9:57

I had a bad idea, though born of the best of intentions: I offered the kids the Windows on the World lapel badge that Lourdes gave me when she said goodbye. The problem is that she only had one. Jerry and David started squabbling over who should get it. In the end, Jerry got to keep it, because physically he’s the stronger of the two. I didn’t have the heart to impose some alternative justice. David sulked, but strangely, the quarrel changed his mood and to my great relief he stopped crying. He was plotting his revenge. A couple of seconds later as Jerry was pinning the thing on his T-shirt, David elbowed him so that he’d prick himself with the pin. There was a drop of blood. Jerry gritted his teeth, David smiled. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Jerry accepted it: that was life. I tousled his hair: I had just worked out the problem with this planet. There weren’t enough lapel badges for everyone.