Somehow she made it to the shower. She wasn't ready to feel the cold bathroom tiles beneath her so she dropped a hand towel to protect her bare feet. The shower was good though. Hot and strong and steaming, it gently coaxed her forward into the day.

The kitchen detritus of the night before was still waiting for her. Last night had been a late push at the lab to install the new centrifuges, and so they celebrated with a bottle of cheap champagne from the nearby Tesco Metro. Hopefully they would have borne fruit overnight. If she needed to take the Tube into work because she left her car at the office there had better be something to show for their efforts.

Lyn ignored the unopened box of shredded wheat that had been sitting in her cabinet for the last four days and instead finished the coco-pops. She was in no mood for sensible food today. She leaned back against the sink. Her bowl popped and crackled happily, and she stared at the letter that had been waiting on her kitchen table all night.

It arrived yesterday but she couldn't face opening it before bed. Maybe that was why her night had been so restless. But the letter was still there, waiting. A brown envelope like that only contained official news. No-one ever sent good news in one of those envelopes. It was always a tax bill, or a parking ticket, or...

Lyn ate half her cereal before sitting down and facing the letter. She set down her bowl, wiped a stray drop of milk from the corner of her mouth, and tore open the envelope.

The first time she read the letter she scanned it so fast she realised she hadn't taken it in. She forced herself to slow down and started again. This time the words crystallised on the page.

'We regret to inform you...'

Lyn folded the letter carefully and put it back into the envelope. Then she opened a kitchen drawer and dropped the letter onto a pile of others, each bearing the logo of a different agency. She had to press down quite hard before the drawer would shut.

Then she sat, blinked quickly, and stared at the flower box on the windowsill as she finished her cereal.