When she opens the cupboard door she is assailed by the warm, fresh smell of washed linen. The shelves are scrupulously labelled with stickers on which she has written in clear, rounded lettering: sheets (double; single; fitted), pillowcases, towels. She laughs when she sees the stickers, she actually laughs .... Yes, the rest of her life is in chaos, Caroline thinks, but thank God my sheets and pillowcases are all in the right place .... As she walks down the stairs, two words stick in her mind, the letters whirling and bursting into flecks of light like fireworks studded against a night sky. Body armour .... For the first time in weeks, she feels a tiny spark of hope.