and T? Don’t let on to Miles and Kate that it’s before six o’clock – they’ll tell us we’re doomed.’ Naomi bustled about with ice and glasses. ‘So – these affairs Miles says I’ve to put in order,’ she went on, quickly recovering her composure as she sliced a lemon. ‘I know it’s just another term for “Have you sorted your will?” I’m not daft, I know what he’s like. Won’t call a spade a spade if he can call it a metallic delving implement or something.’
Viola laughed. ‘He means well. I expect he just doesn’t want you to worry about the future. It’s why he wants me and Rachel to stay on here.’
‘Ha! That’s so
he
doesn’t have to worry about the future! No, you two go back to your own house and don’t let him bully you. I can see right through him there. But with the will, what’s there for
me
to worry about? When I’m dead I won’t be bothered about anything, will I? You can tell him when you see him that it’s all done and dusted, though I don’t trust him not to want to come and see for himself to make sure he’s not been disinherited. No, on second thoughts,’ she put two generously filled glasses down on the table and gave a wicked giggle, ‘I’ll tell him I’ve left it all to Battersea Dogs, then you and me’ll have a bet on how long it takes him to suggest I give him one of those power of attorney things.’
‘I don’t like talking about wills, especially yours,’ Viola said, feeling the room grow cooler as the sun went behind a fat rain cloud. Thoughts of death were always hugely unwelcome visitors in her head, but she knew only too well that those you cared about could vanish with cruel suddenness.
‘Don’t be so soft,’ Naomi said gently, patting Viola’s hand. ‘I won’t live for ever, but I’m not planning to go anywhere yet, not for a long time. That’s the best any of us can hope for, isn’t it?’
‘First day of exams. Just look at this lot,’ Amanda said to Viola as they watched Viola’s English pupils and Amanda’s Business Studies candidates trudge sleepy and yawning into the exam hall to take their places at the allocated desks. Sandra Partridge, the principal, was bustling about looking nervous and rechecking that the entrants had handed over their mobile phones.
‘She’d frisk them if she thought she could get away with it. I’m surprised she hasn’t got an airport-style metal detector,’ Viola remarked, watching Benedict Peabody’s pair of acolyte girls piling up their hair into scrunchies to keep it out of the way as they wrote. Each of them then pulled out a little mirror to check her reflection, tweaking at her fringe, pulling a curl into place and eyeing Benedict to see if he was noticing her. But Benedict lounged back in his chair, faced the ceiling and closed his eyes.
‘He looks like he’s been up half the night,’ Amanda commented.
‘If he has, I bet he won’t have been doing a last-minute read-through of the T. S. Eliot,’ Viola said. ‘All we can do now is hope they actually read the questions properly and have remembered a pen.’
She wished her pupils luck and then had to leave them to the mercy of the examining board’s questions. She was surprised how nervous she felt herself, as if it was her own future that depended on how well they did today , not theirs. She’d done her absolute best to teach them, to get them to kick-start their own brains when it came to literature, but with one or two it was a struggle, and you had to wonder why they had opted for English Lit when you were pretty sure that they’d never again choose to read anything except
Grazia
magazine and tabloid headlines.
‘You didn’t need to come in today, did you?’ Amanda asked. ‘Effectively, you’ve finished for the term, you lucky thing. I’ve still got three more sessions with the Economics group.’
‘Sandra’s asked me to supervise the first half of this morning with her, and also I thought I’d stop by to give
Viola laughed. ‘He means well. I expect he just doesn’t want you to worry about the future. It’s why he wants me and Rachel to stay on here.’
‘Ha! That’s so
he
doesn’t have to worry about the future! No, you two go back to your own house and don’t let him bully you. I can see right through him there. But with the will, what’s there for
me
to worry about? When I’m dead I won’t be bothered about anything, will I? You can tell him when you see him that it’s all done and dusted, though I don’t trust him not to want to come and see for himself to make sure he’s not been disinherited. No, on second thoughts,’ she put two generously filled glasses down on the table and gave a wicked giggle, ‘I’ll tell him I’ve left it all to Battersea Dogs, then you and me’ll have a bet on how long it takes him to suggest I give him one of those power of attorney things.’
‘I don’t like talking about wills, especially yours,’ Viola said, feeling the room grow cooler as the sun went behind a fat rain cloud. Thoughts of death were always hugely unwelcome visitors in her head, but she knew only too well that those you cared about could vanish with cruel suddenness.
‘Don’t be so soft,’ Naomi said gently, patting Viola’s hand. ‘I won’t live for ever, but I’m not planning to go anywhere yet, not for a long time. That’s the best any of us can hope for, isn’t it?’
‘First day of exams. Just look at this lot,’ Amanda said to Viola as they watched Viola’s English pupils and Amanda’s Business Studies candidates trudge sleepy and yawning into the exam hall to take their places at the allocated desks. Sandra Partridge, the principal, was bustling about looking nervous and rechecking that the entrants had handed over their mobile phones.
‘She’d frisk them if she thought she could get away with it. I’m surprised she hasn’t got an airport-style metal detector,’ Viola remarked, watching Benedict Peabody’s pair of acolyte girls piling up their hair into scrunchies to keep it out of the way as they wrote. Each of them then pulled out a little mirror to check her reflection, tweaking at her fringe, pulling a curl into place and eyeing Benedict to see if he was noticing her. But Benedict lounged back in his chair, faced the ceiling and closed his eyes.
‘He looks like he’s been up half the night,’ Amanda commented.
‘If he has, I bet he won’t have been doing a last-minute read-through of the T. S. Eliot,’ Viola said. ‘All we can do now is hope they actually read the questions properly and have remembered a pen.’
She wished her pupils luck and then had to leave them to the mercy of the examining board’s questions. She was surprised how nervous she felt herself, as if it was her own future that depended on how well they did today , not theirs. She’d done her absolute best to teach them, to get them to kick-start their own brains when it came to literature, but with one or two it was a struggle, and you had to wonder why they had opted for English Lit when you were pretty sure that they’d never again choose to read anything except
Grazia
magazine and tabloid headlines.
‘You didn’t need to come in today, did you?’ Amanda asked. ‘Effectively, you’ve finished for the term, you lucky thing. I’ve still got three more sessions with the Economics group.’
‘Sandra’s asked me to supervise the first half of this morning with her, and also I thought I’d stop by to give
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