who was fair and paunchy. Just her luck.
The baby, Selina, was biting the toe of her boot.
‘It’s been in the muck-heap, Selina.’ Sandy picked the baby up. It felt boneless and warm and cuddly. She wasn’t very good at holding it. It had a great loony smile with one tooth inside it and buttercup-yellow hair. It too was like its father.
‘Sneerwell’s asked us to his party. Bring a boy, he said. And I haven’t got one.’
‘You can have Glynn if you like.’
‘He’s too old.’
‘I thought you hated Sneerwell.’
Sandy explained about his turning nicer.
‘They give wonderful parties,’ Josie said. ‘Go with Leo. It doesn’t matter about boys.’
‘Leo’s going to ask Ian.’
‘Oh well.’
Sandy saw that there was no way she could ask Josie to take Gertie, as Gertie could not possibly fit in here. The idea was a non-starter. Gertie could never climb the lighthouse stairs to bed. Josie, as if telepathic, enquired about Gertie, and Sandy unloaded her moans, which made her feel better.
‘She just sits in the chair all day, talking, talking, talking. She doesn’t help at all. Yet in her cottage she used to be buzzing about all day. She drives us all nuts.’
‘Mum ought to get the social services. If she goes back to her cottage in the summer they could look after her there. After all, Mum used to. I’m sure it’ll get sorted out.’
‘She’s always criticizing. You wouldn’t mind if– if—’
‘If she was nice? No. I always thought she was a terrible old bag. You and Mum were always the nicest to her.’
Sandy ate three more shortbreads and Josie made coffee. Selina was given two saucepan lids to play with.
Sandy told Josie about losing the thirty pounds, and about Polly losing twenty.
‘That’s the worst, worse than Gertie. I haven’t told Mum and Dad. It must be someone around, someone we know.’
‘You ought to tell them!’
‘It was my fault, leaving it there. I can’t! They’ll be so angry.’ She couldn’t even begin to tell Josie about suspecting first Duncan, then Ian. She wished she hadn’t mentioned it, as Josie, instead of comforting, seemed about to launch an attack on her handling of her affairs. But at the opportune moment the door opened and Glynn came in. He carried a huge basket of wood offcuts for the stove.
‘Hey, good timing! Coffee’s up.’ He shrugged round and bawled out of the open door, ‘Jonas, coffee!’ He dumped the basket at Sandy’s feet. ‘Hi, Sandy. How’s things? Saw your nag tied up out there. It’s the in thing round here, horse transport. We’ll have to put up a hitching rail.’
He picked up Selina and flung her in the air. She screamed with delight. The quiet room seemed suddenly to have burst into life with Glynn’s arrival. The outdoor sunlight came in with him, along with the smell of fresh wood and damp earth. His fair hair stuck up like a halo round his head. His presence was very positive, and Sandy thought how lucky Josie was to have such a rock of a man to be her partner. Laughing, they looked incredibly handsome together, like an advertisement photo. Selina wriggled in the crook of Glynn’s arm and Josie took her, hitching her over her shoulder so that the baby’s gold hair glowed against her own blue-black tumble.
Sandy was impressed by seeing everything that home life should be, as compared to what it suddenly wasn’t any more at Drakesend. No wonder she got confused. She remembered the endless tirades from her father, condemning Glynn – impossible to think that all that heartache had resolved into this picture of domestic bliss.
While she was being dazzled by this scene, Jonas Brown slipped hesitantly through the door. Sandy saw him and felt her face blazing scarlet, out of control. She wanted to die. She crouched over Glynn’s log-basket, making a pretence of putting wood on the embers of the fire.
‘Sandy, you know Jonas, don’t you? Jonas, Sandy.’ Josie made a sketchy introduction. ‘You’ll
The baby, Selina, was biting the toe of her boot.
‘It’s been in the muck-heap, Selina.’ Sandy picked the baby up. It felt boneless and warm and cuddly. She wasn’t very good at holding it. It had a great loony smile with one tooth inside it and buttercup-yellow hair. It too was like its father.
‘Sneerwell’s asked us to his party. Bring a boy, he said. And I haven’t got one.’
‘You can have Glynn if you like.’
‘He’s too old.’
‘I thought you hated Sneerwell.’
Sandy explained about his turning nicer.
‘They give wonderful parties,’ Josie said. ‘Go with Leo. It doesn’t matter about boys.’
‘Leo’s going to ask Ian.’
‘Oh well.’
Sandy saw that there was no way she could ask Josie to take Gertie, as Gertie could not possibly fit in here. The idea was a non-starter. Gertie could never climb the lighthouse stairs to bed. Josie, as if telepathic, enquired about Gertie, and Sandy unloaded her moans, which made her feel better.
‘She just sits in the chair all day, talking, talking, talking. She doesn’t help at all. Yet in her cottage she used to be buzzing about all day. She drives us all nuts.’
‘Mum ought to get the social services. If she goes back to her cottage in the summer they could look after her there. After all, Mum used to. I’m sure it’ll get sorted out.’
‘She’s always criticizing. You wouldn’t mind if– if—’
‘If she was nice? No. I always thought she was a terrible old bag. You and Mum were always the nicest to her.’
Sandy ate three more shortbreads and Josie made coffee. Selina was given two saucepan lids to play with.
Sandy told Josie about losing the thirty pounds, and about Polly losing twenty.
‘That’s the worst, worse than Gertie. I haven’t told Mum and Dad. It must be someone around, someone we know.’
‘You ought to tell them!’
‘It was my fault, leaving it there. I can’t! They’ll be so angry.’ She couldn’t even begin to tell Josie about suspecting first Duncan, then Ian. She wished she hadn’t mentioned it, as Josie, instead of comforting, seemed about to launch an attack on her handling of her affairs. But at the opportune moment the door opened and Glynn came in. He carried a huge basket of wood offcuts for the stove.
‘Hey, good timing! Coffee’s up.’ He shrugged round and bawled out of the open door, ‘Jonas, coffee!’ He dumped the basket at Sandy’s feet. ‘Hi, Sandy. How’s things? Saw your nag tied up out there. It’s the in thing round here, horse transport. We’ll have to put up a hitching rail.’
He picked up Selina and flung her in the air. She screamed with delight. The quiet room seemed suddenly to have burst into life with Glynn’s arrival. The outdoor sunlight came in with him, along with the smell of fresh wood and damp earth. His fair hair stuck up like a halo round his head. His presence was very positive, and Sandy thought how lucky Josie was to have such a rock of a man to be her partner. Laughing, they looked incredibly handsome together, like an advertisement photo. Selina wriggled in the crook of Glynn’s arm and Josie took her, hitching her over her shoulder so that the baby’s gold hair glowed against her own blue-black tumble.
Sandy was impressed by seeing everything that home life should be, as compared to what it suddenly wasn’t any more at Drakesend. No wonder she got confused. She remembered the endless tirades from her father, condemning Glynn – impossible to think that all that heartache had resolved into this picture of domestic bliss.
While she was being dazzled by this scene, Jonas Brown slipped hesitantly through the door. Sandy saw him and felt her face blazing scarlet, out of control. She wanted to die. She crouched over Glynn’s log-basket, making a pretence of putting wood on the embers of the fire.
‘Sandy, you know Jonas, don’t you? Jonas, Sandy.’ Josie made a sketchy introduction. ‘You’ll
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