Downstream

found this.’ She pulls a small
cannonball out of her pocket.
Her father died recently and
she seems to have brought the
cannonball with her as a
memento of his life and the
very reason she’s here at the
Thames. Suddenly there’s
activity on the Queen’s Steps:
they’re being cleaned with a
hosepipe. I lean forward and
see the water is right at the
bottom of the steps, and I
wonder how long it will be