Page 30 of The Christmas Retreat
‘A very smelly kind of cheese.’
‘Speaking of cheese,’ interrupted Nerys, looking pointedly at Verity, ‘if everyone’s finished, Tudor can serve the dessert, which is fruit salad or the cheeseboard.’
‘Sorry, I’m such a slowcoach,’ Verity said, but as if this was some charming foible we would all sympathize with.
‘Perhaps one or two of you could help clear,’ suggested Nerys.
Rhys was already standing up and after a moment Toby and I did, too, and followed him to the kitchen with the serving dishes. The little white dog had emerged from under the table, where I think we had all quite forgotten him, and pattered hopefully after us.
Tudor was standing at the sink, washing up, and Bronwen was putting cheese and savoury biscuits on to a large tray, next to a cut-glass bowl of fruit salad and a jug of thick cream.
‘Could I help you with the washing up?’ I asked Tudor.
‘No, you go and relax,’ he said. ‘I just like to keep on top of the things that won’t go in the dishwasher, and I thought I’d get on with it till I could clear the table.’
‘He was waiting for that Verity woman to stop her endless chewing. She’s more like a cow chewing the cud than a woman,’ Bronwen said.
‘I wouldn’t bother waiting for her after this,’ replied Rhys. ‘Just carry on regardless, or you won’t get home till midnight! I’ll tell Nerys.’
Snookums was sitting hopefully by his empty dinner bowl in a corner and a large jet-black cat with amber eyes, very much like Rhys’s, stalked over and joined him, both staring fixedly at Bronwen.
This must be Pompey, but I thought I’d wait for the official introduction.
I took out the pile of cut-glass dessert bowls and in the refectory found that the twins seemed to have started an argument with Verity on whether performance art actuallywasan art.
‘As Jonah Westerman said, it isn’t amedium– not something an artwork canbe– so it should not be eligible for any of the major art prizes!’ Verity said in her sweet, rather plaintive voice. ‘They awarded the Kimski-Bottrell art prize to afilmlast year, and I thought that was so unfair!’
She turned to Nerys, seeking support. ‘Nota physical medium, such asweuse.’
‘We are our own medium,’ Opal said hotly, fixing her pale green frogspawn eyes on Verity. ‘In reflecting each other, we reflect the world around us – we are about space, social reality and interaction.’
‘Codswallop!’ put in Kate. ‘Not that I know anything about performance art, but—’
‘You know what you like?’ suggested Evie, with her most crocodilian of grins, before making the argument for Verity’s viewpoint and then, while Verity’s lips were still forming the word ‘Exactly!’, and before the twins had begun to argue with her, she had turned and was debating the whole thing from the opposite direction.
She did this all the time, and it could be infuriating. Both Verity and the twins were looking baffled and slightly angry, as if they had been made fools of.
Timon, ever the peacemaker, intervened when Evie drew breath.
‘Most of you have had long journeys today, so I think we should adjourn this fascinating discussion till another time. Do help yourselves to fruit salad or cheese.’
‘Is there Gorgonzola?’ asked Cariad.
‘No, it isn’t that popular out of Italy,’ Nerys said, passing the cheeseboard up the table.
Tudor brought in a jug of coffee and set it on a hotplate on the side table while we were eating, some of us in slightly huffy silence.
‘We’re running quite late, so if you’ve all finished eating, I suggest we take our coffee through into the sitting room, where Noel is kindly going to give us his short talk on tomorrow’s Winter Solstice ceremony,’ Timon said once we’d finished.
‘Just a very brief description,’ said Noel, ‘to put you in the picture.’
‘Can I stay up for it, Daddy?’ asked Cariad.
‘You know it by heart already,’ Rhys told her, ‘and you’re practically falling asleep at the table. Say goodnight nicely to everyone and I’ll come up and say goodnight after Noel’s talk.’
‘I want Ginny to come up too. She can see my books.’
‘She can do that tomorrow,’ Rhys objected. ‘I’m sure she’s much too tired tonight.’
