‘He tried to. Oh, God – he tried to talk about it, and I told him not to be so maudlin …’ His voice cracks and his shoulders heave. Kathleen touches his shoulder gently. A brother picks up the thread. ‘Not just you, Sam,’ he says. ‘Dad asked me to do one of those attorney documents in case Mum ever needed a hand, and I just said he’d be here forever and to stop being gloomy …’ and his voice peters away.
