11STUART
TUESDAY 23 JUNE – 9:21pm
It was Nathan ’ s birthday today. Poor kid. He understands, though, he gets it. He knows things have irrevocably changed and that stuff like birthdays and Christmas don ’ t count for anything anymore. Gabby tried to make a fuss of him, but it felt hollow and forced without any gifts and with only our normal daily rations. ‘ It ’ s weird, ’ I told her a couple of minutes ago once he ’ d gone up to his room, ‘ Sally and Hannah will grow up not knowing any different. Birthdays, parties, presents... they won ’ t know any of it. ’ I told her we ’ d given the kids the best gift we could – life. That might have sounded like a clich é , but it was true. No other family has as much as we do now. I doubt there are many other families left.
It feels later than it
