That girl was meant for something bigger than all of them; she was sure of it and she knew Naomi would keep her safe as she grew up.
She moved about her little house, straightening up the cushions on the sofa, and pulling the curtains closed.
Joe and Rachel would pop over soon with the news about the engagement. She had seen the balloons taken from his van when Rachel was in the shop. She could have told him they weren’t necessary but he hadn’t asked – however, she was sure it would be fine. Joe and Rachel were just fine.
She turned on the television and sat down to watch the news. More sadness and anger and pain. So many people losing their homes and countries. What was the world coming to, she wondered. No wonder people wanted a simple life when the world was so complicated.
As though they had heard her thoughts, a knock at the door told her Joe and Rachel were there and she turned off the television and opened the door to their joy.
This was the only sort of news she wanted, she thought as she looked at their shiny, happy faces.
They didn’t stay long, as they wanted to see Clara and Henry so she smiled at them and sent them on her way.
It wasn’t far away now, she thought as she sat down again. She didn’t turn on the television, she just sat in the quiet, listening.
The clock on the mantel stopped ticking as though trying to be quiet and she counted the second before it started again. Clocks couldn’t bear not to tick. Not ticking was like holding their breath, and she looked around the room.
George was here. That’s why the clock stopped. Time stops when the dead come back.
‘Give me some more time, pet. I have some things to see off first,’ she said aloud.
The clock stopped again. She counted the seconds, one, two, three, four, then the clock started back again.
Four more days, she counted and then she was going to die, and for the first time since old age had captured her in its grasp, Tassie McIver felt sad she couldn’t see it all happen.
She wanted to see the tearooms finished and she wanted to see Joe and Rachel get married, and she wanted to see Henry and Clara’s faces when she realised she was pregnant with a little boy. Why else would she have told Pansy to put acorns under Clara’s mattress? And she wanted to see the oak tree grow from the acorn that she had told Pansy to put on top of Naomi’s ashes. There was always something to look forward to in life, if you looked hard enough and blocked out all the bad news that you couldn’t change.
She had time left but not as much as she would have liked and that night she slept fitfully, her mind drifting to everything she had to do before she died.
In the morning, she drank tea and wrote a list in her little pocketbook.
The first thing she needed to do was see a man in Salisbury. She rang the taxi company in Chippenham to arrange one to take her and bring her back.
‘You sure, love? That will be expensive,’ the man at the taxi company had said on the phone.
But Tassie didn’t mind. It was only money after all, and as George used to say, there are no pockets in shrouds.
Tassie dressed carefully, putting on her good coat and hat and changing over her handbag to the patent leather one that she had bought when she was first married.
She had polished it through the years so the leather was still supple and she could see her reflection in the side.
After closing the door behind her, she waited for the taxi to arrive. The bakery wasn’t open yet so she knew Rachel wouldn’t see her leaving. The less people knew right now, the better, she thought, as she saw the cab come down the road and turn to pick her up.
She chatted to the taxi driver who was a very nice man and who was happy for the large fare to and from Salisbury. Tassie felt pleased she could help him, especially when she found out he had twins at home.
‘I taught several sets of twins when I was a teacher. Are yours identical?’ she asked.
‘Yes, twin boys.’
‘Then be careful, as they have their own language,’ she warned. ‘They will get into trouble in ways you never dreamed they would and you can’t do anything about it, because their language is all in their minds. They’re very clever – twins. They are essentially one person.’
The taxi driver had laughed and said he had already seen evidence of this and Tassie listened to his stories.
When they arrived in Salisbury, the taxi driver waited for her while she went to her appointment at the office with the brass doors. They were so heavy, she had to wait for someone else to open them so she could slip in behind them and she went up the elevator and to the floor marked on the downstairs board.
When she was finished, and she managed to leave the office, she went home again in the taxi. The bakery was busy and she slipped inside without Rachel seeing her.
Soon she saw Clara arrive with Henry and she saw them head into the tearooms, which were closed for renovations.
Everything was happening, Tassie thought and she felt tears in her eyes. It had been wonderful, all of it, every single second and she would do it all again, exactly as she already had.
Tassie turned on the kettle and looked out the window and saw the bird on the clothesline.
