Page 23 of The World Outside My Window

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

We sat and watched the show in silence, holding hands in the darkness. But I couldn’t help noticing that, when it finished, Jim was in a hurry to leave before everyone else, and practically dragged me down the street away from the theatre where we almost fell into the first taxi we found. And as we roared into the late evening traffic, I was left with an unsettling feeling that I’d missed something important.

PARTII

SEARCHING

11

NOW – 1 OCTOBER 1992

Number one Willow Crescent

Carol and Arthur Loveday

‘Carol, get away from that window, for goodness’ sake.’

Carol lets the net curtain drop back against the frame and turns to face her husband, Arthur, who’s in his armchair, newspaper stretched out across his knees.

‘I’m not doing any harm Arthur.’ Carol’s face creases into a pinch and she turns back to the window, pressing her nose against the lacy nets. ‘Besides, that Laura from next door is out there, you know. Actuallyin the garden. I’ve never seen her out there before.’

‘I know, you said.’ Arthur picks his paper up and gives it a snap. ‘I just don’t understand why you’re so surprised. Itisher garden.’

‘I’m well aware of that Arthur,’ Carol says, rolling her eyes. ‘But she’s never out there. Never. I’ve never seen heranywhere.’ She gives a small tut as punctuation.

‘Right. Sorry.’ Arthur returns to his paper, more interested in the racing news than the fascinating fact that some woman is walking down her own garden path. Honestly, does Carol really have nothing better to think about?

‘Arthur!’

He looks up wearily, unsure whether he’s ever going to find out the results of the 12.45 at Catterick Bridge. ‘What, love?’

‘I said I haven’t seen him for ages either.’

‘Who?’ He tries to sneak a look at the paper, but she’s watching him like a hawk.

‘Jim.’She points with her head in the general direction of the window as if that clears it all up. ‘He’s not been round for a couple of weeks, now I come to think of it.’

‘So?’

‘What do you mean “so”?’ Her voice has risen a few octaves and Arthur squirms at the assault on his eardrums. ‘I mean, first he disappears and then she’s outside, just standing there, not moving.’ She glances back at the garden. ‘I think she’s got her eyes closed now. It’s weird, Arthur. Something’s not right.’ She pulls the net curtain aside, then lets it drop right back down again with a gasp. ‘Bugger, she saw me!’

‘Well, what do you expect if you stand there staring at her? You do know windows are see-through, don’t you?’

‘Don’t be so sarcastic, Arthur, it doesn’t suit you.’ Carol moves away from the window and lowers herself carefully into the armchair next to her husband, her hands twitching in her lap. She picks up her knitting from the side table, puts it back down again. She stares at the TV in the corner where a newsreader is explaining something important about the AIDS epidemic, but the sound is turned so low she can hardly make out a word they’re saying, so she plucks a copy ofTake a Breakfrom the rack and turns the pages without really seeing them. She puts it back on the arm of the chair, stands, smooths her skirt, sits again.

Arthur sighs heavily behind his paper. ‘What are you fussing around for?’

‘I’m not fussing.’

‘You are. You can’t keep still. If you’re that worried about what’s going on next door, why don’t you just go out there and ask her?’

‘I can’t do that!’

‘Why not? It’s the only way you’re going to find anything out.’

‘I can’t very well march out there and ask a woman I’ve never met before why she’s in her own front garden and what she’s done with her husband, can I?’

Arthur hides his grin behind his hand. His life won’t be worth living if she sees him laughing at her but he can’t help it if she’s so ridiculous sometimes. ‘I wasn’t suggesting you put it quite like that, love. But maybe you could just go out and say hello. You never know. A conversation might start.’

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