|
Another woman stood there: thin, white faced, startled - but elegant as a model on a catwalk. She bought the dress.
Again Charles was late, and this time Shelley had made a pile of sand-wiches and left them on a coffee table in the sitting room. ‘Good,’ he said, ‘I’m shattered.’ He glanced up. ‘Are you OK? You look rather pale.’ ‘I’m absolutely fine.’ She smiled, and bending over the pad, she wrote, Flowers. He said, ’Shelley, what are you doing?’ ‘Tell you later. When it’s all sorted out.’ She flushed. He frowned, uncertain. ‘Well, all right.’ He sank back into the armchair, closed his eyes, fell asleep. She had to look at the black dress again. She jumped up, knocking the newspaper from the arm of the chair where Charles had left it. When she came down, he was awake, searching for the paper. He glanced up. ‘Shelley, have you forgotten to...?’ ‘No. I have not. I’m not some kind of inadequate, you know.’ She walked out, slamming the door behind her.
She slept deeply that night. Next morning, she knew it was time. She was going to show her daughter the beautiful things she had bought her. Since Charles liked to be focused when he was defending a case, a colleague was driving him to the Law Courts and Shelley had the car. Her hands shook so much she could barely insert the key into the lock. She breathed and counted, ‘One, two, three; hold, two, three; let go, two, three,’ several times until she was sure of herself. Then she opened the door, put the bags on the back seat and climbed in. Again, she practiced her breathing. When she was calm, she set off. It took less than an hour through the Cheshire country side to reach Elmway. She parked and ran to the door. Hilda Benson, in her green apron, unlocked it. ‘Shelley, how good to see you. What a surprise.’ ‘It’s ages since I’ve been,’ said Shelley, her face alight, eager. ‘Is she OK?’ ‘Beautiful, as always.’ But Shelley couldn’t wait to hear; she ran down the corridor, through the dayroom with its high windows, toys stacked around the walls, into the room where |
I Never Wear Black 5 |
|
44 |
|
All work within this periodical is copyrighted by the authors and Big Pond Rumour, January 2008. No part is to be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the authors and Big Pond Rumour Press. |