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prospectus to find places which could cater for both of us. One day Harriet and I were sitting on the floor of the living room in Croydon, surrounded by brochures, when my father came in and began thumbing through one of them.
    “So are you two determined to go to the same city to study even if the courses aren’t exactly what you want?”
    Until that point my dad had never taken much interest in the subject, and so I was surprised by the question, and all the more so since it seemed to imply some reservation. Harriet started to reply, but I interrupted her.
    “That’s the plan,” I said. “Any reason it shouldn’t be?”
    “No, not really,” he said. “It’s just that I would have given my eyeteeth for this kind of opportunity at your age, and I suppose my instinct would be to go for whichever is the best course, come what may.”
    “We plan to do that, Mr Maguire,” said Harriet, “but Jonathan and I want to be together, and I’m sure we can find a way to achieve both things.”
    Harriet had a way of just coming out with stuff that other people might have been shy about, and I absolutely loved to hear her say what she said. My dad grunted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and I didn’t feel like pursuing the matterright then. Later though, when Harriet was reading a book in the garden, I found my mother alone in the kitchen.
    “Is there any reason why Dad might disapprove of Harriet and me being together?” I asked her.
    “I don’t think so.” She had not had to pause to consider before replying, which made me think that it was not a new idea. “It’s just that you are both very young, and he doesn’t want you to make a mistake. He only wants what’s best for you.” She paused. “And then of course there’s always Roger to think about.”
    “How so?” I was confused. “What’s any of that got to do with him?”
    “Nothing directly,” she said. “It’s just that your brother has probably always thought of himself and you as inseparable, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he felt just a little bit jealous of you and Harriet.”
    It was a new thought for me, and my face showed it. “Really? Has he said anything to suggest that?”
    “It’s not anything he has said. More that he gets these moods. Nothing to worry about, I’m sure, but you know what we’re like. No doubt your dad and I are destined to worry about Roger till the day we die.”
    * * *
    Our first choice of university was Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and we were lucky to be accepted onto our chosen courses. The letters dropped on both of our doormats on the samemorning, and reinforced our feelings of what increasingly seemed to be our destiny.
    It was the start of Freshers’ week, and the train going north was packed with kids making what felt at the time to be the important transition from being pupils to being students. We were “undergraduates”, and it seemed and sounded so grown-up. For me, though not of course for Harriet, this was my first time to be living away from home. My departure from the house in Croydon had been awkward. I had waited at the window, suitcases packed, for a taxi to come to take me to the station. I was due to meet Harriet on the train. When the car arrived, we all ran around as though there was an emergency; we were not a “keep the taxi waiting” kind of family. Out on the front porch my father and I faced each other clumsily. Neither of us, it seemed, were quite sure what was the appropriate procedure for such an occasion, and certainly we were not going to hug. For what I feel sure was the first time in our lives, my dad gripped my forearm with his left hand and brought it level, so that we clamped our right hands together in a manly grip. Later I could not get the feel of that handshake, and the look in his slightly watery grey eyes, out of my mind.
    My mother also made an effort at restraint, but was less successful than my dad. I could smell her make-up as she pressed her cheek