Private Lives

The dogs of Waverly are the first to sense something is wrong.

Then a group of people, confused by what they heard, congregate in the dark roads, wrapped in dressing gowns, feet shoved into gardening clogs.

‘Retribution.’ A man nods, knowingly, his phone in his hand like a prayer book. ‘Makes sense, doesn’t it?’

The others stare at him and then nod at each other, their faces glowing and uncertain beneath the street lamps, sirens already screaming close by.

Someone’s taken this too far. Much too far.

‘You see it on the news all the time, don’t you?’

Some think it was shots they heard, a gunman rampaging through cobbled streets, some loner in military gear, ammunition looped like beads around his neck. A few weeks ago they might have guessed it could be that guy who works at the newsagent’s but never talks, maybe. Or what about the drunk who is often weeping, always alone in the park? But now, of course, they know exactly what this is about.

‘But Waverly?’ they ask each other. ‘I never would have thought anything like this could happen in Waverly!’

What they really want to ask is: does this mean their luck’s run out? Has the good fortune that led them all to this historic town, snuggled away from the chaotic world, safe and warm as a pocket in a cashmere cardigan, finally soured?

Others briskly close their curtains, shake their heads at the noise and say, ‘It’s a trick, that’s all. Just a stupid trick.’

But the air is grey with flotsam, full of loss.

‘We mustn’t feel guilty!’ a woman says, putting her arm around her neighbour, who shakes then nods her head, unsure in her confusion how to agree.

Some silently reach for the hands of loved ones, while others stand alone.

‘I mean, the stuff they’ve been saying online – it was really only a matter of time …’

And they all do their best to ignore their quietest voice, the one that whispers from deep within them that they might not have been the ones who lit the match – but that doesn’t mean they didn’t all have a hand in burning that family to the ground.