by Judy Leigh
Lil pointed at the menu in the window. ‘I’m going to start with a Grand Marnier hot chocolate and see what happens. We could have a Snickers topped with whipped cream and then go into Market Square for some chips. After that, Bruges is our oyster – and we can paint it red.’
‘How will we do that?’ Maggie’s brow puckered – she was confused by Lil’s mixed metaphor – but Albert nodded, shuffling forwards towards the door of the café, towards the bright light that glowed inside, a shining gold mine, the sweet aroma of chocolate. Lil nudged Maggie, and they followed him in.
Cassie sipped lager from her glass and glanced at DJ, suave in designer jeans, Jake wearing black and Pat sporting a new ‘I heart Halve Maan’ T-shirt. They had almost finished their complimentary beers. ‘So where have Duncan and Tommy gone?’
‘Trying to buy the local brew.’ DJ shrugged. ‘Tommy said we should have taken the longer tour – they only do one a day but you get to do a full tasting. Duncan and Tommy are talking to one of the managers about sampling a few different beers so that Duncan can take some home. I’m not sure he can buy beer in bulk here, but the manager is going to put him in touch with a supplier who can send it back. Duncan’s suddenly become very keen on Belgian beer.’
‘The tour was good, though – the way they roast the hops and the lovely smell and the big steel vats.’ Jake glanced around at the airy room, the wooden display unit, pristine shelves and gleaming bottles of beer with attractive colourful labels.
Pat’s face was red. ‘All those steps down to the vault, though – I needed this beer by the time I’d climbed back up.’ He finished the last of his lager, a frothy trail running down the inside of the glass. ‘I think I’ll have another one. Cassie, how do I ask for beer in Belgian?’
Cassie winked. ‘Use the same word, bier – or you can say pintje.’
Pat sauntered off towards the bar, pleased with himself.
Cassie turned to DJ and Jake. ‘It must be tough for Emily, with Alex away.’
Jake noticed Cassie’s concern. ‘He’s been in the Middle East for a couple of months. She’s enjoying her holiday here with us but I think sometimes she’s very worried about him. She keeps it fairly quiet though – she doesn’t say much to anyone.’
‘I would be worried too, if I were in her shoes, especially when the phone calls don’t get through.’ DJ scratched his head and sighed.
Cassie murmured, ‘Emily’s such a warm person, so loyal to you boys.’
‘She’s probably my best friend,’ Jake said, then he turned to DJ and hugged him. ‘Apart from you.’
DJ smiled. ‘Em’s great. My days, when we were rude to Denise, she was straight in there, apologising for us. We’d had a little bit to drink. And we didn’t mean anything by it – I really thought the stinky feet were Pat’s.’
‘Poor Denise – I’m not sure how much she’s enjoying the trip.’ Cassie sighed.
‘We’ll make an effort to cheer her up,’ DJ promised, brown eyes earnest. ‘I’ll buy her a pint tonight.’
Pat arrived with a tray, beaming, carrying four glasses of beer.
‘I said “bier” then “pintje” and held up four fingers,’ he said excitedly, his cheeks pink. Cassie glanced over their shoulders and saw Duncan and Tommy approaching, deep in conversation, clearly pleased with themselves.
Duncan put both hands on his hips. ‘Kerry will go mad. I’m spending far too much on beer. But we’ll have some fantastic varieties of Belgian ales in the pub for a few months.’
‘That’s what we came for, Dunc,’ Tommy agreed, then, aware that Cassie was smiling, he assumed an innocent expression. ‘And a holiday, of course.’
‘I’m looking forward to staying at the farm tomorrow,’ DJ said excitedly. ‘We might even get a five-a-side game with some of the locals.’
‘It will be great,’ Pat agreed. ‘Is that it now? Is the tour over?’
‘I thought Halve Maan meant half a man,’ Jake murmured. ‘But then I saw the logo. It’s half-moon…’ He tugged Pat’s new T-shirt playfully.
‘We’d better be going.’ Cassie raised her eyebrows. ‘It’s probably time.’
‘Yes,’ Tommy rubbed his belly, thinking of the beer he might drink if he could stay. ‘We promised to meet Ken’s group in the square and the others in the café.’
Cassie met Duncan’s eyes. ‘I wonder how your father’s coping with Lil and Maggie for company.’
‘Oh, they’ll be just fine,’ Duncan protested. ‘The three of them are probably sipping hot chocolate and talking about – knitting or something.’
‘You don’t know Lil.’ Cassie shook her head. ‘We’ll be lucky if they are still where we left them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got into trouble.’ She smiled brightly. ‘Let’s just hope they haven’t broken the law or upset anyone – I wouldn’t put anything past my mother.’
13
‘Belgian chips are just the best.’ Lil took a chip from the wrapper that Maggie was holding out and blew on it. She glanced around. Market Square was busy; people were rushing past, some with their heads down against the breeze, others chattering on phones. A couple were strolling, eyes locked, holding hands. A woman pushed a pram, her eyes glazed as if she was dreaming. Lil nibbled the chip, enjoying the sensation of it burning her lips, and stared at the sculpted statues mounted on stone, the pretty colourful buildings with their high pointed fronts, the shops with green awnings, the grey flagstones and the little tables where people were sitting, hunched over huge glasses of beer. She gazed back at her companions. Maggie was smiling, grease on her lips, and Albert was chewing rhythmically, a chip in each hand, holding them up out from his body as if he were about to play tiny drums.
Lil sighed. ‘The others will be ages yet. What shall we do?’
Maggie wasn’t listening. ‘These chips are even better than Keith’s. And we’ve had hot chocolate. I won’t want any dinner tonight. I’m having so much fun, Lil – I’m glad you forced me to come on holiday.’
Albert took another chip; he was still chewing steadily in his round-and-round motion, his eyes expressionless. Lil nodded slowly; an idea had come to her. ‘Right. If we don’t do it now, we won’t ever do it.’
Maggie was still lost in her thoughts. ‘I wonder how my Brian is getting on. It’s a shame he’s missing out on all this fun.’ She sighed softly, contentment shining in her eyes. ‘I love it here in Bruges.’ She pushed two more chips into her mouth. ‘I might not want to go home.’
‘Have you heard from him, Maggie?’ Lil asked. ‘He’d be so jealous if he knew you were here.’
Maggie wrinkled her nose. ‘I’ve sent him a few texts – three, in total – I thought I’d better. But he’s not good at texting. Do you think I should ring him?’
‘No. Maybe send him a postcard saying, “Wish you were here”. You’ve told him where we are and that you’re safe.’ Lil winked at Albert. ‘We’re having a good time by ourselves, aren’t we?’
‘We are.’ Maggie polished off the last of the chips and beamed.
Albert edged closer to Lil, bending his head in her direction, cocking an ear. Lil raised her voice. ‘Come on – the tennis club will be here soon – and the beer drinkers. I’m not letting them think we’ve been stuck here in the middle of the square waiting with nothing better to do. We have plenty of time – the clock on the belfry tower says it’s twenty to five. I know what we’ll do. We’ll show them that we’re not past it yet.’
‘Past what?’ Maggie was licking her fingers. ‘Where are we going?’
Albert moved closer to her elbow and Lil turned and stalked away, the others following her step for step.
Her voice trailed back in the breeze. She put on an authoritative voice, deliberately mimicking Ken’s teacher mode. ‘We’re going to explore the fabulous thirteenth-century architecture of Bruges.’ Maggie and Albert could hear her laughing softly. ‘We’ll have a few good tales to tell the others when they catch up with us. They aren’t the only ones who can have som
e fun.’
An hour later, Cassie rushed out of the café and called to the group assembled outside. ‘They aren’t in there. The waiter was very helpful – he remembered them. He said they left ages ago.’
Sue was anxious. ‘It’s gone half past five. They said they’d meet us either here or in the square.’
DJ and Jake had just arrived at full-pelt. ‘We’ve just been all round Market Square, twice.’ DJ was breathing deeply. ‘We couldn’t find them.’
Jake nodded. ‘They were nowhere to be seen.’
Duncan stared at Cassie and rubbed a hand through his hair. ‘Do you think they’re all right? Perhaps they have got lost. It’s not like my dad to wander off.’
‘They could be anywhere.’ Cassie sighed.
‘Can you ring your mum, Cassie?’ Emily was hopeful.
Cassie shook her head. ‘She doesn’t have a mobile. She never uses one.’ He grew serious. ‘They can’t be far away.’
‘We should split up and search for them, ‘Ken suggested. ‘We’ll all return back here in fifteen minutes and check in.’
Tommy’s voice was strained with the burden of responsibility. ‘Good idea, Ken. It won’t look good if I’ve lost three old…’
‘We’ll go in pairs,’ Ken interrupted him swiftly for the sake of propriety. ‘Come on, Cassie – you and I will head towards the belfry.’
‘We’ll check the area with the chip shop over there,’ Jake suggested to DJ and Pat nodded eagerly in agreement.
‘I’d better come with you,’ Emily added, her blue eyes round with anxiety.
‘We’ll go towards that building with all the flags, shall we, Syoo?’ Denise shivered as a gust of wind blew her hair across her face.
‘The town hall,’ Sue corrected her in a loud voice.
‘Right, Tommy, you and I’ll check inside all the bars, shall we?’ Duncan was already on his way. ‘Just in case Dad has stopped off for a beer…’
Ken gave a little cough and offered his arm to Cassie. ‘Shall we go?’ She slipped her hand through the crook of his elbow and they strolled forward, their movements in step like any other couple. Ken called over his shoulder to Denise and Sue. ‘We’ll meet back here in half an hour, shall we? Preferably with Lil, Maggie and Albert intact?’
‘Lil, I can’t climb any more steps.’ Maggie was blowing air through her mouth at a fast rate, the sound of her breath echoing inside the tower. ‘I’m too full of hot chocolate and chips. They are wedged in my stomach like a bowling ball and I can’t move.’ She sighed and folded her arms, tucking her hands underneath her armpits. ‘How many have we done now?’
‘Two hundred and seven – that’s seven more than when you last asked me.’ Lil puffed, determined. ‘That leaves 159 steps. Come on.’
‘I need to stop,’ Maggie wheezed, plonking herself down on a step. ‘I’m all finished.’
Lil sat down next to her. ‘Let’s take a rest for a moment. You’ll be all right, Maggie – just give yourself a moment. They should have installed a lift in here for seniors.’ She took a few deep breaths. ‘Are you all right, Albie?’ He nodded and Lil reached for his arm. ‘We should keep going. They’ll be locking up soon.’
Maggie wailed, ‘If they’ve not locked up already. We’ll be stuck in this cold tower by ourselves all night.’
‘The view from the top is magnificent. That’s what the man on the desk said,’ Lil recalled
‘Breath-taking – he said it was breath-taking. But that’s because you – you…’ Maggie panted. ‘It takes all your breath to get up here. I’ve got none left. I’m puffed out.’
Lil moved back against the stone wall as a man and a woman possibly in their sixties pushed past, muttering, ‘Excuse us,’ in perfect English. Lil glanced at the man’s smooth head, a few little hairs stuck up on top, and thought he looked exactly like the cartoon of Homer Simpson. She almost called him back to ask if he’d left Marge at home. She watched the couple move slowly down the steps into the darkness below, the thought uppermost in her mind that she’d honestly rather be travelling down than upwards. But she was determined she’d get to the top.
‘They close this place at six. We should get a move on.’
‘I can’t,’ Maggie breathed. ‘I’m done in. You two go.’
Lil wrapped her arms around her friend. ‘Okay – we won’t be long, Maggie. You stay here on the step and rest while Albert and I drag ourselves to the top. I’m determined to see Market Square from the belfry tower.’ Lil grabbed Albert’s arm. ‘I’ll get there if it kills me. It’s not too far now – come on, Albie.’
‘It might kill you. A hundred steps is miles away.’ Maggie’s face crumpled.
Lil’s voice was soothing. ‘We’ll be back before you know it. You’ll be safe here. Just take a moment to get your breath back.’ Lil tugged Albert’s arm. As they crept up the steps together, she was conscious that her hip ached with every pace. Lil counted the remaining steps in her head as she muttered, ‘It’s cost me twenty-four euros to get us in here and I’m damned if I won’t get my money’s worth. Come on, Albie – keep up.’
Fifteen minutes later and after several pauses, Lil and Albert gazed down on the expanse of Bruges, spread out below them, from the viewing point. Lil caught her breath.
‘This is nice, isn’t it?’ Lil was conscious that he was smiling, standing close to her, his shoulder touching hers through their coats. ‘You can see across the town – buildings and shops, churches and the river. And down there in the square, all the people like little tiny insects scuttling round doing their own business, going goodness knows where.’ She leaned against Albert; her hip was twinging, but it felt good to have another warm body to rest against. Albert placed a hand on her arm as they peered through the window. Lil’s thighs were throbbing with the effort and the muscles in her calves ached. She thought that she’d be stiff as a wooden board tomorrow, but it had been worth it for the view.
‘You wait until I tell Ken how lovely it is up here, looking down on this fairy-tale place, feeling just like one of the gods gazing on the earth below and thinking, aren’t they silly, all those small people, rushing around too fast, going nowhere and I’m up here resting and thinking and watching the world go by?’
She met Albert’s eyes and he winked at her. She winked back, then turned to survey the square below and the buildings beyond. Lil breathed in the beauty of the view and murmured, ‘I wish we had longer in Bruges, Albie. We have it all here, don’t we? Chips and chocolate and this beautiful view. I could stay here for a week and still have things I’d want to see.’
He nodded, moving his mouth slowly, showing small teeth behind parted lips, and then he uttered one word, a whisper. ‘Lovely.’
Lil watched him for a moment, the joyous expression on his face as he gazed down at the view. He was lovely too, and good company; she had the feeling he knew exactly how she felt, looking down on the world from a high place. She met his sky-blue gaze and felt the urge to hug him. Instead, she said, ‘We’d better go back down all those steps and find Maggie, bless her. Then I suppose we ought to catch up with everyone else. There’s dinner tonight followed by drinks in some special beer place.’ She offered him an arm. ‘So – shall we go?’
They trudged slowly, making their way to the top step. Lil turned around, just to gaze at the view one more time before she left it behind her. It was a beautiful fairy-tale land below and she felt like an eagle, hovering above. She wondered sadly if she’d ever see Bruges again.
Cassie and Ken walked briskly towards the tower. Cassie was thinking about Lil, hoping that she hadn’t fallen over or had an accident or wandered into an area in the outskirts of Bruges, dragging Maggie and Albert with her and losing her bearings. She wouldn’t put anything past her mother; Lil was excessively enthusiastic and demonstrated very little in the way of caution. Cassie was suddenly conscious that Ken had been talking to her for some time, his voice a soft hum in the background.
‘It’s called the Belfort tower. B
ruges used to be an important centre of the Flemish cloth industry. The tower caught fire in 1280. They added the belfry in the late 1400s. There was a spire on it with Saint—’
Cassie smiled. ‘You know so much about Belgium.’
‘I read lots of books.’ Ken beamed, pleased with himself. ‘Do you read a lot?’
‘All sorts: novels, biographies, non-fiction. I pass them on to Lil afterwards, but she won’t read anything except those bonking books she loves so much.’
Ken froze, his eyes wide, with shock or interest Cassie couldn’t tell. ‘What sort of books?’
Cassie spluttered a laugh. ‘I call them bonking books. Modern comedy-romances with lots of sex in them. Lil loves to read that stuff.’ She was suddenly thoughtful. ‘I think she’s missed out on a lot of life in some ways. But she’s amazing – her energy is overwhelming.’
‘I can see where you get your joie de vivre from.’ Ken stopped and gazed at her in admiration. Cassie pushed a hand through the white hair where it had come loose from the colourful headband as the wind lifted it across her face. Ken gave a small cough. ‘Have dinner with me tonight, Cassie. Just you and me, away from all the others. I could…’ Cassie sensed that he was thinking of a way to persuade her. ‘I could tell you all about the new book idea I’ve just had, set in Belgium. It’s about an intrepid young journalist who has a little white dog and solves mysteries in the company of a retired naval officer and a retired maths professor…’
Cassie couldn’t help laughing. ‘Oh, just like The Adventures of Tintin?’
‘Ah…’ Ken tried again. ‘Well, I could tell you all about the beautiful buildings of Bruges… I’ve been reading up…’
Cassie took a breath, thinking that an evening of Ken’s monologue about architecture might not be her first choice of entertainment. She imagined she’d be smiling and nodding a lot of the time. She made her voice gentle. ‘I think we should probably all spend this evening together as a group, Ken, in the restaurant Tommy’s booked. After all—’ she offered him a smile as consolation ‘—we’ve all been doing our own thing for most of the afternoon and Tommy’s very keen we all go to The Trappiste and sample the beers.’