The Dust that Falls from Dreams by Louis de Bernières

Author:Louis de Bernières [Louis de Bernières]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473511408
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2016-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

61

Rosie and Daniel at the Tarn

ON A COLD and windy day in late winter, not long after Rosie’s conversation with Fairhead, she and Daniel, muffled up in heavy coats and scarves, sat on a bench and looked out over the water. ‘Why do coots have white foreheads?’ asked Rosie.

‘Because they hope to join the Band of the Royal Marines,’ said Daniel. ‘And I have a question: why are moorhens called “moorhens” when they don’t live in moorland, and they aren’t hens?’

‘They got thrown off the moorlands at the time of the enclosures,’ said Rosie. ‘By wicked landlords.’

‘That must be it. What shall we do on Saturday evening?’

‘Let’s go and see the new Charlie Chaplin. Mama went to see it and hated it. She didn’t think it was funny at all, so I expect it’s hilarious. And on Sunday there’s a church parade of Boy Scouts going down Court Road, so I’m going to turn out and be appreciative. I expect you’ll be going to your mother’s on Sunday, won’t you?’

‘Yes, that’s the plan, but do let’s see the Chaplin on Saturday. You know, I never did join the Boy Scouts. I wanted to at first, because I always longed for a sheath knife. Then I got one anyway, so there was no longer any point. I could make dens and camps and cook up tins of beans any time I wanted, with Archie. Once we made a walkway that connected about six trees, fifteen feet up. I did have a copy of the Scouts’ Manual. It fell to bits from so much reading.’

‘It’s a pity the Pals got broken up, isn’t it?’ said Rosie. ‘Such a shame that your father died, and you had to move. It went very quiet after you and Archie left. No one flying over the wall any more like Sunny Jim, and staging fights with sticks, and making bows and arrows. It was such a lovely childhood, all of us in our little false paradise.’

‘It wasn’t false! That was real, and it all did happen. And you still had the Pendennis boys after we left.’

‘I know. But Ottilie did so love Archie, didn’t she? And I was terribly fond of you.’

‘Ash was the one, though.’

‘Yes, Ash was the one.’

‘Such a shame.’

There was the sound of people crying out, not fifty yards away, and the two of them were jerked out of their reminiscences. It appeared that a woman was getting very agitated on the bankside, and calling out to someone in the water. It was not a person, however.

‘There seems to be a dog stuck out in the water,’ said Daniel.

‘Oh dear, perhaps we’d better see if we can help.’

Daniel rose and ran the fifty yards. He saw that there was indeed a large black retriever in the water, apparently unable to keep itself up, and beginning to drown. A woman of about thirty, accompanied by a small boy, was calling, ‘Sheba! Sheba! Come on, girl! Come on! Oh, come on. Please come on! Swim! Swim!’

The little boy was in tears, and the woman was clearly desperate.

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