Chapter 622 Down Into Her Wetness:>110

• I awoke alone, the slanting late-evening sun shining on my face, dazzling me as I slowly re-oriented myself, then sat up, wondering where Sai was. As I headed for the bathroom, I heard the TV, some American cop show, one of Sai's addictions, and spotted her stretched out on the couch in the shirt I was wearing earlier, eating cold quiche smeared with red onion marmalade, oh dear God, please make sure she brushes her teeth before she kisses me...
• After I'd washed my hands, I began inspecting the hamper Sai had packed, rooting around for something to satisfy the inner man, and found some pasties. I chucked them in the oven for supper, flopping down next to Sai as she scrunched up in the corner, and kissed the top of her head. There was no way I was going to kiss her properly, not while she was eating red onion marmalade, that stuff always smelled to me like a failed chemistry experiment, or something left in a petrie dish and forgotten under a damp sink.
• I was in a relaxed mood; the drive back had focussed me again, and while the grief was still there, it was grumbling under the table now, not beating at the windows. What Sai had told me, about the Chinese way of coping with the aftermath of bereavement had been oddly comforting, and had made emotional sense, it helped me to think of Gran as not really gone, just somewhere over...there.