought Benjamin Britten’s ‘Begone, dull care!’ to a close—brightly bidding adieu in fortissimo, mentally tapping out two-four time in quavers rather than crotchets. The end came. And then there was silence, as there always was with these sorts of things. They had given him three minutes and he had used just under two. The piece was very short. But then the silence lifted, polite applause filled the theatre.

They sat before him: St Cecelia’s Co-Ed Specialist Secondary School’s headmaster, choirmaster, and lead conductor. Peter had forgotten who was who. Their names were lost to him.