The Snares of Death by Kate Charles

Author:Kate Charles
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SPCK

CHAPTER 28

Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is: brethren, to dwell together in unity!

Psalm 133.1

If the BARC meetings got much bigger than this, Rhys reflected, they’d have to start looking for new premises. The capacity of his office on the first floor of the house was just about stretched to its limits with the eight people – and one large dog – who were there on this Saturday evening in the middle of April.

BARC was growing by leaps and bounds, thought Rhys: three new converts. He studied them with interest in the few moments of preliminary chitchat before the meeting got down to business. Karen, the tiny, childish-looking blonde with the ridiculous corkscrew curls, was sitting in a chair, her hands folded in her lap, looking withdrawn and miserable. Maggie had been at her already – she’d laid into her about the perm, accused her of aiding and abetting animal testing, being an accessory after the fact to the murder of innocent laboratory animals. The girl hadn’t known how to defend herself, and her tender heart had been horrified by her own sins of ignorance. Rhys would have to try to compensate somehow for Maggie’s bluntness, try to make Karen feel better. She was such a vulnerable-looking little thing, no match at all for Maggie.

The other pair were interesting. They’d come together, and they shared a clean-cut wholesomeness, though the girl, Becca, was a real beauty. Sitting close together on the small sofa, they were both very smartly clad; Toby actually wore a white shirt and a tie under his jumper. Such sartorial splendour was a novelty in what had always been – apart from Fiona’s stylish elegance – a casually dressed group. They seemed odd candidates for BARC – what had brought them here? he wondered. Idealism, like himself ? Tender-hearted sentimentality, like Karen? Certainly not dyed-in-the-wool activism, like Maggie or Gary. Perhaps it was youthful rebellion against parental values and authority, like Nicholas; it had not escaped Rhys’s notice that Becca’s surname was Dexter, though he hoped that Maggie had not made the connection. Or perhaps, he thought, catching Fiona’s eye as she smiled at him, it was simpler than that: perhaps it was love. Perhaps they just wanted an excuse to be together. Becca Dexter had that indefinable sparkle of a woman in love, unless his imagination was running riot. And that colour in Toby’s cheeks – certainly the room wasn’t that warm . . .

Nicholas, sprawled on the floor stroking Bleddyn, grinned at Rhys in anticipation: this was going to be his big night. Maggie was pointedly ignoring Nicholas, talking instead to Gary. At last Rhys judged that it was time to begin.

After he’d officially welcomed the newcomers, Rhys turned to Nicholas. ‘I think you have something to tell us,’ he invited.

The boy jumped up with alacrity, his long hair flopping. He spun round to face the assembled group and announced, ‘The new van has arrived!’

‘Huh.’ Maggie looked bored. ‘I thought it was going to be something important,’ she muttered to Gary.

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.