Cricket

Talkative at the door and then not, and the change is marked enough that people mention it afterwards. Twenty-two, and in no rush about anything whatever. Her voice drops a minute after the door closes and stays down.

The small streets and the cafés behind them are her ground, and most of the centre is under an hour from her door. Dutch or English, spoken lightly, and largely put away once things are underway. What she does best is the long middle, where she keeps to one pace and lets it be whatever it is for as long as it needs. Her pace is slow throughout, and she has never once been the first to look at the time.

Cricket decides which bookings she takes and may decline any of them; she sets the limits for what a session includes, says what they are, and may end a visit at any point, as the terms set out.