The call came at six forty-three on a Tuesday morning, while Ada was still in the Sunridge car park finishing her coffee, and she knew from Sharon's voice before the words arrived that it was going to be that kind of day. There was a particular flatness Sharon's voice took on when she had been managing something difficult alone and was now passing the baton not panic, Sharon didn't do panic, but a thinning of her usual warmth, the voice of someone conserving resources.Three staff off sick. A new admission coming in from the hospital a woman named Margaret, seventy-nine, recent stroke, complex needs, no family available to assist with the transition. Mrs. Okafor agitated since before five in the morning. The medication round not yet started. Sharon had been on shift since ten the previous night.Ada sat in the car park for exactly one minute. She drank the last of her coffee. She thought about nothing in particular not strategy, not planning, just the brief neutral state she allowed
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