Safely Gathered In

Question 1

Summary

Answer 1

• At dawn on Christmas Day, Jackson is on Westminster Bridge, staring into the Thames. He’s holding the plastic bag containing Nathan’s hair, which Reggie had salvaged from his jacket for him. He misses Reggie.
• Jackson thinks about throwing the hair into the river, but he’s lost almost everything else, so he holds onto it. He wonders if he’s too old to make a fresh start. Then he remembers finding Joanna, and he’s instantly cheered. Not finding her at the house outside of Edinburgh, but the first time, when she was a girl. He was only 19 and fresh from the losses of his mother and siblings. When he’d found the little girl alive, he’d lifted her up as though she were a miracle, and the police constable had said, “Look at that, not a scratch on her.”