Page 38 of A Season in the Snow
‘I don’t think you should wait for me to arrive,’ she admitted.
‘Yeah, I think you’re right,’ Vanessa agreed. ‘I’m so sorry I won’t be here when you get to my house –our house –but I’m going to make it all cosy for you and leave you many instructions.’
‘Thank you. I mean, it might be really smooth-sailing from here, maybe I might just catch you?’
‘Smooth sailing? You are getting a boat somewhere?’
‘No, sorry, it’s a phrase. I mean the weather is better than it was, and if the roads stay clear . . . ’
‘Yeah, but you remember what I told you about Mürren being car-free, right?’ Vanessa cautioned.
Alice hesitated. She rememberedsomethingabout that. ‘Yes . . . ’ she ventured.
‘You forgot, huh?’ There was that carefree laugh again. ‘I bet you packed all of your kitchen sink, yes?’
‘Maybe.’ Alice glanced in through the rear windscreen at the boot full of clobber. Then she glanced at her dog, who took up nearly as much room. ‘Just remind me of the details of where I should park?’
‘Okay, you pay attention, all right? Don’t get distracted like that time in Brazil when you were so in love with that boy with the long sleeves you nearly joined the wrong tour.’
Alice laughed, the sound surprising her. ‘He did have lovely sleeves, and lovely fingers.’
‘Focus, woman. So drive your car to Lauterbrunnen, park up, and then go to the station. It’s really clearly signposted and so simple to use. You need to take a cableway to Grütschalp and then change to this cute little electric train. Then my chalet is steps away from the train station in Mürren. Simple!’
Alice gulped. ‘Two separate journeys?’ With a dog, with all her stuff, to a place she didn’t know, in the dark. Maybe she should just find another dog-friendly hotel for the night.
‘Yes. And this is important. There are two ways to get up to Mürren, but you have to park at Lauterbrunnen, because that way the station is so so close to the house. If you park at Stechelberg and take up that cableway you will have a ten, maybe a fifteen minute walk with all of your things when you arrive. That station is the other side of Mürren. Okay?’
‘Lauterbrunnen. Not . . . Stet – Stetchenblog.’
‘Stechelberg.’ Vanessa paused. ‘You can handle it. But if you’re worried, just take from your car the things you really need for the night and go back and get the rest in the morning. And my house has plenty of food and drink and warm sweaters you can borrow, so don’t worry about weighing yourself down with any of that.’
I can handle it. She had to bloomin’ well handle it. She’d made this choice and she really didn’t want Bear to have to face another long day of driving tomorrow. She would get there tonight, or at least get as close as she damned well could.
‘Seriously,’ Vanessa said. ‘I know you have been through tougher things than this. I know it.’ She let her words sink in. ‘Now get back in the car, and get over here. I have a bottle of brandy waiting to warm you up from the inside.’
‘Thanks, Vanessa.’
‘Don’t mention it. Just drive. And we will catch up properly in a couple of weeks when I’m back for the weekend, okay?’
‘Okay.’ Alice hung up and Bear pulled her towards the open door of a small general store beside the road. Bear was so nosy – he always wanted to investigate any open door – but this time it wasn’t such a bad idea.
Stopping at the entrance, Alice attempted to tie up Bear to a bicycle rack outside, but he tried to scramble into her lap and pulled until he rasped when she moved away from him. ‘I know, you don’t know where we are, but I’ll be two minutes.’
Bear continued to whine, until the shopkeeper, an elderly woman with a severe face, barked, ‘Eh!’
Alice looked up at the woman, who gestured towards Bear, and then gestured into the shop. Alice didn’t know what she meant, and after a little more gesturing the woman said, ‘In! In!’
‘In here? Dog in shop?’ Alice asked, clumsily.
She untied Bear, keeping her eye on the shopkeeper in case this wassonot what she’d meant, but the minute Bear’s big feet were sliding through the door her face went from fierce to full of joy. Her cheeks pinked and she held her arms wide and Bear swung into her, twirling in circles and licking her face.
The woman babbled at him in affectionate Swiss French while Alice collected an armful of water, snacks and other provisions in case they got stuck anywhere between now and Mürren, and kept an eye on her Bear. It was like he was right at home.
‘Beautiful Bernie,’ the shopkeeper enthused as she rung up Alice’s items. ‘Beautiful, beautiful.’ She then watched, waving, as the two of them returned to the car.
But Bear wasn’t ready to leave his new friend. Or at least, he wasn’t ready to have to get back in the car again.
‘Come on, up you get,’ Alice coaxed him. ‘Up. Come on. Up. Up. Bear, up.’ She stood holding the car door open and gesturing inside but to no avail. Tapping the seat and throwing in treats didn’t help either. Bear stayed stock-still, staring at her.
