Chapter 35

Kim stayed for lunch. Once or twice they forgot and addressed him as Ravi. He was amused rather than offended. It meant they were slipping into the paradigm nicely.

"Is everything going OK?" he asked. "Equipment working all right?" The Thompsons exchanged a glance which he couldn't quite interpret. There was something of naughty schoolchildren in it.

"Everything is working fine, Kim," Tilly said. "We can't tell you how happy we are."

"Any improvement in your physical ability, Mr T?"

There it was, that look again. Some private joke between them. Surely not? The pair of them were over eighty. Even if he hadn't had a stroke ...

Kim decided it was none of his business and went on to ask a few more specific questions relayed from Dr Horton.

"Well that's it, then. Let's get down to eating."