Good Old George (and don't you ever call her Georgina!)

"Tim is dead."

"How awful! Such a dear old dog!"

"I know."

Here George grabbed Susan with both arms around the neck, bent the head and started crying.

Maybe she had already cried around the necks of her cousins also, but wanted to cry again. Or maybe she hadn't really wanted to cry around Anne's, since she did not want to be more girlish than her. Or around those of Dick and Julian since she wanted to be no less boyish than they. Or maybe she had somehow just not had the opportunity. Susan did not know.

One thing is sure: Susan, what with riding and swimming and archery, was a girl of her own mind. Maybe she would have thought that about Lucy too, if she had been around her, but she met Susan in America, just after she had renounced Narnia after the letter from her cousin Eustace.

When she had cried, it was soon Susan's turn.

"How are Pete and Ed and Lu?"

"They died in a train crash last year." And she grabbed George around the neck and started crying.

And after crying, she asked George: "How are your cousins?"

"Oh, no train crashes for them so far! Anne is married. She's expecting. Julian is in training for army officer."

"And Dick?"

"Sit down."

"But ..."

George took a grip on her shoulders and pushed her down on the sofa.

"OK, what is so shocking?"

George nearly started giggling before telling. She laughed out loud for the splendid vision it gave her:

"He's training to be a cook. A real chef. He's even learning French .... hahaha .... so he can go down to France and study there."

Susan laughed too. When she had stopped she said: "It's incredible! He's really made for that!"

"Well, he was on the chubby side, rarely said no to food ever ..."

"Speaking of which, you are not saying no to a cup of tea, are you?"

"What do you think? I am after all Dick's cousin. Even Anne, now she has got her husband is getting a wee bit chubbier than the months would warrant. Or maybe its just a big child. And as for Julian, if he is not chubby, it's for all the running and the pushups and some weightlifting too."

"Tea won't wait long, water is already boiling ..."

To correct Susan: it was. They had been taking turns crying for so long that the kettle had boiled dry and she had trouble getting it quickly off the stowe and under cold water to start a new kettle of tea water.

Meanwhile, George had found the red whig, and tried it on - with a grimace, way too girlish for her, long red hair ...

Susan had a laugh.

"Really unlike your black hair, you normally have ..."