The Girl Next Door: A Novel by Ruth Rendell

Author:Ruth Rendell [Rendell, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Literary, Retail
ISBN: 9781476784328
Amazon: 1476784329
Barnesnoble: 1476784329
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2014-10-07T04:00:00+00:00

THANKS TO HELEN’S prompt action, George Batchelor responded to treatment quite quickly. The clot-busting drugs, according to the doctor, were effective. He was made to get up when he longed to stay in bed, walked around his private room holding Maureen’s arm, and became surprisingly cheerful. Maureen, however, took it badly. Stanley, who had described the Norrises as the perfect couple, could now have had that term applied to herself and George.

“I realised Dad might die,” she said to her daughter. “The funny thing is, I’d never really thought of it before.”

“We’re all going to die one day, Mum.”

“Yes, but not soon. He might have another stroke, he might have one tomorrow. It’s left me feeling really depressed.”

“Try and put it out of your mind. How about those friends of yours, those two who’ve split up? At their age? You don’t think about them dying, do you?”

Maureen wasn’t interested in the Norrises. She wasn’t interested in anyone but herself and George. How dreadful, she thought, only to realise how much you love someone when you’re about to lose him. George was at home now, preoccupied with his health. He had sent her out to buy a sphygmomanometer and took his own blood pressure several times a day. In spite of the doctor’s warning he overdosed on low-dose aspirins, intended to thin his blood. Apart from a quick visit to the pharmacy, Maureen never went out. She was afraid that if she left him alone, he might have another stroke. By night she hardly slept, dreading that if she fell asleep, she might wake to find him dead.

Relatives came to visit George: Stanley and Helen of course, and Norman came over from France, bringing Eliane with him. Maureen didn’t want any of them. All she wanted was to stay at home alone with George. The day came when she was due to take Clara Moss for her MRI, but she’d have to miss that. There was no need to go out because they had all their groceries delivered. Helen brought chocolates and a bottle of sherry, though Maureen wouldn’t allow George alcohol, she was too frightened. She did worry a bit about not seeing Clara, but Clara had no phone, strange as that was. Maureen had heard that the young woman next door did her shopping for her, so that would be all right. Still her conscience worried her, and she asked Helen if she would go and knock at Clara’s door, just to see if she was mobile.

“I couldn’t do that,” Helen said. “I don’t know the woman, it’d be very awkward. I’d be embarrassed and so would she.”

Maureen said she sometimes thought she’d never go out again, she’d be too afraid to leave George.

“He won’t be stuck here for ever,” Norman said. “He’ll want to be out and about and you’ll be with him.”

When she told George that no one had visited Clara Moss, he was disproportionately upset. Well, it seemed disproportionate to her.

“She can get about, George. She’s not bedridden.

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