She and her mother had always had such long conversations.
From the time she was a small girl she had sat talking to her mum for long periods of time on a daily basis. They had always been perfectly comfortable with it. It came so naturally to them both. Later, when she was older, there were times when she needed to go away for short periods, mainly for her work. It was during these occasions that the telephone came into its own.
Then came the incident in the car. It started with a small disagreement and built up gradually to a point where they were yelling at each other. She was driving much too fast. It would have been the anger building. Fortunately, it happened when they were on a quiet stretch, but she had nearly run off the road. There were trees she could have hit. She braked heavily and came to a stop, with her hands trembling on the wheel. In fact, her whole body was shaking. It was then that she sat for a long time, taking stock. She turned the whole thing over in her mind. So many years she’d been doing this… but when did the recent conversations start?
She thought back and realised, it had started a couple of days after her mother’s funeral.