LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

Oh yes,” she gave a satisfied smile, “we’re very lucky on Wragge. Our young people never give us any trouble at all.”

      She set off across the grass, clearly her own short cut that didn’t involve using the path or gate.

      Fifteen minutes later the luggage was indoors, a small mountain of cases, holdalls and cardboard boxes at the bottom of the stairs. “You can only bring what we can fit in the car,” Daniel and Louie had been told back in London. “Which isn’t much, so pack wisely.” There’d been some disagreement about what items counted as personal belongings and what could be considered ‘house stuff ’ – saucepans, crockery, Chet’s basket, Chet himself. Somehow or other – chiefly by overloading the roof rack with larger items and stuffing every cranny of the car with smaller squashable things – life’s essentials had been accommodated. Now, they looked at the heap blocking the hallway without enthusiasm. “I suppose I’d better go and get some food before the shops shut,” Mum said wearily. “Are you coming?” she asked Louie.

      “What’s the alternative?”

      “Staying here. Putting away.” She gave a cardboard box marked KITCHEN STUFF a gentle kick.

      “Coming,” said Louie.

      “What about you?” Daniel’s mum asked him.

      He grunted, non-committal. He didn’t have the slightest intention of doing any more ‘putting away’. From the tiny bathroom window upstairs he had caught a glimpse of sandy beach, and as soon as the others were out of the way he was going to check it out.

      “Can we get pizza?” he said to his mum as she shouldered her handbag and made for the car. “Pepperoni.”

      She hooted with laughter. “You’ll be lucky. I’ll be amazed if I can get a loaf of bread.”

      He watched the car disappear up the track in its own dust-ball, then whistled to Chet. The two of them set off across the garden and through a gap where the wall had collapsed, in the direction of the sea. He didn’t bother to lock the door – it had been open when they arrived, and the neighbours clearly had a key, anyway. The clouds had broken up and widening gashes of blue appeared. In the sun it was hot after the cool dead air of the house. A narrow path about the width of Chet led through a field of long tussocky grass and thistles to a stile, where it met a wider path following the outline of the coast. Daniel headed in the direction of the beach, picking a broad flat stem of grass and stretching it between his thumbs to make a reed. It gave a piercing whistle when he blew on it.

      From the opposite direction, a woman appeared dressed in jogging gear, but striding rather than jogging. She had short dark hair and was about Daniel’s mum’s age, which meant she was of no interest and could be ignored. Except the footpath wasn’t wide enough for them to pass without some acknowledgement. Daniel prepared to plunge into the long grass to avoid conversation, but the woman’s friendly smile faded as she approached and she stopped in front of him, puzzled. “I don’t know you,” she said, which struck Daniel as an odd thing to say. In his experience, knowing random people who passed you in the street was the exception not the rule.

      “I thought I knew all the young people,” she went on, bending down to make a fuss of Chet, who responded by jumping up and planting his dusty paws on the front of her pale blue jogging pants.

      “Oh,” Daniel mumbled, tugging Chet away. “We only just arrived.” He gestured vaguely in the direction of The Brow, which was out of sight.

      “Ah. New boy. That explains it,” the woman replied. The puzzled look returned. “I wasn’t expecting anyone new. My mistake, no doubt. I’ll look into it. What’s your name?”

      “Daniel Milman,” said Daniel, uncertain what she meant, but unwilling to ask.

      “Daniel. I’m Mrs Ivory, Emma.” She held out her hand. Daniel passed his grubby palm surreptitiously across the back of his jeans before shaking. “See you in September, if not before,” she said, giving him a last quick smile and what was either a wink or just a twitch, before jogging off. Daniel smiled and nodded politely; it was easier than admitting ignorance. He wasn’t comfortable with spontaneous conversations with strangers, but it looked as though he was going to have to get used to it. Everyone on the island was so damn friendly. Or freaky, depending on your point of view. At least she hadn’t cringed away from Chet and his dirty paw prints.

      A steep flight of wooden steps with a rope handrail led from the cliff top down to the beach. The tide was a long way out, leaving a broad expanse of fine wet sand combed into ripples by the waves, which came rolling in with the full force of the Atlantic behind them.

      At the bottom of the steps Daniel produced a whiskery grey tennis ball from his pocket and waved it teasingly above Chet’s nose until the dog was nearly frantic with excitement, then hurled it as hard as he could across the sand. Chet took off after it like a hairy rocket. His technique for chasing down a tennis ball involved overtaking it to come at it from the far side as if rounding it up, as though he saw it as some peculiar breed of miniature sheep. Daniel ran with him, infected by Chet’s excitement and exhilarated at having the entire beach to himself. He could feel all the tension streaming out of him as he ran. Once he had burned off some pent-up energy, Daniel began to explore the ridge of seaweed at the high-water mark, to see if anything had been washed up. But there was nothing interesting, no jellyfish, no messages in bottles, no litter, no driftwood. The only trace of civilisation was a sign below the crumbling cliffs warning of falling rocks and a rubbish bin from which a piece of red nylon cord trailed. Daniel wasn’t in the habit of scavenging in bins, but the flash of red caught his eye. On investigating, he found that the cord was the handle of a blue drawstring bag made of sturdy waterproof canvas. A logo in the corner showed what looked like a curling leaf or possibly a crooked smile. It was brand new and just what he could do with for carrying swimming gear to the beach. Daniel thought it was an odd thing to chuck away. Maybe it had been accidentally left behind by someone, then dumped in the bin by a tidy-minded citizen of Wragge. Still, finders keepers.

      Up on the cliff two girls watched the blond-haired boy with the dog running across the sand. “I don’t recognise him, do you?” said the older of the two, squinting into the sunset.

      “He looks like Alex Lowey,” said the younger one without much interest. “But Alex Lowey hasn’t got a dog.”

      “He’s way fitter than Alex,” the older girl insisted. “He must be new.” She absent-mindedly pulled up a leaf from amongst the grass she was lying on, and began to chew it.

      “Can we go home now?” her sister asked. “I’m hungry.”

      “You can. I’m just watching.”

      “Do you fancy him or something?”

      “I can’t tell from up here. I wish I had some binoculars.”

      Back at The Brow Daniel found Mum and Louie had returned from their shopping trip. They had only gone as far as the first village – Crosskeys – which had a small grocer’s selling milk, cheese, bread and various tins and packets, but no pizza. That was a pity, as it looked as though he and Louie would be getting their own dinner. Even though it was only six o’clock, Mum had retired to her bedroom – Daniel knew she wouldn’t surface until the following morning.

      He began to pick unenthusiastically through the tins of soup and beans.

      “Get this,” said Louie, who had just unpacked their last purchase – the Wragge Advertiser, an eight-page newspaper – and was sniggering over the headlines. “POLICE REPORT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF A MILK BOTTLE FROM OPIE STREET. My God, it’s a crime hot-spot. Where did you get that?” she added, noticing the canvas bag Daniel was holding.

      “Found it in a bin.” Louie looked sceptical. “I did!” Daniel protested.

      “It looks brand new.”

      “I know. That’s why I kept it. I wouldn’t pick some manky old thing out of a bin, would I?” He shook his head.

      “What about this,” Louie

Скачать книгу