Page 49 of The Garden of Forgotten Wishes
‘You manage to part on almost a daily basis now,’ Elf said.
‘Having separate houses so near each other doesn’t count, and you need a little space to be truly creative,’ Myfy said serenely. ‘You and Gerald only live together when you’re on holiday.’
‘Butwe’rejust best friends.’
‘Yeah, with perks,’ Myfy said rudely.
I expected Treena and I would still be engaging in this sort of sisterly bickering when we were in our sixties … and beyond.
Myfy was already cloaked and booted and we let ourselves out to the sound of celestial chiming.
The night was quite quiet, just the occasional vroom of a car in the lane, the faraway hoot of an early owl out hunting and the thunder of water under the bridge. Elf and Myfy were still gently arguing, though this time the subject seemed to be some weird kind of clock that had vanished from the dining room.
‘It hasn’t been stolen, Jacob’s simply borrowed it – he’s interested in the idea of a mechanism utilizing big metal ball bearings and gravity.’
‘That clock is very unusual and valuable,’ Elf pointed out. ‘He isn’t going to take it apart, is he?’
Myfy didn’t answer directly, but instead said, ‘It’ll be more valuable if it works, and Jacob will put it back together when he’s had a good look.’
‘Huh!’ said Elf.
‘Jacob’s very interested in ways of making kinetic sculptures that rely on natural forces, or by turning a handle – or any other method of ecologically sustainable movement,’ Myfy explained to me.
‘That sounds fascinating,’ I said, thinking I really must get round to looking up kinetic art.
‘I’ll take you up to the barn one of these days. There are several wind- or water-driven installations around it, as well as quite a lot of smaller pieces in the barn itself. In fact, it’s quite a job for anyone to get his works away from Jacob to exhibit or sell. He’d like to keep them all.’
‘I’d love to see them,’ I said.
We were over the bridge now and the pub on the other side of the road was brightly lit, several cars parked in the courtyard at the side, in front of the restaurant windows.
‘The Possets have a good thing going with the new restaurant and bar, even when it isn’t tourist season,’ Elf said. ‘But we go in through the old front door to the lounge with the other locals – it’s cosier.’
The large room was already well filled. It had a low ceiling and was furnished with long dark wooden tables and padded benches along the walls, with smaller ones scattered seemingly randomly in the central space. Another room must open off it at the back, for from somewherein that direction came the sound of darts hitting a board and loud male voices.
Standing at the bar was a familiar tall and wide-shouldered figure, the top of his tawny head almost touching the thick dark beam above him.
Ned hadn’t said he’d be there, but on the other hand, I hadn’t asked. But I suppose even if he had been shunning the outside world, he’d be happy enough to socialize in this safe, familiar one, where everyone knew him and would judge him on what they knew, rather than what they read.
‘Hi,’ he said, turning and catching sight of us. ‘Gerald and Jacob are already here saving seats, and they’ve got your drinks in,’ he said to Elf and Myfy. ‘Let me get you one, Marnie – what would you like?’
‘I’ll get my own, thanks,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to get sucked into buying rounds for everyone. It would be a bit out of my budget.’
‘Oh, come on, Ellwood! I think I could buy you one drink, without you feeling a crushing sense of obligation to buy everyone else one later,’ he said, and Charlie, who was standing on the other side of the bar, grinned.
‘What’ll it be?’ he asked me.
‘A half of bitter shandy, please,’ I said, giving in.
‘They only have Gillyflower’s Best Bitter here and it’s sacrilege to put lemonade in that,’ objected Ned.
‘Well, that’s what I like,’ I said. ‘We used to drink Gillyflower’s at that pub near college, didn’t we?’
‘We did, but I don’t remember you adulterating it with lemonade back then.’
‘The customer is always right,’ Charlie said. ‘One bitter shandy coming up.’
‘We can order food in a minute, but it’s scampi or sausage and chips in a basket, so it doesn’t take long to decide what to eat.’
