Bill, Bingo and Bram 11

　　There was an ironic fragment of truth in what the lady said.

　　The thing was, the dog only accepted Bill as a temporary companion - of course it did not understand the fact that Bill's brother was never coming home. It continued waiting for him. Waiting for the familiar footfall, waiting for the imminent(迫近的) return of a voice it knew and devotedly listened for. The dog regarded the present as a state of waiting. Its life was in a state of suspension - a kind of 'this will have to be got through until everything returns to the way it really should be'. Its pointless patience was matched only by its growing detachment from everything else.

　　I sat with Bill for a couple of hours, and I ran out of tape. It was among the last times I ever visited him in his house, having left home myself - returning to Stoke only at holidays.