Crow Face, Doll Face by Carly Holmes

Author:Carly Holmes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Honno Press
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

NEW HOME

The bus dropped us in the centre of the village. I left Kitty and Leila perched on the pile of luggage under a streetlamp while I ran into the bright bustle of a pub and asked the woman behind the bar to phone me a taxi. I bought three bottles of pop and pointed out of the window to let them know where we’d be waiting.

I worried over how much the fare would be, how much of a tip I should leave, ferreting in my purse for loose change that wouldn’t seem too meagre: more silver than copper. After their long nap on the bus the girls were wide awake again, swinging their legs and watching with giggling interest the comings and goings in the pub car park. I stood apart, still unable to look at them directly, still counting in my head from one to a hundred, over and over. I’m coming, ready or not!

I was light-headed with fatigue, unable to push a way through the numb mesh thrown over my mind. I didn’t feel much of anything. Dogs barked and laughter rang from a beer garden out of sight. There was the occasional raised voice but no sense of real threat so I didn’t think that I would have to move us all further along the lane where the evening shadows were thicker.

When the taxi arrived I told the driver our new address and asked if he knew where it was. He nodded and loaded our suitcases into the boot, waited for me to help the girls into the back and fill their laps with bags, then take a seat beside him. He didn’t say a great deal on the journey for which I was thankful. I was trying to follow the turns and junctions of the roads, commit them to memory, estimating how far we’d be living from the village.

‘Here you are then.’ He pulled up beside a cottage almost lost behind a thicket of unkempt dog roses. He let the car idle while he set the luggage beside the gate. In the lane behind me the faded scarlet of a telephone box loomed.

‘Do you need a hand getting those in?’ he asked, indicating the heap of bags and cases. I shook my head and thanked him, handing over what felt like more money than was necessary while worrying that it wouldn’t be enough. But he scanned the coins in his palm quickly and seemed satisfied, smiled briefly at me then patted Kitty on the head as he passed her. I waited for the rear lights of the car to disappear into the shallow summer night, and then I took the key from my handbag and led the way down the path to the front door. The girls were subdued now, staying behind my legs and peering past me into the dim slit of hallway once the door had squealed partially open, hinges protesting. I stepped inside and let them follow me in their own time.

The house smelled of disuse, damp and musty.

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