A few Sunday mornings ago, when the Sydney summer had started to kick in, my partner and I headed to our local café for breakfast. It was hot and we were hungry - we’d just spent the morning at the Christening of a good friend’s first born.

The café was full and we snared one of the last free tables. As we began reading the menu, the atmosphere suddenly changed.

“Is that a child crying?” my partner asked me with a concerned look on his face. I replied yes but thought to myself, this wasn’t normal crying. This was a piercing, shrill cry and sounded like the child was in pain. I glanced around and everyone in the café looked disturbed.

A couple sat down at the empty table beside us but after hearing the crying, left and went to the café across the road. I asked my partner if we should do the same - and just as I did, the crying let up.