Escaping by Henrietta Taylor

Author:Henrietta Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-12-29T05:00:00+00:00

All our family and friends expected Jack to unravel before our eyes. I realised I would need to give him a level of emotional support I’d never previously offered. He and Sheilagh had been together for over forty years and gave the impression of falling more in love as each year passed. Raised voices and arguments were exceptionally rare in their house. Kate and I had been brought up in an atmosphere of laughter and fun, endlessly entertained by Jack’s jokes and gags. Now the house and Jack were silent. I knew only too well that the nights were the hardest.

But he surprised us all with his ability to cope. Of course, he’d never counted on having some new female companionship almost straightaway . . .

I’d decided it was time to do something about my garden, and not having inherited Sheilagh’s green thumb, I called on the services of the local gardening centre. The gardener, Sam, brought along an assistant called Craig, who in turn brought along his own assistant, a gorgeous little miniature fox terrier crossed with a bit of Jack Russell called Lucy. By the end of the day, the garden had been planted out, a watering system had been installed and everything was complete. Except for one thing. The little puppy was missing.

Someone suggested I try the veterinary clinic in the next suburb, as the dog catcher often took them directly there. I rang them and yes, they had the little dog. To my surprise, Craig said I could keep her; she’d been giving him more problems than he could handle.

When my father walked into the house to inspect this new addition to my family, Lucy took one look at him then jumped onto his lap and wouldn’t be budged. In the end, the children and I decided it would be best if Jack took Lucy for a little while to keep him company; my parents had been going through a rare dogless phase before Sheilagh’s death. Of course, we all suspected the move would be permanent.

Once again, destiny had played its part. Jack introduced Lucy to all his swimming mates down at Balmoral Beach, where he still swam every morning all year round. She would sit on a bench and guard his towel, and they soon became Mosman identities, trotting along the main road together. At breakfast, Lucy would sit on Jack’s lap and slurp tea from a saucer. As a past owner of dogs, Jack felt that he’d trained Lucy particularly well, but the rest of us could see it was Jack who was on the short leash, not the dog. In fact, Lucy was very like my mother in that respect!

But something Lucy couldn’t do was help Jack out in the kitchen. Sheilagh had been an accomplished cook, expert at everything from Italian and French to inventive Modern Asian cuisine, and specialising in seafood. It was a positive joy to be at her table. The wine was always plentiful, the food delicious and the company exuberant and loud.

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