Nineteen years before she decided to die, Nora Seed sat in the warmth of the small library at Hazeldene School in the town of Bedford. She sat at a low table staring at a chess board.
โNora dear, itโs natural to worry about your future,โ said the librarian, Mrs Elm, her eyes twinkling.
Mrs Elm made her ๏ฌrst move. A knight hopping over the neat row of white pawns. โOf course, youโre going to be worried about the exams. But you could be anything you want to be, Nora.ย ๎ขink of all that possibility. Itโs exciting.โ
โYes. I suppose it is.โ
โA whole life in front of you.โ โA whole life.โ
โYou could do anything, live anywhere. Somewhere a bit less cold and wet.โ Nora pushed a pawn forward two spaces.
It was hard not to compare Mrs Elm to her mother, who treated Nora like a mistake in need of correction. For instance, when she was a baby her mother had been so worried Noraโs le๎ย ear stuck out more than her right that sheโd used sticky tape to address the situation, then disguised it beneath a woollen bonnet.
โIย hateย the cold and wet,โ added Mrs Elm, for emphasis.
Mrs Elm had short grey hair and a kind and mildly crinkled oval face sitting pale above her turtle-green polo neck. She was quite old. But she was also the person most on Noraโs wavelength in the entire school, and even on days when it wasnโt raining she would spend her a๎ernoon break in the small library.
โColdness and wetness donโt always go together,โ Nora told her. โAntarctica is the driest continent on Earth. Technically, itโs a desert.โ
โWell, that sounds up your street.โ โI donโt think itโs far enough away.โ
โWell, maybe you should be an astronaut. Travel the galaxy.โ Nora smiled. โ๎ขe rain is even worse on other planets.โ โWorse than Bedfordshire?โ
โOn Venus it is pure acid.โ
Mrs Elm pulled a paper tissue from her sleeve and delicately blew her nose. โSee? With a brain like yours you can do anything.โ
A blond boy Nora recognised from a couple of years below her ran past outside the rain-speckled window. Either chasing someone or being chased. Since her brother had le๎, sheโd felt a bit unguarded out there.ย ๎ขe library was a little shelter of civilisation.
โDad thinks Iโve thrown everything away. Now Iโve stopped swimming.โ โWell, far be it from me to say, but there is more to this world than
swimming really fast.ย ๎ขere are many di๏ฌerent possible lives ahead of you. Like I said last week, you could be a glaciologist. Iโve been researching and theโโ
And it was then that the phone rang.
โOne minute,โ said Mrs Elm, so๎ly. โIโd better get that.โ
A moment later, Nora watched Mrs Elm on the phone. โYes. Sheโs here now.โย ๎ขe librarianโs face fell in shock. She turned away from Nora, but her words were audible across the hushed room: โOh no. No. Oh my God. Of course . . .โ
