Page 57 of The Christmas Invitation
‘OK, and she’s selling a sort of super Dundee-style cake this year, too, with tons of glazed fruit all over the top.’
‘Perfect. They seem to eat a lot of cake.’
‘I’ll tell Pop and then he can sort it out with Maj,’ said Oshan. ‘I think there might be one or two Yule gifts coming up with Pop, too, just in case you decide not to come back for the Feast.’
‘I’d made my mind up I wasdefinitelycoming back but now, suddenly, I’m not so sure,’ I said slowly, speaking more to myself than him as I realized my feelings had undergone a change. ‘It’s starting to feel as if I’d be running away … And besides, not only am I paintingreallywell here, but I think I’ve been struck by Christmas madness and I want to experience the whole thing.’
He didn’t ask me what I’d be running away from: but that’s Oshan. If I wanted to tell him, then I would.
‘You can make up your mind when Pop gets there, can’t you?’ he suggested easily.
‘True, and since Starstone Edge is often cut off by snow at this time of year, it may not be in my hands whether I leave or not. Or in River’s, come to that, if he makes it in the first place!’
‘Oh, I expect he will. I mean, we’re used to bad weather up here, so he’ll have the snow chains with him and a shovel and everything.’
‘He might well need them, because he’ll have to take a single-track road over the moors from the next valley to get here.’
‘It sounds like you’ve strayed intoThe Land That Time Forgot,’ Oshan said, amused. ‘Are there any dinosaurs?’
‘I have to admit, the valley does feel a bit like that.’ I paused, then added, ‘There’s someone here who was at art college with me, though he was a year ahead so I didn’t know him that well.’
‘If you’re snowed up together, you’ll probably get to know him a lot better,’ Oshan suggested.
‘Or it might turn into one of those old cosy crime novels, where the characters are snowed up in an old house and there’s a murder,’ I said tartly. ‘But there’s someone else living in the village that webothknow. Do you remember Moonflower?’
‘What, that drippy girl with long brown hair who was here for a couple of years? Her parents lived in a converted horsebox?’
‘Yes, that’s her. She still looks much the same, but now she’s married to a man who has a shop in the village and they have a baby. Round here they just call her Flower, though.’
‘It really is a small world,’ he commented, and then added, ‘Here’s Pop. I’ll just tell him what you suggested as a present.’
I could hear a conversation in the background and then Oshan came back on. ‘He says that sounds fine about the biscuits and the cake and he’s gone to talk to Maj. He’s bringing goat’s cheese, too.’
To be honest, I’ve never been that keen on goat’s milk, cheese or yoghurt, which always tastes to me profoundly of goat, though I do like the goats themselves.
‘My robes for the Solstice ceremony are finished and Pop’s bringing his with him to wear for the ceremony up there, even though he’s only a spectator.’
‘Good idea,’ I approved. I didn’t see why he should be done out of dressing up this year, when he enjoys it so much. Getting enrobed … which reminded me of being taken to a posh restaurant in London once, where the menu described the pudding as being ‘enrobed in a rich chocolate ganache’ and I was quite disappointed that it didn’t arrive with an ermine train and a tiara, too.
Henry and Den bickered about which way to drive into town, before deciding to go down the pass and back the other way.
The vintage Jaguar was a gleaming dark red thing of polished beauty and descended the pass in a stately manner. Halfway down, an ancient Land Rover with three sheepdogs in the back squeezed past us with a roar. The driver even took one hand off the steering wheel to wave.
‘Local farmer,’ explained Henry. ‘But even they don’t go up and down here when it’s really bad.’
‘Told yer it would be OK today,’ Den said, taking the last bend and emerging on to the wider, flatter road at the bottom.
We passed Gobelins and then were into the edge of the small market town where Den slowed, so I could take a look at the old smithy, now reborn as Terrapotter. There was a largegreen sign across one side of the long, low, ancient-looking brick building, though I didn’t have time to register more than that there was a central arch in the building with windows over it. I suppose if it was an old smithy originally, they’d have had to have driven carts and carriages through into some kind of courtyard.
‘We can stop on the way back, if we have time,’ Henry suggested, though I sincerely hoped we wouldn’t.
There was a small car park in the centre of the town near the slender engraved granite obelisk of a war memorial and a stone horse trough. The art shop was on the far side of the square, so we arranged to meet back at the car when we’d all done our shopping.
The art shop was surprisingly large, well-stocked, and had the good quality oil paints I preferred. Then I found a box of ready-cut mounts for pictures or photographs and thought I’d get several small ones. I could sketch the various inhabitants of the Red House – human or otherwise – and then they’d make nice presents to leave … or give, if I was still there. The jury was still out on that one, but the balance was teetering towards the Stay side.
Then I spotted a complete artist’s box, the kind with pullout winged trays, full of tubes of paint, oil pastels, pencils … everything a budding artist could possibly want. At a price, of course, but oh, how much Teddy would love it! I couldn’t resist. They had rolls of gaily coloured Christmas wrapping paper at the till, too.
I’d spent a small fortune and I must have been in there ages, but I couldn’t see any sign of the others having returned to the car, so I went into a nearby hairdresser that looked trendy and asked them about the hair colouring I fancied, a shade of pale ashy old-rose pink that I’d seen one or two women sportinglately. They actually had it in stock. It was a new line and, they assured me, entirely free of harmful chemicals, so though it probably wasn’t as ecologically friendly as the green dye, at least it might last a little longer. They offered to remove the now pale snotty green tint from my hair and then dye it for me then and there, since they were not busy, but I told them I didn’t have time.
