In April I stood in a corridor and told our counsellor that a little girl was falling asleep at her desk.

That took me about forty seconds and she was on her way somewhere.

I have thought about those forty seconds every day since February.

I did not sit down.

I did not put it in writing to her.

I did not go to the principal.

I did not telephone the mother, whose number was in the system and who I had met twice and who I liked.

I did what teachers do, which is mention it, and mentioning it is not the same as raising it, and I have spent twenty-six years telling myself it is.