S'

He touched her shoulder and she lifted herself on her elbows, head tipped up to peer at him, the eyes black-shadowed emptiness. “S’you,” she gasped. “Killed . . . guard[…]”

“Who’d yer reckon’ll skipper, Loll?” “I dunno. S’hard to say—”

S’cold here, very cold . . . in Siberia.

And what was my dad trying to say? Shut up? S’hot in here? Or sorry?

“I’m not drunk,” she said, waving her glass. “I never drink more than two glasses of wine.” She frowned. “Although s’hard to count when the glass is never empty.[…]”

Then it rang. Pick up. “Jim? Jim? Are you there?” / Something s’posed to do. Oh, yeah. Talk. “Karn. S’you?” / “Jim what’s going on?[…]”

“Ben,” I called out to him again. His eyes slowly opened and took me in. “S’you, Jake?” he mumbled. “Yeah.”

‘Hello?’ […] / ‘S’me!’ she says. / ‘Who?’ / Neve pauses, frowning. / ‘S’Neve,’ she says a bit less cheerfully.

William chewed and swallowed. “S’what about the Council?” “What about them?” “Aren’t they going to do anything?”

“S’what about the baby?” he asked, thrusting his chin out. / So he did remember. Scott was beginning to wonder. “A little girl,” he said. He added bluntly, “She lived only a few minutes.”

THANKS FOR THE OFFER CHAS, BUT EVEN IF YOU COULD GET IN, HAVING A GRANDDAD CHARGING ACROSS THE DANCE FLOOR IN HIS TESCO’S DENIM MAY NOT BE SUCH A GOOD IDEA. / S’WHAT ABOUT JOHN THEN? / IF HE’S WITH ME, CHAS, LET’S JUST SAY HE’S STILL GOT IT.

“Hallo! Jupe—s’this you?” he exclaimed—“shew! crying? shew! what’s e’matter, Jupe?”

Shirley] […] S’that him there? She points at the paper. Tracey] Naw, that’s Dwane . . .

Janis surprises them – ‘Pat? S’that you?[…]’

On his side, knees against his chest, Larry Childs struggled to roll onto his stomach when something kicked his leg. A white-hot ember glowed in the back of his mouth above his tongue, stealing his breath. “What the hell . . .” that voice said. “Oh, Blessed Virgin Mary, Larry, s’that you? What’s wrong?”