ANNIE DOESN’T RECOGNISE the old teacher at first glance, not consciously. She only registers a vague sense of disorientation that seems carried in by the light in this new room – bright and sharp, streaming through high-panelled windows. A momentary dislocation, time slipping sideways.

There are two women in the beds across from hers, both elderly, both plugged into devices. She finds she has to look back at the one nearer the window, and look again, and a name breaks through the light-refracted unreality.