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you?”
    She closed the cupboard door and spooned the coffee into the mugs. She glanced at me, as though trying to read my mood. “Well, actually... something happened to me today.”
    “What?”
    She leaned on the worktop and looked down at the mugs while the kettle chugged steam onto the green tiled wall.
    “I saw Sarah.”
    “Sarah who?”
    “My sister.”
    “What do you mean – you had a dream about her?”
    “No, I was awake.”
    “Well, what do you mean you saw her?”
    She bit her lower lip, but the smile crept out on either side. “Robert, you’re not going to believe this. Just after you left, I felt really low – I mean worse than I’ve felt in a long time. I just wanted to know she was okay, you know? And then... then she was there, standing at the window. Smiling at me.” Sweet Jesus, was I hearing this? “She looked like she used to look. No bright lights, not like a ghost or anything. Just like you look, right now... and when she left, I felt this really strong sense of peace, right here.” She pointed to the left of her breastbone then shrugged. “I just know she’s okay now.” She stared at nothing for a moment then found her focus on me. “Isn’t that amazing?”
    What do you say to something like that? Pass it off as casual conversation? “That’s... well... that’s great you feel better, Cora.”
    She stepped closer to me. “But don’t you see how incredible it is? She was right here, Robert, as real as you are.”
    “That’s great.” God, she really means it . I smiled a forced smile. Do something. Something normal. I turned to fill the mugs with boiling water.
    “That’s it? It’s ‘ great ’? Robert, don’t you see what this means?”
    “It means you’re happy, that’s all that matters.” I tried to make it sound light-hearted, but it didn’t come out like that. She took a step back, her eyes searching my face.
    “You don’t believe me.”
    I let out a sigh. “I believe that you believe it.”
    “That’s not the same. I need you to believe this. What do you think I saw?”
    “Cora, you’re exhausted... after what we’ve both been through... you hardly sleep, you’re not eating... Your mind can do all kinds of things to you when you’re stressed.”
    “You think I imagined it?”
    “A lot of people who’ve been through what you have must see things that...”
    “That what? Aren’t there?”
    “Cora, Sarah is dead.” I put my hands on her shoulders and said it again, gently. “She’s dead.”
    “I know that – I watched her die, remember? But I’m telling you I saw her.”
    “Oh come on, Cora.” This was getting stupid. “Maybe it was just...”
    “No. It was her.” She shook her head. “Why do you always react like this?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I know you think that this life is all there is, but why can’t you just admit that maybe you’re wrong? What are you afraid of?”
    Oh, please. “I’m not afraid. Come on, let’s leave it, Cora.” I picked up my laptop and walked out of the kitchen. I could feel the bubble of irritation swelling and I didn’t want it to burst.
    She followed me into the living room. “No, let’s not leave it. Why can’t you just open your mind?”
    I couldn’t help it. Something snapped in me. “Open my mind? Open mymind? My mind is wide open! No, I don’t lap up whatever the latest beardie-weirdie bastard is telling me – I don’t buy it – but don’t tell me my mind isn’t open! I spend my life looking for something that no-one can see, but I deal in facts, Cora, not wild assumptions.”
    “Just because you haven’t found a name for it doesn’t mean it isn’t there!”
    “If someone could give me a shred of evidence, just a shred” – I picked up the Buddha statue from the bookcase and slammed it down again – “that any of this woo-woo shite is right, I’d believe it. I really would. But there’s nothing! There never has been. All this...” – I waved my hand around at the