Inexpressible Island by Paullina Simons

Author:Paullina Simons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

25

Land of Hope and Glory

BUT THAT’S IN MYTHOLMROYD, AMID THE HILLSIDES AND slopes and steep-sided valleys of the British moorlands, amid a rolling landscape in the open country, near woodlands and country houses, above the waterlogged soil that has frozen in the winter. Julian sleeps and dreams of purple summer heather blanketing the uplands for stretched-out scenic miles.

In the morning, they sit downstairs with a small breakfast and a hot tea, and afterward she walks to buy the paper while he waits for her by the river. He watches her limp downhill to him, lit up by the sun, her shining face beaming at him from across the street. He can’t help it. He smiles back. And then on the train, he sits with his eyes closed, trying to imprint the image of her full of hope and happiness onto the wretched lens with which he sees the known world.

Before they get to Blackpool, there is Blackburn, and in Blackburn there is a parachute mine that had fallen some time ago and burrowed, and which detonates in the rumble of the passing locomotive, breaking the tracks and derailing the front of the train. The train, traveling slow, skids in the snow. The engine and the first two cars tip over. The rest of the train pops off the tracks and pitches against the trees and the snow banks. Julian and Mia, sitting close to the front, suffer primary blast injuries. Her ear drum bursts. She bleeds from her ears and nose. A sandbag rips open, and the sand flies through the air and lodges in Julian’s eyes.

“What did you say to me in the rubble at the Ten Bells?” the irrepressible Mia asks him, swaying and bumping him in the medical van, having lost with the burst drum not only all sense of how loudly she is speaking but her balance, too. Despite the injuries, her tone is peppy.

“I don’t remember.” Julian can’t see.

“You said we’re not going to make it, are we, you and me. Well, aren’t you sheepish now, mister, to see how wrong you were.”

He can’t see her, but he sure can hear her.

“We made it pretty far since then, haven’t we?” Mia says, kissing his head, ruffling his hair. “It’s been almost three weeks since you were Mr. Gloomy Gloomerpants. And look at us.”

“I would,” Julian says. “But I can’t see.”

“You’ll be fine,” she says at top volume, rubbing his stubbled cheek. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere. That was a joke. I’m going to find something I can shave you with. You’ve got a 5 p.m. shadow that’s weeks old.” She nuzzles his cheek, kisses his face. “That was also funny, Jules. I was funny there.”

“Ha.”

A sliver of metal got stuck in the cornea of Julian’s bad eye, and though the medic pulled it out, it nicked his pupil and now he can’t see. The sand grit has scraped the sclera and cornea and irises in both eyes. He hopes that will at least be temporary and his right eye will regain some vision.

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