An Incident With the Police

Summary

• The protagonist, Nora, walks across Shakespeare Road carrying her bag and chess set, a strange, fuzzy static sensation filling her body. She passes her old flat and the house that belonged to her neighbour, Mr Banerjee, which is now owned by another family.
• Nora comes across Kerry-Anne, a woman she previously met at a newsagent's, who is struggling with her two children in a pushchair. Kerry-Anne recognises Nora from school and a brief conversation ensues.
• Nora muses over the differences between her past and current life and the influence she had in differing outcomes, thinking deeply about the impact of small things.
• She spots a woman at her old flat's window holding a cat, but it's not her, nor her cat, Voltaire. Despite feeling faint, she walks towards the town, now feeling stronger and more complex due to the various experiences she had.
• At the town centre, Nora witnesses two boys being arrested by police outside a store. She recognises one of them, Leo, from when she had taught him piano. But in this reality, she couldn't reveal their previous connection.
• Nora tries to defend Leo but the police officers rebuff her, telling her that the boy is constantly in trouble and was caught stealing while carrying a knife.
• In Nora's previous reality, Leo's mother, Doreen, had engaged Nora to give him piano lessons to keep him out of trouble. Leo had loved the piano and his behaviour improved. But in the current reality, Nora had never taught Leo the piano, and Leo had fallen into the wrong crowd.
• Nora's fading feeling intensifies, and she fears that another version of herself is waiting to jump in. She hurriedly heads to the car park despite feeling that she currently exists in a good life.