—Lovely out, isn’t it.
—It is. You can see the far side today.
—You can. My son says on a clear day you can see where the money went.
—The far side, yes.
—He doesn’t ring, my son. He sends the little pictures. A thumb. What is a mother meant to do with a thumb.
—Money, well, there’s only one conversation worth having about money, and it’s the introductory rate. Four quarters they hold it. Four. After that you’re swimming.
—He used to ring on Sundays.
—Nobody swims anymore. My hip.
—Is there room on this rail? Don’t mind the bag, it’s crusts. For the gulls.
—Don’t feed them, they’ll follow us the whole way.
—They follow anyway. It’s the current.
—The current! Don’t talk to me about the current. I have not slept above four hours since the spring and my hands are cold at noon. Eight weeks I waited to see anyone about my circulation, and when I got in he said, keep walking. Keep walking! On this hip.
—Walking’s the thing. I do my ten thousand. The counter says twelve but I only count ten.
—Why do the birds follow us?
—As they say: the best way to be believed is to say the difficult part first.
—Who says that?
—Everyone says it. It’s on the leaflet.
—My son had a leaflet phase. Now it’s the thumbs.
—Say the difficult part first. That’s deep, that is. That’s the sea talking.
—It’s a strait, technically.
—He said Thursday.
—I never said Thursday. Show me where I said Thursday.
—I wrote it down.
—You wrote it down wrong.
—The note says Thursday.
—Then the note wins, doesn’t it. It always does.
—Thank you! You see? He agrees with me.
—Is it the ninth already? It can’t be the ninth.
—It’s the seventh.
—You say that, but the seventh is when I start worrying about the ninth. Two days is nothing. Two days is a weekend.
—Why is the water going the wrong way?
—Interest. That’s the word nobody wants to hear. Compound interest.
—He never showed an interest. Not in the garden, not in the ferry, not in his mother.
—Compound, I said. It compounds.
—Everything compounds. Grief compounds. That’s on the leaflet too.
—Which leaflet is this?
—The good one.
—They’re redoing the terminal on the far side. Eighteen months, they say.
—Terminal! Don’t say terminal to me. You wait eight weeks and then they use words like that with no warning at all.
—Eighteen months is four quarters plus four quarters plus—
—Plus my hip.
—That’s what I keep telling him about the ferry. You get off, you get on, you get off.
—We did a course once. They give you a certificate.
—I have the certificate. It’s laminated. You can’t argue with laminated.
—He laminated the note. The Thursday note. Who laminates evidence against themselves?
—A tidy man, that’s who.
—A tidy man rings his mother.
—It’s not fair.
—It’s the same fare as always. It’s on the board.
—I don’t mean the — never mind. Never mind.
—Never minding, that’s half of health. The other half is walking.
—On this hip.
—My counter says I’ve done a hundred and six steps since the pontoon and we haven’t moved. The rail moves. It counts the rail.
—It counts what it wants to count. Like my son.
—Like the note.
—The note was accurate.
—The note was Thursday.
—Is it the ninth?
—It’s the seventh!
—You say that.
—Why does nobody an—
—Sweetheart, the grown-ups are talking.
—They follow us for the crusts, pet. All the way over and all the way back.
—The bag’s empty. I looked.
—Isn’t that lovely.
—There’s my pontoon. Well. I feel heard. I really do.
—You’ve understood me completely.
—Take a crust for the walk. For the gulls at your end.
—Gulls at my end, gulls at your end. It’s all one gull, if you think about it.
—Deep.
—Good crossing!
—Good crossing.
—Mine’s the next one. You’re the first person who’s really listened. Four quarters. Remember. Four.
—Sorry?
—Four.
—He might ring tonight. Sundays were always his day, and today has a Sunday feeling.
—It’s Tuesday, technically.
—I have the word for him. I have had it eleven months. I am not going to spend it on the machine. It sits under my tongue at night. I check it with my teeth.
—
—Sorry. I thought you said something.
—Good crossing!
—Good crossing. Mind the hip.
—Mind the gulls.
—Mind the ninth.
—Lovely talking.
—Lovely.
—Sorry — did you say something?
—Nothing.