The Art of Standing Still
Page 30
Ruth covered her eyes. So she hadn’t got away with it. ‘You knew! All that time and you didn’t tell anyone. You didn’t put it in the paper?’
‘I didn’t tell anyone else, only Josh. It wouldn’t have been fair. My granddad was a journalist of the old school. “Be truthful, accurate, and fair,” he says.’
‘That’s a good adage.’
‘He also said, “Integrity – that’s what matters, and it’s even more important when you work in the town where you live.” Too many people would have got hurt if I’d splashed it all over the front page. I couldn’t do it.’
‘Thank you.’ Ruth nearly laughed. ‘Not that it really matters now. I would write it across the sky if I thought it would bring him back. Will you say anything?’
‘No. There’s no reason.’
Ruth shook her head. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She had misjudged Jemma, but if Jemma had gone to press, perhaps Alistair would have been alive now. ‘You’re right, what is the point of raking it up? We were friends. I’m even happy for everyone to think he duped me, but what we had, or what I thought we had . . . oh, Jemma, it was something special. You see . . . this sounds so stupid . . . I’d never been in love before. And even now, knowing all that he did, I love him and I forgive him.’
‘What will you do?’
‘Carry on, I suppose. I’m good at carrying on. That’s what I do best. I carried on after my mother died; I’ll do the same after Alistair.’
‘Will you take a break, a holiday?’
‘I think I need to get back to parish life as soon as possible. I feel as if I’ve been standing still for the past few weeks. It’s time to move on.’
‘Standing still is good sometimes.’
‘I know. Perhaps we don’t do enough of it.’
‘Come with me.’
IN THE DYING LIGHT, THE TWO WOMEN STOOD TOGETHER ON THE COLLAPSED chapel wall. The three arches were silhouetted against the sky. The abbey ruins were desolate and barren, but the grass smelled fresh from the summer rain. The wind whipped up from the river and tore at their hair, ruffled their clothes and snatched their breath.
Ruth took Jemma’s hand, and they stood in silence with their eyes closed.
A gust channelled through the arched windows, whistling and buffeting them and threatening to knock them off their feet, but they leant against it, solid and firm, and refused to let it displace them.
Author’s Note
THE YORK MYSTERY PLAYS
Monksford is a fictional town in Kent. It is presumed, however, that many medieval towns would have held performances of Mystery Plays for Corpus Christi. I based The Art of Standing Still on the York cycle of plays, the most complete text still in existence. Here are my sources, if you are interested to know more about these beautiful, powerful, compelling dramas.
TEXTS OF THE YORK MYSTERY PLAYS
Richard Beadle and Pamela M. King, York Mystery Plays:A Selection in Modern Spelling (Oxford Paperbacks, Oxford World’s Classics, 1999).
An electronic version of the original text of the York plays at the University of Michigan: http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/c/cme/cme-idx?type=header&idno=York
THE STORY OF THE MODERN MYSTERY PLAYS IN YORK
http://www.yorkmysteryplays.org/index_highres.htm
The revived waggon plays, performed in July 2006, and information about the York guilds: http://www.yorkstories.fsnet.co.uk/york-mystery-plays/index.htm
An open-air play on the Life of Christ, performed on a farm near Guildford, Surrey: http://www.wintershall-estate.com/
Theodora’s Diary
Faith, Hope and Chocolate
Penny Culliford
Saturday 8th May. Emergency!
It is 11:30 p.m. and I am suffering from an incredibly intense chocolate craving that will not leave me in spite of prayer, distraction activities and half a loaf of bread and butter. Got out of bed and searched the flat. No luck. Not even a bourbon biscuit. Not even a cream egg left from Easter. All the shops are closed so no nipping out to replenish supplies. Nothing else for it. I’m reduced to the chocoholic’s equivalent of meths – cooking chocolate.
It’s been one of those days for Theodora. Her mother has become the Greek equivalent of Delia Smith, her boyfriend would rather watch 22 men kick a ball around a field than go shopping with her, and chintzy Charity Hubble wants to pray for her. And of course, the crowning insult is her utter lack of chocolate. Join in her daily life with all of its challenges and joys, tears and laughter.
“Theodora’s Diary is a hilarious and realistic peek into the life of a sprightly Christian sister living ‘across the pond.’ I found myself laughing out loud and thinking, ‘Yes, life is just like this!’ Penny Culliford is a welcome new voice in inspirational fiction.”
–ANGELAHUNTAUTHOROFTHEDEBT
Softcover: 0007110014
Pick up a copy today at your favorite bookstore!
Theodora’s Wedding
Faith, Love, and Chocolate
Penny Culliford
I’ve actually done it! I’ve kept up my diary for over a year.
I may not have grown very much spiritually, nor have I been hailed as the next British supermodel, but I have gained a fiancé,even if he is football mad. And to cap it all, I weigh half a stone less than I did this time last year.
Welcome back to Theodora’s world. Now a bit older but not much wiser, thirty-something Theodora Llewellyn begins her second year as a diarist. And as usual, the results are endearing, hilarious and delightfully human.
Joy, bliss, ecstasy! Have just tried my holiday clothes on and they are actually too big! What a fabulous excuse to go and buy some new ones. Unfortunately, bank account doesn’t agree. Saving to get married is such a nuisance.
In her search for life, love and a plentiful supply of chocolate, Theodora discovers that the course of true love never runs smoothly, especially when a voice from the past precipitates a crisis. But fear not – Theodora’s humor and wit are up to the challenge. In the end, just one question remains unanswered: Exactly how much vitamin C is there in a chocolate orange?
Softcover: 0310250390
Pick up a copy today at your favorite bookstore!
Theodora’s Baby
Penny Culliford
“I’m not sure I’m cut out for parenthood. It’s not in my plan. All right, I haven’t actually got a plan, but if I had one, this wouldn’t be in it. I don’t even like babies – nasty, small, noisy, smelly things that take over your life.But this is a different baby. This is not just a baby; this is our baby . . .”
Newlywed Theodora discovers a slight oversight she and Kevin made on their honeymoon. Now she’s gained an important new subject for her famous diary – but at such a cost!
“Tom opened the oven door and got out the most enormous chocolate pudding and placed it on the table in front of me. ‘Especially for you, dear sister,’ said
Ariadne. I swallowed hard a few times then took off for the bathroom. Ariadne looked at Tom and said, ‘I told you so.’”
What? Theodora sick (literally) of chocolate? How will she survive without her favorite food group? Answer: with typical irrepressible humour that finds much to laugh at about marital bliss, faith, friendships, and the foibles of pregnancy. But will she be reunited with her lost love? Never fear – Theodora and chocolate can’t be separated forever.
Softcover: 0-310-26558-4
Pick up a copy today at your favorite bookstore!
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