legendary Al stowing away his creation.
‘What an extraordinary question,’ she said coldly.
6
Full of Dead People
MUFFLED SOBBING GAVE way to those time-honoured battle-cries from the generation war.
‘
The clouds were a deep luminous mauve now, and the sky looked like a taut, well-beaten drum-skin through the long window pane in the front door.
It was stifling in the small, rectangular hall with its beige woodchip and wall-lights with peeling coppery shades. Merrily stood under a print in a chipped gilt frame: Christ on the Mount of Olives. Opposite her was a cream door with a little pottery plaque on it.
The door was closed, but its plywood panels were not exactly soundproof. Merrily thought David Shelbone, historic-buildings officer, was unlikely ever to see his own home listed, except as a classic example of 1970s Utility. How did the Shelbones spend their money? Probably on their adopted child? Perhaps long, educational holidays.
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Hazel Shelbone murmured something Merrily didn’t catch.
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Merrily willed her not to say it. This was not the time to say it.
‘
Then the unmistakable and always-shocking sound of a slap. Merrily closed her eyes.
An abyss of silence. Jane would have been composing a response involving the European Court of Human Rights.
Amy just started to cry again, long hollow sobs, close to retching.
But this was surely not the first time she’d thrown out the not-my-mother line. There had to be something additional to have provoked Hazel, the seasoned foster-mother, the reservoir.
With no windows you could open, it was hard to breathe in here. Merrily ran a finger around the inside of her dog collar, walked away towards the front door. She felt like an intruder. She felt this was becoming futile. She looked across into the placidly glowing face of Jesus in the picture, and Jesus smiled, in His knowing way.
Merrily closed her eyes again, let her arms fall to her sides, stilled her thoughts.
Mrs Shelbone was saying, ‘
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Another silence. No sniffles, no whimpers. Then, as Merrily straightened up, Amy said,
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Merrily leaned back against the wall. Christ gave her a sad smile. The door of Amy’s Room opened. Hazel Shelbone stood there, stone-faced. ‘Mrs Watkins? Would you mind—?’
‘
Merrily took a step back along the hall. Something
She whispered, ‘Hazel, I… think, on the whole, it might be better if Amy came out, and—’
‘
‘I’m sorry.’ Mrs Shelbone pulled the door closed behind her, new lines and hollows showing in her wide, honest face. ‘I don’t know what to do. She’s never been quite like this before, I swear to you.’
‘
Merrily opened the front door and stepped down to the flagged garden path, followed by Amy’s mother.
The bungalow was detached but fairly small, with a bay window each side of the door. There were other houses and bungalows either side of the country lane, well separated, with high hedges and gardens crowded with trees and bushes.
The sky was the colour of a cemetery. In contrast, a small yellow sports car, parked half up on the grass verge, looked indecently lurid.
‘Hazel, what does she mean by lies?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve told you, this is not my Amy. I don’t know how she can say these things about God.’
But she looked away as she spoke, and Merrily thought perhaps she
‘What’s she been like at school?’
‘Well behaved, always well behaved. Her teachers have nothing but praise for her.’
‘Do you know her teachers?’
‘Most of them. We’ve always made it our business to know them. As good parents.’
‘What about her friends?’
‘She’s…’ A sigh. ‘She’s never had many friends. She’s very conscientious, she studies hard. She’s always felt she had to, because… well, she’s bright, but she’s no genius. Because she’s adopted, I think she feels she has to make it up to us. Make us proud, do you see? Good children, children who study hard, they aren’t always very popular at school these days, are they?’
‘Has she been bullied, do you think? Picked on?’
But after that one small confidence, Mrs Shelbone had tightened up again. ‘Look, Reverend Watkins, this isn’t what I expected at all. I think she needs an infusion of God’s love, not all sorts of questions.’
Merrily sighed. ‘I’ll be honest with you. I’m not really sure how to handle this. Can’t take it any further without talking to her, and if I go in there, it’s likely to cause a scene, isn’t it? The last thing I want is to upset her any more. I mean… I suppose I could start by taking off the dog collar.’
Mrs Shelbone’s brown eyes hardened. ‘What’s the point of