Sweetheart of Mine

You went on holiday and never came back. When people go on holiday, they are supposed to return with a suntan and a box of fudge and a pebble from the beach. They are supposed to walk through the door in creased, summer clothes and put the kettle on and tell themselves how much they love their own bed. But you went on holiday and never came back. They telephoned from a hospital hundreds of miles away and when my father began to cry into the receiver, I ran up the stairs and hid under a bed, where the words…