Grandmothers by Salley Vickers

Author:Salley Vickers [Vickers, Salley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241985427
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2019-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

25

When Billy and Nan got off the bus near Sea Life it was to a strong fishy smell. ‘Pooh!’ Billy made a face.

‘It’s you as wanted to come,’ Nan said. ‘Now behave nicely, please, with that lass. She’s shy.’

Rose and Minna were waiting for them by the entrance. Rose said, ‘We got your tickets because we found out one of our coupons was for a family’ and blushed painfully.

Anticipating some objection from Billy at being turned into an ersatz family, Nan said swiftly, ‘That’s very thoughtful, Rose. How much do I owe you, Minna?’

While the adults were swapping notes and change Billy and Rose exchanged glances. Finally, Billy said, ‘There’s sharks inside.’

‘There’s octopi too,’ Rose said.

‘It’s octopuses,’ Billy said scornfully. ‘Not octopi. Everyone knows that.’

Rose looked crestfallen and Minna, who had completed her transaction with Nan, began to apologise. ‘That’s my ignorance, not Rose’s.’

Billy became condescending at this evidence of his superior knowledge. ‘They’re as intelligent as humans, octopuses.’ He looked at Nan. ‘She thinks they’re more intelligent. Except for children,’ he added reassuringly.

‘Sometimes,’ Nan said. ‘It depends on the child.’ She grinned at Billy and he grinned back, secure in the knowledge that she liked children better than adults and him most of all.

Feeling more comfortable, Rose said, ‘We did a project on them at school. Wouldn’t you love to hold one of their tentacles?’

Billy unbent enough to agree that this might be cool but added that he thought her teacher should have known it wasn’t ‘octopi’.

They passed into a thronging area where mounds of bad replicas of various forms of sea life were on display, arousing covetousness in the children and menacing the adults’ wallets.

Nan steered Billy sternly through this temple of temptation. There was not enough money, she could tell, for Rose to be bought anything extra so she deflected his demand to buy a furry shark. ‘Dad said he gave you spending money for me.’

‘Maybe later,’ Nan said. ‘Look, there’s where we can see the real thing.’

A sign directed them to the aquarium. The doors gave on to a long tunnel where behind imprisoning glass varieties of brilliantly coloured fish were performing a shifting kaleidoscopic ballet in the well-lighted waters. Now and again the ponderous shape of a shark loomed by, causing no obvious disturbance to the smaller fry.

‘Why don’t the sharks eat the other fish?’ Rose wanted to know.

Billy, who felt he should have an explanation for this, retreated into knowingness. ‘It’s because they’re all in captivity,’ he hazarded.

They passed slowly through to a smaller aquarium. ‘Look, look,’ Rose called. ‘Octopuses.’

The children pressed against the glass walls of the tank, trying to catch a glimpse of its occupants.

‘They’re shy,’ Rose said. Being shy herself made her sympathetic to the retiring inhabitants.

‘Sensible, more like,’ Nan commented. The creatures in the tanks had awakened memories for her. ‘I daresay they don’t like people gawping at them.’

‘I read about one that escaped from a zoo,’ Rose said. ‘Someone left the top off its tank and it got out and slithered down a tiny tiny pipe into the sea.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.