The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

Author:Joanna Cannon
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780008132187
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

Number Four, The Avenue

11 July 1976

Should have told her that I can’t linger, said the radio.

‘There’s a wedding ring. On. My. Fing-er,’ Tilly sang back.

‘How do you know the words?’ I said.

Tilly was more of a Donny Osmond type of person.

She rolled on to her tummy and leaned her chin into her hands. ‘Because your mum sings it every time she washes up. It’s either that or “Knock Three Times”.’

‘Is it?’

‘Twice on the pipe means the answer is no,’ said Tilly.

We were sitting on the front lawn, my mother’s radio playing through the kitchen window and pollen prickling our noses. I was drawing a map of the avenue and trying to chart our progress. Tilly was making helpful comments.

Mrs Forbes’ flowers are taller than that and Mr Creasy’s fence isn’t straight, for example.

She reached over and drew a bird on Sheila Dakin’s roof, and another one on our front lawn.

‘Birds are the only thing I can draw,’ she said.

We stared at the map.

‘There isn’t much sign of God, is there?’ She traced her finger across the line of houses. ‘I’m not sure we’ve seen even a hint of Him yet.’

I thought about Mrs Forbes’ fibbing and May Roper’s fondness for funerals, and the way Sheila Dakin stumbled and tripped across the avenue.

‘No,’ I said, ‘but we’ve still got plenty of places to search.’

I stole a look at Tilly. ‘We could go to Mrs Dakin’s again.’

‘We’ve already been there. Why do you want to go back?’ said Tilly.

‘No reason.’

‘Is it because of Lisa?’ she said.

‘Nope.’ I flicked my hair.

‘Because you and I are best friends, aren’t we, Gracie? I mean, nothing will ever change that, will it?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘It’s just Lisa and me have got so much in common.’

‘You do?’

‘Oh yes,’ I said. ‘Me and Lisa just fit together. Some people do, don’t they? They just belong.’

Tilly nodded and looked back at the map. ‘I suppose so,’ she said.

Sometimes, Tilly didn’t understand the more complicated things in life. That is why I needed a friend like Lisa. Someone who was sophisticated and more my wavelength.

Tilly pointed at the map. ‘Who lives there?’

I looked up to where she was pointing. ‘No one yet.’

Number fourteen had been empty for as long as I could remember. The Pughs had moved in for a while, but they disappeared after Mr Pugh had a mid-life crisis and stole £5,000 from his accountancy firm. He had a trilby and a caravan in Llandudno. Everyone was very shocked. After they’d left, a man from the estate agent had put a ‘For Sale’ sign up in the garden, but Keithie knocked it over with his football on the first day, and no one had been back since.

‘What about this one?’ Tilly pointed to another house on the map.

‘Eric Lamb,’ I said. ‘He does mainly gardening.’

‘And there?’

Tilly was pointing to number eleven.

I didn’t answer for a moment. Tilly pointed again and frowned, and said, ‘Gracie?’

‘Walter Bishop.’ I looked across at the house. ‘Walter Bishop lives there.’

‘Who is Walter Bishop?’

‘Someone you don’t want to know,’ I said.

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