November 19th: The doctor gives John a neck support and returns the pillows. They don’t smell right. John complains, but the nurses don’t understand him. The illness is forcing him to lose his speech.

November 20th: The nurses take away his clothes for washing. No one explains to John. He can’t find his clothes, the jacket his daughter bought him. He gets agitated and falls out of bed. He hurts his healing neck again.

November 21st: The clothes are returned smelling unfamiliar, like the pillows. John doesn’t like lavendar, only rose. They don’t feel soft either and he refuses to get dressed. The nurses leave him cold.

November 22nd: John’s neck twinges but he refuses to complain. He wants to play his guitar and forgets that he didn’t bring it with him. He feels ice on the window when he stands by it in the evening.

November 23rd: The air smells of musk like it did in John’s mother’s laundry room. John sits in the rocking chair and listens to Classic FM. John reminises.

November 24th: John lies in bed.