‘Josie, what’s the matter?’ I kept my voice low, but urgent. ‘Has the pain come back?’ ‘No! No pain! But I want Mom! Get Mom! I need her here!’ Not only was her voice loud, it was as if it had been folded over onto itself, so that two versions of her voice were being sounded together, pitched fractionally apart. I’d never before heard her produce such a voice and for a second became hesitant. She brought herself up into a kneeling position and now I saw the duvet hadn’t disintegrated after all, but was in a large ball behind her.
