Boneland

‘Meg. I need to see you. Today.’

‘Well, that was quick. Of course you can.’

‘What time?’

‘Whenever. Take care.’

‘Hello. Is that High Forest Taxis?’

‘It is indeed, Professor Whisterfield.’

‘I have to go from Alderley to Toft. Now. As soon as possible. And I’d like the driver to be Bert. He knows where I am. Thanks. Thanks very much. You’re so kind.’

He left the quarry for the road and paced until the taxi came.

‘Eh up, Colin. Are you all right? What’s it today, then?’ said Bert. ‘The nut house?’

‘It’s not as far as Barcelona.’

‘No worries.’ Colin sat in the front. Bert whistled as he drove, and kept winking at Colin. They turned onto the drive. Meg was by the house, lopping holly branches.

‘Hi, Colin. Hi, Bert.’

‘Hi, Doc,’ said Bert.

‘Go in, Colin,’ said Meg. ‘I’ll stow the gear and be with you.’

‘Watch them gullantines, Doc,’ said Bert, ‘else they’ll have you.’

Colin went to the library and looked out over the lawns.

‘I didn’t know you knew Bert,’ he said.

‘Bert and I go back a long way.’

Only, in all the world, he entered the lodge.

‘Am I mad?’ said Colin.

‘Not yet,’ said Meg.

‘But a voice. That’s psychosis.’

‘Depends on the voice,’ said Meg. ‘Have you heard it before?’

‘No.’

‘Did you recognise it?’

‘Yes.’

‘A real person?’

‘—Yes.’

‘You don’t sound too sure.’

‘I think,’ said Colin.

‘Oh, you “think”,’ said Meg. ‘Now. Let’s unpick this. You hear a voice you’ve not heard before, and you “think” it’s the voice of someone you recognise. Dead or alive?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I must find her.’

‘You just hold your water. So it’s a “she”.’

‘Yes.’

‘How can you tell? A whisper is voiceless. Hard to differentiate.’

‘She calls me Col. No one else does. No one else knows. It’s just between the two of us. At secret times.’

‘“Did” or “does”? “Knew” or “knows”?’

‘Does. Knows.’

‘So it’s all in the present.’

‘It depends on whether time is linear,’ said Colin.

‘Who is she? Was she?’

Colin began to cry.

‘Who, Colin?’

‘My sister.’

‘What’s her name?’

‘I—can’t remember.’

Meg took Colin by the hand.

‘Come up, love. Come up.’

She helped him from the chair and walked him across the room to the French windows.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I never cry.’