“Michelle!” Jonathan said, recognising her immediately as she stood on his doorstep, the ten years separating this from their last meeting having left her face virtually untouched, save for the delicate lines flowering at the corners of her eyes, the tan darkening her skin, and the intangible shroud of maturity a decade’s experience had draped about her.

“I can’t stay long, I’m afraid, but I couldn’t leave again without calling in to see you. It’s not a bad time, is it?”

Jonathan said it was not, invited her in, asked her how she was, if he could get her a drink, apologised for being in his pyjamas and dressing gown. He felt again nervous and excited in her presence, as if those feelings had been lying dormant all these years. He had thought never to see her again. He made tea, led her through to the living room where his daughter sat playing with wooden blocks.

“Hi there,” Michelle said kneeling in front of the child, “what’s your name?”

(more…)

Throughout life there are days that don’t really mean anything, interchangeable days where you change nothing, do nothing; days that don’t serve any real purpose beyond getting you to the next one and adding just that tiniest shred to your total experience. There are days too, even if you don’t realise it at the time, when a single action, a misplaced word, sends ripples out across your life, irreversibly altering your future. The fifth of June 2008 was one of these days. (more…)