The floral displays in the beer garden were well past their best. Still, I thought they were doing pretty well, considering it was mid-October.
The boys had a biology test the next day at school. They were quizzing each other about the differences between arteries and veins. I’d taken human biology at A-level, and despite the fact I’d forgotten most of the information I’d so carefully stored away during my studies, I’d remembered enough to be of help to them.
“But I thought veins always carried de-oxygenated blood, you know from the body tissues?” Billy said with a puzzled expression.
“Yes,” I said, “they do, but the four pulmonary veins carry oxygen-rich blood from the lungs back to the left auricle—sometimes called the left atrium—of the heart, through the mitral valve to the left v
