Innocent Monsters by Doherty Barbara

Author:Doherty, Barbara [Doherty, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2013-03-07T05:00:00+00:00

They took a taxi and stopped at Jones Street, by the entrance to Macondray Lane. They walked under wooden trellis, on a cobblestone path lined with Edwardian cottages and trees. A flight of wooden steps lead them through vast private gardens and Jessica made a mental note of coming back in the day time to admire the flowers that were now giving off exotic scents. Through the foliage, somewhere in the dark, she could hear a swing moving back and forth, its chains squeaking.

William’s house was a few yards away, one of a few that stretched for a block, very distant from each other, a deserted road extended between their fronts and a hillside draped with ivy. Peach trees and dark green bushes adorned his front yard.

“This place is wonderful,” she told him. “It’s so peaceful.”

“I told you I like peace and quiet.”

William opened the door and turned the lights on as they walked in, a wall lamp for each of the four white walls of the wide entry hall, completely empty apart from a stone staircase leading to the upper floor and a cactus standing tall in a corner with spiky skinny branches raised up to the ceiling. He led her through an arch opening onto the wall opposite them and switched the light on.

“I’m going to wear something a bit more comfortable. Make yourself at home, I won’t be a minute.”

Jessica stood alone on the curved doorway to the sitting room, this also completely white and really quite bare apart from a plain cream sofa, a couple of armchairs arranged around an oak coffee table matching the wooden floors, a wide screen TV and a large bookshelf. His ivory piano stood in front of four sliding glass doors opening onto complete darkness, probably a terrace. Next to them another narrow arch. Arches, arches, more arches.

Jessica took a step forward inside the room: a massive marble crucifix rested against the corner of the room on her left, an immaculate suffering Jesus hung from it, his blank eyes staring at nothing. It was so tall Jessica’s head only reached his ribs. It was amazing, tall, magnificent and weird. She stretched her hand and started tracing his nose, his lips, the curls of his white hair, the hollows of his white cheeks, then William walked in wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, a packet of cigarettes in his hand.

“Jessica meet Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ meet Jessica. Can I get you anything to drink?”

“No, thanks.”

Her hand was still on the cross when he sat himself on the sofa. He took a cigarette from the packet and lit it looking at her sideways.

“I wouldn’t get too close if I were you, it’s in a precarious position for now. I still have to figure out a way to fix it to the wall, it’s a lot heavier than I thought it would be.” Jessica turned to look at him bemused, quizzing him with her stare. “I told you, I’m not into religion, if that’s what you’re thinking.

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