Harjit has a postcard tucked into a poetry book beside her hospital bed. Its sender once stayed after class to ask whether a poem could be funny and sad at the same time. Harjit answered too quickly, with a list of examples. The pupil looked disappointed. He had written a poem of his own and wanted someone to read it. She remembers putting the examples aside. The poem concerned a lost football boot. It was both funny and sad, and rather better than her answer.