Where The Story Starts

by Imogen Clark

Why was life so unfair? Who decided which people got to enjoy their old age and which didn’t?

She tried to picture her own parents in similar poses, frail and twisted by age but still content in each other’s company, happily taking life at a slower pace.

Grief was so difficult to deal with after the initial shock had passed. Once the funeral was over and done with, you were simply expected to return to normal and not subject those around you to any outward displays of pain.

I’ve never quite trusted the Russians since I read Gorky Park.

what was the point of travelling if you didn’t have anything to come home to?

‘feisty and independent’ were all very well, but sometimes I longed for a bit of ‘protected and cherished’ instead.

‘No one had been kind to me or asked me if I needed anything for such a long time. I think I’d fallen off people’s radars.