Sun Child
Page 26
‘Thanks.’
‘Tomorrow or something.’
‘All right.’
Wolf walked away, hands in his pockets, whistling.
Alone in the garden Emily wandered towards her old hiding place in the long grass. She sat there, looking at the silent house, the shut windows of the kitchen. The church clock struck occasionally, but she didn’t count the chimes. It began to feel like evening : cool, fading. The grass was no protection. She was cold, cold, as if caught by a sudden dew. After a while – a long time, perhaps – she heard a car. It drew up at the front door. Marcia Burrows got out first – through the window of the car Idle handed her a key. She began to walk up the front path, her head making uncertain pecking movements. She was wearing her customary grey flannel suit, and carried a number of small boxes. At the door she fumbled for a moment, then went in.
Now Idle got out of the car. He wore a blue London shirt, no coat. Folding his arms over himself, as if he felt suddenly chilled, he looked up at the house, and then across the garden to Emily’s hiding place. She leant back, trying to hide completely for a moment. But then she remembered that particular game was over. It belonged to last year. Peering through the grass, she saw her father coming towards her, as she knew he would. She stood up.
‘Papa!’ she said.
He couldn’t have heard her, so far away, but he smiled. Emily waited for him. She wondered if he would carry her on his shoulders, so that one last time she could lose her head in the clouds.
for Candida with love
This electronic edition published in 2011 by Bloomsbury Reader
Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP
Copyright © Angela Huth 1975
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ISBN: 9781448200337
eISBN 9781448201655
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