Edwin went to the window and gazed up into the night sky. He did it in such a way as to invite Magnus to come and stand with him. He had something to say, his posture was signalling.

‘A clear night,’ Magnus said, approaching. ‘Plenty of stars … ’ he added, just to move it along.

‘Bloody cold … ’

‘No cloud cover.’

‘It’s us really, isn’t it?’

‘What?’ Magnus asked.

‘We give it all a meaning. All one hundred billion of us over the past fifty thousand years or so. The thinking ones, at any rate.’

‘Where did you get that statistic?’

‘WWW.’

‘Ah.’

‘Something called the Population Reference Bureau.’

‘Yes. You’re right, I expect. It could only be us.’ He craned his neck, put his face closer to the windowpane, let his eyes track upwards to their full extent. ‘Or … other creatures.’

Edwin scoffed.

Magnus needed to be more specific. ‘Other creatures like us.’

This was an unusually sentimental remark for Magnus, and it rang hollow, and now Edwin scoffed again, this time with intemperate scorn. ‘Like us?’

‘You’re right, I’m sure.’ Magnus was happy to concede without much of a fight. He was standing in his coat. His grip-bag was by the hall door.

‘Of course I’m right,’ his father echoed. ‘Look at me, then look at bloody Noel. Look at the difference.’ He was referring to his best friend and former colleague. He liked to make out there was an enormous difference between them. ‘What chance of your other creatures comparing? None.’

‘You’ve been reading about the universe?’

‘I’ve been studying Noel and his habits. And his indifference to his surroundings. It’s a bloody disgrace for a retired architect.’

‘And he’s still your friend,’ Magnus observed, looking to poke a little fun. It would be an easy note on which to leave.

‘It’s too late for anything else,’ his father replied.

Already, Magnus was stumped. He slid his hands into his pockets and waited.

‘I’m going hunting fossils tomorrow,’ Edwin said presently. ‘You could have come, had you stayed.’

What did this mean, Magnus wondered. Fossils? Since when was the old man interested in fossils? Was this the dawning of some kind of mental deterioration? He needed to spend more time with the father. ‘I would have liked that,’ he said.

Edwin looked at his watch. ‘Right then.’

‘I’ll get my bag.’