‘Keep them a while longer.’
‘I think I will.’
‘Why not bring the children up here and let them see? Make them feel as though they belong … or something, I’m not quite sure.’
‘That’s an idea. By the way, this afternoon we’re going boating on Culworth Lake. Might as well take advantage of the good weather while we can. Are you able to come with us?’
‘Sorry, urgent sick visiting.’
‘OK, then. I’ll be down in a moment.’
Peter went down the narrow attic stairs and on to his study, and left Caroline to her memories.
The sun was even hotter that afternoon. Caroline packed plenty of drinks and sunhats, which the two of them hated but being so fair she had to insist upon, and with the sunroof open to its fullest extent they set off for the lake. It was on the Turnham Malpas side of Culworth so the journey there was not lengthy. In no time at all they were parked beside the lake and getting their hats and drinks out of the boot.
Alex had a favourite boat, and he ran down the slipway to search for her and found her tied up as he had hoped. She was called the Mary Rose and shone with layers of marine lacquer, over a lovely golden-brown stain. On her side the words Mary Rose were painted in bright royal blue with a Union Jack sticky transfer alongside her name. The brass oar locks seemed to shine more intensely than the other boats’ and, well, he just plain loved her.
Beth arrived beside him. ‘I want to go in that other one called Elizabeth.’
‘We’re not. It’s this one and no other.’
‘You always get your own way.’
‘It’s our boat is this. Ours. See.’
‘Mummy! Alex wants to go in the usual one.’
‘We will today and next time we’ll go in the Elizabeth.’
Seeing Beth beginning to work herself up into a rage, which had become more frequent since the night of the photo albums, Caroline hastily gave her the money and sent her off to the boat office to pay.
The boatman came down to see them safely aboard and to shove them off. ‘Nice day for it, Dr Harris.’
‘It certainly is, Tony. Looks busy.’
‘Yes, thank goodness. It’s a short season.’
He shoved off the Mary Rose with his bare foot and they splooshed out on to the lake. Caroline had become very proficient at rowing and they were soon speeding down the centre of the lake heading for the long arm off to the right where the trees bent down to the water and where the children loved to tie up under a particular willow which dipped the ends of its twigs into the water to form a delightful secret hideaway.
They sat there under its cool canopy sipping their drinks and talking about school starting soon, and it being their last year at the village school, about beginning at their new schools and about uniform and new friends and a myriad other things of interest. After a little while Caroline decided to untie the boat and row back into the main part of the lake.
They were smoothly making progress round the big open area at the far end where the water was deep and where sometimes the two of them spotted fish in the dark depths when a crowd of youths in a bigger boat than theirs came racing down the lake yelling ‘In … Out … In … Out …’ at the tops of their voices. Caroline, trying to keep to the rules of the water and pass on the right, became worried that they were taking no notice of where they were going. She shouted to them and so did Alex but they couldn’t hear. She swiftly directed the boat to pass them on the left, then saw another boat approaching her and before she knew it she was trapped between two boats both heading straight for her, one from the front and another from the rear. The second boat took evasive action and pulled away but the boat with the youths in it kept going and Caroline couldn’t row strongly enough to get out of their way. They hit her full on with their surging bows and rocked the Mary Rose so that Beth, who’d been covering her eyes with her hands from fear of what might be going to happen, suddenly tipped out of the boat, hitting her head on the edge before she disappeared from sight.
An oar slipped from Caroline’s grip.
Alex stood up.
‘Sit down. Sit down.’
He did.
Caroline looked into the depths of the water.
No Beth.
Terrified, she could hear Alex bellow, ‘Beth, Beth.’
Caroline saw Beth’s fair hair rise to the surface.
Too far to reach.
‘Stay in the boat.’ Caroline carefully lowered herself over the side into the water.
Alex by now was screeching, ‘Help! Help!’
Caroline swam to where she’d seen Beth’s head come to the surface and dived.
One of the youths jumped into the water and swam to help.
Can’t find Beth. Too dark.
Have to go up for air.
Go down again.
Too dark.
Go up for air, there’s Beth going down yet again, further away.
Swim towards her.
The dark waters closed over her again.
Find her. Find her. Find her. There!
Grasp her.
Hoist her to the top.
Hold her head out of the water. Lungs bursting.
One of the youths swam towards her, took hold of Beth, swam with her to the boat and heaved her in.
Beth lay in the bottom, frightened and exhausted, choking and spluttering.
Desperately Alex held out the oar for his mother to grasp.
But the youth came up behind her and gave her the most tremendous push up so that she was half in and half out of the boat. Caroline pulled herself up but was too paralysed with fear and too heavy with water to manage the last push up into the boat. ‘Oh, God! Oh, God!’
The youth came behind her and manhandled her into it, grabbing her body anywhere at all to achieve his objective. She collapsed in the bottom of the boat alongside Beth. By now they were floating well away from the lost oar and all she could think about was how to get back to the shore with only one oar. ‘Beth! Beth?’
As they tried to get themselves seated without upsetting the boat, Caroline heard the phut phut of a motor boat engine. Thank heavens! It was Tony coming.
He circled round, rescued the oar and came alongside. ‘Dr Harris! Young lady! OK? I’ll tow you back. Hold tight. Sit up. That’s it. On the seat. I’ve got you, don’t worry.’
Caroline began to shake, not so much with the chill of the water on her skin but the full horror of what might have happened. Beth was unable to speak. Alex was deathly white from shock.
Tony switched off his motor boat engine, tied up and then tied up the Mary Rose. ‘Come on, now. I’ll switch the fire on in the boat office. Warm you up. Just wait till I get hold of those bu— beg your pardon, Dr Harris.’ He hustled them into the boat office and turned on the fire. Out of a cupboard he brought towels somewhat the worse for wear and a collection of dry clothes kept for the purpose. Tony went out, shutting the door behind him, and they could hear him ranting and raving at the top of his voice and using fearful bad language at the youths. They heard their boat bump into the side and Tony still raving at them.
Caroline stripped Beth of her clothes and rubbed her hard with Tony’s rough towel. She still hadn’t spoken. Alex was channelling his fear into looking for something suitable for Beth to wear. ‘Here we are, look, shorts and a shirt with dolphins on it. You’ll look all right in these, Beth. Bit big but …’
Caroline was quickly becoming chilled right through to the bone. She left Beth to dress herself and began stripping off her wet clothes. ‘Look for something for me, Alex, please.’
‘There’s not much, just this funny dress or a pair of man’s shorts and a football shirt.’
‘They’ll do.’
They were much too big but she wasn’t going to let that bother her.
‘Look! I’ve lost a sandal. My best sandals!’ Beth began to wail. ‘My best sandals!’
Caroline put on the shorts and football shirt saying, ‘Never mind about
your sandal. We can always buy another pair, but we can’t buy another Beth.’
Beth took hold of her hand.
Alex grasped the other. ‘Let’s go home,’ he said.
‘That’s the best place. I’ll get my bag and we’ll go straight home. But we’ll thank Tony first.’
Tony knocked at the boat office door and shouted, ‘The wife’s made a cup of tea for you. Sit on this seat out here in the sun. She’ll be out in a minute.’
Beth wanted home more than anything. ‘I want to go home.’
‘Hush, darling, we will when we’ve had a nice cup of hot tea.’ They emerged into the sun, thankful they were all alive. ‘Thank you, Tony, that will be lovely. I found a plastic carrier bag in the office and I’ve borrowed it to put our wet things in. Where’s the young man who jumped in the water to help us? I’d have liked to thank him.’
‘They’ve all gone. I gave them a telling off and no mistake. They won’t be back here for a bit. Idiots. I’d no idea they had drink in the boat. It’s forbidden, really, but the moment your back’s turned … Ah, here’s your tea.’
The tea was welcome, it was sugared but it didn’t matter, because it tasted like nectar.
‘Ring Dad, tell him.’
‘He’s sick visiting, darling.’
‘Please ring Dad, he’ll want to know.’
‘I don’t want to worry him, it’ll keep till we get home.’ Caroline put an arm round Alex and hugged Beth with her free arm. ‘Feeling better?’
Beth held up her feet. ‘One sandal’s no good.’
‘Never mind, you can wear your flip-flops for a day or two. We can’t go into Culworth to buy new sandals looking like this, can we?’
Alex looked at the two of them and burst out laughing. It was infectious. Both Caroline and Beth joined in and laughed till their sides ached, but it was such a relief. Laughing took some of the fear away.
They drove home singing silly songs from when they were small. Caroline put the car in the garage at the end of Pipe and Nook Lane and they went into the Rectory by the back door so no one would see them looking like freaks.
Peter was back and the children ran into the study to tell him their adventure.
His first words were, ‘Whatever are you wearing, Beth?’
She explained, with Alex putting in his pennyworth where she hadn’t explained clearly. ‘And when I was under the water I could see fishes and nasty bits and the water tasted dreadful!’
‘Beth! My darling! Where’s Mummy, is she all right?’
‘She’s putting the kettle on. The water was so cold and dark, Daddy. I’ve never thought about water being dark before.’
‘Did you try to swim?’
She shook her head.
‘Why not? It’s because of accidents like this that we taught you to swim.’
‘I tried but I was so frightened. I kept going up but then I went back down again. I felt so heavy. I couldn’t see Mummy anywhere. It was so cold.’ She shuddered at the memory. ‘Worse than the swimming pool. I’ve got a huge, huge bump on my head, Daddy, look.’ Beth pushed her hair away from her face to show him a black-and-blue patch close to her temple. ‘I bumped it on the edge of the boat when I went in. It really makes you so you can’t think.’
‘Thanks be to God, you’re safe and sound.’ Peter hugged her.
Alex declared he’d tried to help. ‘Mum wouldn’t let me dive to find Beth. She told me to stay in the boat.’
‘Very wise, else she’d have had two of you to rescue, wouldn’t she.’
‘I could have swum back to the boat and climbed back in, Dad.’
‘I expect you could, but it’s as Beth says: it’s very different from the swimming pool.’
Caroline came in still dressed in her borrowed clothes. ‘Peter! Am I glade to see you.’
Peter stood up and put arms round her. ‘And I’m glad to see you too. There I was, visiting my housebound sick, totally unaware of the danger my entire family were in. Darling! I’m so sorry I couldn’t come with you. Are you sure you’re feeling OK? It must have been a terrible shock. You were so brave.’
‘I jumped in without thinking. She kept comoing up and going down again. I was scare to death. I don’t call that being brave.’
‘Well, I think you were brave anyway.’
Beth said, ‘She was. She dived dozens of times to get me, didn’t she, Alex? Dozens. She was brave. I’ll need new sandals. I’ve left one of my best ones in the lake.’ She held up her bare foot to show him.
‘I’m hungry. Is it nearly time to eat? It must be.’ Alex wandered off into the kitchen.
Peter volunteered to start the meal while Caroline changed, so she and Beth went upstairs to find fresh clothes. They sat on Beth’s bed, had a long cuddle to comfort themselves and giggled at their outfits. ‘Mummy, I was so scared. I thought I was going to die.’
‘Don’t, darling, don’t even think about it.’
‘But I did.’ She curled her arm more tightly round Caroline’s neck. ‘It’s terrible down there. I go under the water in the swimming pool with my eyes wide open but under there, under that lake … there’s swimmy things and black bits, and it’s so dark you can’t see, and even when I went down I didn’t touch the bottom. I couldn’t even see the bottom.’
‘I know, darling, it’s very deep at that end of the lake.’
‘Have you ever drowned?’
‘Not even nearly.’
‘Has Daddy?’
‘Not that I know of.’
Beth kissed her cheek very hard, again and again. ‘I love you, Mummy. I truly do.’
‘And I love you.’ Caroline wound her arms round Beth and hugged her more tightly. ‘I love you so very much.’
‘And me you. And I love Daddy. Do you love Daddy?’
‘Of course I do. You know that.’
Beth sat up and loosened her hold on Caroline. ‘I love you like you really were my mummy. Which you’re not, but you are and I want you to be for ever. Daddy says no one can take me from you. They can’t, can they, if it’s written on paper?’
‘No. Never ever. Was that what the screams were all about at school the other day?’
Beth nodded. ‘Yes. All of a sudden I understood. But I want to live with you all the time. Mr Glover said he wished you were his mother too, because you’re so lovely. Well, that’s how I want it to be. I’m going to be yours for ever. I’m not going to bother about those girls with the flower names, not for now anyway.’
‘Thank you, darling, I like the sound of that very much. But you can when you wish, you know, when you’re older.’
Beth shrugged her shoulders. ‘Perhaps.’ She stood up. ‘I think I’ll put on my blue shorts and that white top.’
‘Fine. I’d better get changed myself.’
‘I’ve got things sorted out now.’
‘Good, I’m glad.’
‘I’m your girl because I must be because you said you jumped in the water without giving it a thought, so you must love me the very bestest. Mustn’t you?’
Caroline smiled at her. ‘I expect I must.’
‘Well, I know you do.’
Beth disappeared into the depths of her wardrobe searching for her favourite blue shorts and said no more, so Caroline crossed the landing to her own bedroom, overwhelmed with joy.
There’d been rain over the weekend, for which every gardener in the neighbourhood was very grateful, but on the morning of the bones service – for that was what everyone called it whenever it got a mention – a weak sun appeared and bathed the village in a kind of mystical hazy light from first thing.
Peter was approaching the service with trepidation. Not because he wasn’t well prepared for it, but because it had occurred to him that he could very easily have been conducting a funeral service for his own daughter. As he tucked his cross into his leather belt and made the chain comfortable round his neck he looked at his reflection in the bedroom mirror. Behind him he could see Caroline standing by the dressing
table putting on a necklace.
‘Caroline, come here, darling.’ Through the mirror he watched her come to stand beside him. They looked gravely at each other in the glass and Peter said, ‘Thank you for being utterly wonderful and for loving me.’
‘Thank you for loving me. Because I do love you. This funeral is getting to you, isn’t it?’
Peter nodded. ‘The thought occurred to me that but for you I might have been conducting Beth’s …’ He felt as well as saw her shock.
‘Oh, my God! Don’t even think it. And don’t let her hear you say that. She really thought she was going to die.’
‘I’m sorry. Sometimes, though, it is salutary to remind ourselves to be grateful for His mercy.’ He found her hand, grasped it and took it to his lips to kiss. ‘Thank you for coming with me this morning. Is my congregation ready?’
She smiled back at him, checked her appearance and said, ‘It is.’
They got downstairs to find both Beth and Alex ready and waiting. ‘We’re going to be late.’
Caroline asked, ‘Why, where are you going?’
‘To the bones service, Mum.’
Peter protested, ‘I’d arranged for you to stay with Willie while …’
‘We’re going. We want to.’
Peter saw that determined look in Alex’s eye which experience had taught him meant he, Alex, was set on having his own way and that nothing, but nothing, would change his mind.
‘We’re both going, aren’t we, Beth?’
‘Oh, yes.’
Peter couldn’t face the ensuing battle if he refused to allow them to be there; he was in no mood for an uproar. ‘Very well. Pop next door and tell Willie. I’ve got to go. We’ll see you in church.’
Alex knocked at Willie’s and Sylvia’s door, pushed it open and put his head round it, just as he’d seen his father do, saying, ‘It’s Alex from the Rectory.’
Sylvia was standing with her handbag on her arm, obviously about to leave for the service. Willie was ensconced in his chair by the fireside trying to read the paper.
‘Willie! We’re going to the service. Dad says we can, so we shan’t need to stay with you. Thank you all the same.’
A Village Dilemna (Turnham Malpas 09) Page 22