Chapter 56
Nineteen Months
Charlie in the pub after work telling Wilbur about the end of the Beatles …
Wilbur on his bike making an unnecessary right turn to avoid going down Ecclesall Road …
Launching a children’s section with displays of Dr Seuss and A Wizard of Earthsea …
Working, working, working … On the distant horizon there was a World Cup in Mexico …
a satellite in China … a cyclone in Pakistan …
Then in the foreground Edith swallowing her pills down with her milky tea and a slice of cake …
On his own on the bench at the cemetery …
working in the back office with Charlie …
lying in bed awake and alert and hearing the milk float drive down an empty morning street …
packed crowds in the bookshop on a Saturday …
passing the waterfall in Endcliffe Park …
Wilbur getting a phone call from Maggie, saying she was unhappy in London and coming home …
one thing rushing and fading into another…
a whole life of ellipses … every arrival its own departure …