I let other people tell me what happened.”

“That’s not the same as doing it,” she said.

“No.

But it doesn’t mean I did nothing wrong.”

She considered this with the earnest seriousness of someone working through a difficult sum.

“My nana says if you break a plate and then tell the truth, the plate’s still broken.”

“She’s right.”

“But you can still pick up the pieces so nobody gets hurt again.”