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On Saturday, I was up early, preparing the spare bedroom for my mother’s overnight visit. Poppy jumped around, sensing that something unusual was about to happen. In the end, I put her out in the garden while I aired the spare bed and put fresh flowers on the table in the kitchen. At last everything was ready, and only just in time, because my mother’s bus was due soon. We had agreed that she would call me if she was delayed. If I didn’t hear from her, I would be at the bus stop in time to meet her as she arrived. Poppy darted around my feet, happy to be going for a walk into the village, and stopping every few feet to sniff the ground or water it.
One consequence of my day off work was that I would have no chance to tell Hannah about my rather prosaic date with Barry, or to discuss
