17
A gentle tapping on the door woke Esther. The bedside clock said twelve fifteen. “Mum, I’m awake. Have I got time for a shower?”
“No rush. I’ll have soup ready when you come down.”
The shower and a change of clothes refreshed her. Despite being sleep-deprived, her reading project had been the right thing to do. She went downstairs to the kitchen.
“I was beginning to worry about you but you look like you’ve had some sleep.”
“Not until nearly dawn, but I’ve had a good sleep since then.” Esther took the soup bowl from her mother and sat next to her at the kitchen bench.
“What were you doing until dawn?”
“I couldn’t sleep. So I gave up and started reading.”
The corners of her mother’s mouth twitched. “You used to get absorbed in a book all your teenage years. Dragging you back to re
