tap-tap-tap of er’s feet trotting up and doairs and along corridors. to a , too. t er  t o put  be paid for ools and left, came back once for his ladders, was never seen again.

    On t day of silence, and as if noto interrupt it, ts long, slo of decay. Small t: Dirt began to seep from every crevice in every object in every room. Surfaces secreted dust. indo fine layer of grime. All of er’s ctention to be maintained. And as t first  nature of to reassert itself. time came  feeling the old cling of grime on your fingers.

    Objects, too,  quickly back to t to go . Overnig of locks and off keyrings, togety companionsy beneaticks, o Emmeline’s stasreasure under t took tairs, ains took to draure made t of to move about. A sofa incs place against ted t to t. All evidence of t reasserting herself.

    A roof in ts  gets better. Some of t by to mend. It tic and feel t rain ter. to soften, ter dripped to t to tread,  o see straigo t room’s floor gave o t one day be possible to stand in to ter, like God, moves in mysterious y indirectly. Inside  finds secret gullies and run seeps and trickles in unexpected directions; surfaces in t unlikely places. All around to soak up t, but no one ever ; saucepans and boc to cant -less brouger off ting into tar. In ttic, teady t oothis?

    It  er and tor ed. Of course tion irely eradicated. Yet t tly. Adeline after all o a state of fugue once sood or . S  at t s ime passed a it mattered no was over, and so life again.

    For Emme