to gather and concentrate messages from aliens so on the whole Sheila is very pleased with her purchase and the frown lines in her face relax a little whenever she passes it in her hallway.
Roy has climbed the wooden ladder leading to Sylvia’s high wire, now more-or-less permanently strung in place, and is standing on the platform next to the house, looking out over the small bay. To the left, past the orchard, he can see the top of the hay barn, a maroon structure the size of an aircraft hangar. The land behind him is hidden from view by the house. He still dislikes heights but by climbing up here often and just looking around, he is coming to terms with the feelings of dizziness and disorientation that come from being so far above the ground.
When Roy was a child he thought that Heaven would be familiar, like a sunny England . During his difficult teenage years, he didn’t believe in the after-life. As an adult he thought Heaven would be exotic and unfamiliar, the sort of place that is unattainable for ordinary people, like Richard Branson’s island in the Caribbean .
This morning, as he walked along the path leading to the beach, he noticed hundreds and hundreds of cobwebs in the hedgerows, each strand of each web sparkling with drops of moisture from the mist that had come in from the sea. By the time he went to fetch Sylvia to show her how magical it looked, the mist had rolled back and the cobwebs had shed the moisture, their patterns barely noticeable among the leaves as they had been every other morning that Roy had walked along the path. If it weren’t for magic like this, Roy could almost be disappointed in how much Heaven is like the English countryside of his childhood.
Chapter Twenty-Two ~ The Café
Venetia Latimer is feeling lonely. On days like these, bitterness can creep up on her unless she takes care not to let it in. Her husband is at work, her son has left home. She has a business of her own to run, but still the bitter feelings ambush her in the quiet moments when she is alone in her office.
Venetia is thinking about the money Sylvia took from her. She had shown Sylvia the grey suitcase filled with money that she kept in the safe for emergencies and contingencies, and she had shown her the safe combination. Sylvia was a very open and unaffected person, she didn’t shy away from intimacy or confidences. Venetia always felt she could truly be herself in front of Sylvia – truly an idiot, in the case of the suitcase full of money.
Sylvia let her do little things for her, which Venetia enjoyed. Sylvia said it reminded her of the way the girls used to take care of each other in the circus. Venetia washed Sylvia’s hair for her, and she plaited it sometimes, deftly and tightly as if preparing a horse for a show. Venetia painted Sylvia’s fingernails, she helped her with her tax return, she made sure Sylvia had custard to go with her puddings in the evenings if she wanted it. There was no part of Sylvia’s life that she didn’t care about.
Venetia would like to recover the elephant Sylvia stole from her and she would like to recover the money. She would like to open the suitcase and then destroy it in front of Sylvia, burning it or tearing the £20 notes into shreds, scrunching the pieces and letting them run through her fingers to show that it wasn’t just about the money after all. It was about something else she lost when Sylvia ran away.
I must work through the pain , thinks Venetia Latimer. She breathes in very deeply once, then again, to activate her brain with oxygen. I must make my mark on the world and leave it a better place. She turns to her Usefulness file.
On a personal level, Mrs Latimer’s quest to turn the useless into the useful extends its reach into her son Joey’s life. Miss Lester’s dating agency literature and Taron’s phone number are listed in Joey’s section of the Usefulness file. She would like to prevent Joey from working in the City and she would like to
Roy has climbed the wooden ladder leading to Sylvia’s high wire, now more-or-less permanently strung in place, and is standing on the platform next to the house, looking out over the small bay. To the left, past the orchard, he can see the top of the hay barn, a maroon structure the size of an aircraft hangar. The land behind him is hidden from view by the house. He still dislikes heights but by climbing up here often and just looking around, he is coming to terms with the feelings of dizziness and disorientation that come from being so far above the ground.
When Roy was a child he thought that Heaven would be familiar, like a sunny England . During his difficult teenage years, he didn’t believe in the after-life. As an adult he thought Heaven would be exotic and unfamiliar, the sort of place that is unattainable for ordinary people, like Richard Branson’s island in the Caribbean .
This morning, as he walked along the path leading to the beach, he noticed hundreds and hundreds of cobwebs in the hedgerows, each strand of each web sparkling with drops of moisture from the mist that had come in from the sea. By the time he went to fetch Sylvia to show her how magical it looked, the mist had rolled back and the cobwebs had shed the moisture, their patterns barely noticeable among the leaves as they had been every other morning that Roy had walked along the path. If it weren’t for magic like this, Roy could almost be disappointed in how much Heaven is like the English countryside of his childhood.
Chapter Twenty-Two ~ The Café
Venetia Latimer is feeling lonely. On days like these, bitterness can creep up on her unless she takes care not to let it in. Her husband is at work, her son has left home. She has a business of her own to run, but still the bitter feelings ambush her in the quiet moments when she is alone in her office.
Venetia is thinking about the money Sylvia took from her. She had shown Sylvia the grey suitcase filled with money that she kept in the safe for emergencies and contingencies, and she had shown her the safe combination. Sylvia was a very open and unaffected person, she didn’t shy away from intimacy or confidences. Venetia always felt she could truly be herself in front of Sylvia – truly an idiot, in the case of the suitcase full of money.
Sylvia let her do little things for her, which Venetia enjoyed. Sylvia said it reminded her of the way the girls used to take care of each other in the circus. Venetia washed Sylvia’s hair for her, and she plaited it sometimes, deftly and tightly as if preparing a horse for a show. Venetia painted Sylvia’s fingernails, she helped her with her tax return, she made sure Sylvia had custard to go with her puddings in the evenings if she wanted it. There was no part of Sylvia’s life that she didn’t care about.
Venetia would like to recover the elephant Sylvia stole from her and she would like to recover the money. She would like to open the suitcase and then destroy it in front of Sylvia, burning it or tearing the £20 notes into shreds, scrunching the pieces and letting them run through her fingers to show that it wasn’t just about the money after all. It was about something else she lost when Sylvia ran away.
I must work through the pain , thinks Venetia Latimer. She breathes in very deeply once, then again, to activate her brain with oxygen. I must make my mark on the world and leave it a better place. She turns to her Usefulness file.
On a personal level, Mrs Latimer’s quest to turn the useless into the useful extends its reach into her son Joey’s life. Miss Lester’s dating agency literature and Taron’s phone number are listed in Joey’s section of the Usefulness file. She would like to prevent Joey from working in the City and she would like to
Similar Books
