Page 26 of Sisters Making Mischief
In the end I sat down at the kitchen table, liking the feel of the old wood under my palms. So many family meals and arguments and discussions had taken place around it, it had been worn smooth by many hands and cloths, newspapers, and dishes over the years, not by polish.
I looked around at the rest of the room, the worktops were cluttered with piles of catalogues, letters, a wooden box of seed packets, a large ball of twine and pieces of a broken coffee pot. There was a screwed-up tea towel in the sink, and two gigantic leeks, their roots covered with mud.
I remembered Stephen on one of his visits here, musing that perhaps we should stay in thegîteas this kitchen was a health hazard. But as I looked at it now, I thought it had a certain charm.
I could hear one of the dogs barking outside, an excited frantic noise that grew louder accompanied by the sound of a car coming up the drive. I felt a moment’s ridiculous panic, wondering what I would do or say if a stranger came to the house looking for Isabel and rattling away in French at a speed with which my schoolgirl studies would not cope.
Then a face appeared at the door: a man, tall, rangy and smiling, his thinning hair covered by a cotton cap.
‘Ah! Joy!’ he said.
It was my brother-in-law, Felix, a canvas bag over one shoulder, which he brought in and dumped on the table, spilling out a load of battered books and paperwork. The two dogs followed him in and sniffed around his feet until he nudged them aside with a knee.
‘Welcome, welcome,’ he said cheerfully, coming forward to kiss me on both cheeks, ‘I hope you have had a good journey. Has Isabel abandoned you already? This is very naughty of her.’
‘I’m fine,’ I said, ‘she was here a minute ago. I don’t think she can have gone far.’
‘Oh, she will be in the barn I expect, trying to make sense of um, umles nouveaux draps– the new linens she found in Morlaix. Such things that were going on a bonfire, so she says. You know your sister; she will never throw anything away if she can avoid it.’
‘I know,’ I said, remembering the state of her childhood bedroom, ‘she was always the same when we were growing up.’
‘And so, muddle, muddle everywhere, as you can see. And I am just as bad.’
He chuckled and dumped his woollen jacket on the back of a chair.
‘I have come home early, to see that you got here safely and also to go through some of the accounts,’ he pointed at the pile of paperwork on the table. ‘Lisa can cope without me for once.’
‘I’m fine,’ I said, ‘a very smooth ferry crossing.’
‘And you weren’t hurt when you had the accident?’
Good grief. Did everyone know everything? Were people on the phone all the time to each other – passing on gossip and interesting bits of news? It wasn’t like this at home, where everyone kept out of each other’s business. We got on okay but sometimes days could go by, and I didn’t see any of my neighbours. In fact, it had been three months before I found out the Robinsons two doors down from me, had migrated to NewZealand and the house had been sold to the couple who owned The Cheese Press gift shop.
‘It wasn’t exactly an accident,’ I said.
Felix pulled a face. ‘Well Henri said you were all over the place. He wondered if you were ill or had fallen asleep at the wheel?’
‘Henri?’
‘He was driving his tractor and said you were on the wrong side of the road. He would have stopped but he’s been having some trouble with his starter motor and once it stalls he has a devil of a job getting it started again.’
Ah, yes.
‘It was entirely my fault,’ I said, ‘I was just daydreaming, enjoying the scenery. I wasn’t concentrating. Anyway, no harm done.’
‘No, Jean-Luc said you were fine when I saw him in the village…’
For heaven’s sake. Did everyone know everything?
‘…Apart from your broken glasses. He said to tell you there isun opticienin Landivisiau who might be able to help you.’
Talk about Big Brother is watching you.
‘That’s fine,’ I said, ‘I have a spare pair.’
At that moment Isabel came in holding a straw basket that contained several eggs.
Her face lit up when she saw Felix and she put the eggs down on top of his paperwork and came across to kiss him. Felix gave her an affectionate hug and then patted her on the bottom. They had been together for nearly forty years and married for thirty. I didn’t know of any married couples who did that after such a long time together. My marriage certainly hadn’t been like that.
