"I’m not used to feeling like Madonna. I feel emotional"

2 pm. I am with my five siblings, walking round a lake amid the sights and sounds of our childhood. 

“We all used to swim from over that side,” my oldest sister says, pointing at distant inky waters and blonde lakeside rushes.

“No we didn’t,” my middle sister says, “it was always from the other end. Remember, Dad warned us about the long reeds on that side, dragging people down to the bottom? I never left the shallows after that.”