A Tale of Two Sisters by Anna Maxted

Author:Anna Maxted [Anna Maxted]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781446493564
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2007-05-02T16:00:00+00:00

Lizbet

Chapter 21

George’s parents were doing a Friday Night, and I agreed to go along with Tim to please Cassie. She was the only family member I was interested in seeing. For reasons she hadn’t shared, she was suddenly keen on playing the perfect wife, dutiful daughter. It was strange, but I didn’t question it. I hoped it might take the pressure off me. Our parents were attending, and I felt the weight of their expectation. They’d got the scent of a grandchild and were like a pair of sharks who’d smelled blood.

It was simple for them. Dead baby, never mind, try again, hop back on that horse, then share the good news! They had maintained a presentable sympathetic façade, but now their more selfish needs were rising to the surface like scum in a pond. Failure failure failure. My brain was starting to malfunction. I was also drinking a lot for a girl who didn’t drink, and had made what Vivica would call ‘a spectacle’ of myself with Barnaby, Cassie’s lust object (it was obvious, and George had a face like a halibut the whole way home).

‘What size are you?’ demanded Mr Hershlag, peering with difficulty over the piles of food on the table.

‘Me?’ I said. I’d visited their house before, of course, but I was always taken aback by the sheer quantity of framed family photographs, china ornaments, and silverware. It was like a bric-a-brac store. Everything was old (except the kitchen appliances, all of which had apparently conked out in recent years from overuse and been replaced on the advice of the fire brigade). Nothing matched. There were tins of chocolate wafers in every room. Cassie liked clean lines and I was surprised that she could stand to be there.

‘Leave it!’ said Mrs Hershlag.

‘You got plans for a wedding?’ said Mr Hershlag, as if his wife hadn’t spoken. ‘I’ve got a wedding dress for you. It’s pink—’

‘She don’t want your wedding dress!’ cried Mrs Hershlag.

‘Darling,’ said Vivica, whose eye make-up was very blue that day, ‘is there something you want to tell us?’

‘Yes,’ said Tim. ‘We don’t have plans for a wedding.’

Everyone fell silent, and I squirmed in my seat. I’d been cool towards him lately, but I didn’t like the compliment returned.

‘You need a cushion?’ demanded Mr Hershlag, making me jump. ‘Take a cushion!’

‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘This chair is very comfortable.’

‘Nah, take it home! Take a cushion home! Take it! You’ll be doing me a favour!’

‘It’s very kind of you,’ I said, ‘but we have more than enough cushions at home.’

I glanced at Cassie, expecting to see a grin, but she was intent on her chicken goulash (lovely, but crying out for mushrooms). Cassie hadn’t spoken to me all evening. I didn’t get her. I hoped it wasn’t something I’d done. Actually, she was probably thinking about leaving George. She looked drawn. I’d hugged her at the door, and it was like two ironing boards collapsing on each other. I liked feeling thin, but I hated feeling hungry and secretly I knew I should put on weight.

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