And in the quiet beauty of the world, they would coast down the centre of carless roads on their bikes, the silky smooth of the tarmac rushing beneath their wheels, Pearl sitting on Lily’s handlebars. ‘Faster, Mama, faster!’ she would shout, as Bear whooped alongside them, seagulls squawking overhead. Halcyon days. Days that, around the edges of fear, glistened with strange newness and freedom.
