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Diana’s parents were sad, of course, and they sympathized, shocked at a tragedy so similar to their own that they seemed even more detached than usual as a means of self-survival. Your dearest friend, her mother said in her thin, papery voice in the darkness of her bedroom. Her poor mother. Diana was relieved that her parents were so removed from the world that they knew virtually nothing of their own daughter’s fame, her success. Over the last few months, they had rebuffed any journalists or photographers who had inquired, directing them to the Taylors, where they thought they were better suited. They paid no mind to any mention of Diana or her paintings. We just lost our son, you know, was their response to anyone who called, and they were largely left alone.
They had aged a decade
