Amy's Story by Georgia Hill

Author:Georgia Hill
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008281281
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-09-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

The storytelling session went down a storm. Even though Amy hadn’t decorated fully, as it was still a couple of weeks to go before Hallowe’en proper, there were compliments about how great the shop was looking already. Amy was relieved. The graffiti could have been a disaster. It was not the image with which she wanted to welcome customers, especially children. She’d aimed this storytelling session at a slightly older audience and had told a creepy ghost story. With the lights down low and a hollowed pumpkin glowing on the table next to her, the atmosphere had been deliciously scary. Amy forgot to be herself. Instead, dressed in a black cloak decorated with sparkly skulls and her fingers stained red from this morning’s aborted scrubbing, she inhabited Jocasta Howler, storytelling witch and wise woman extraordinaire. Before she began, she’d scanned the audience for possible culprits for this morning’s vandalism but these children were all under ten. Surely too young to be out late at night causing mayhem?

Once the last orange-iced pumpkin decorated fairy cake had been gobbled up and the till had rung for the last time, she collapsed onto a beanbag.

Patrick handed her a mug of tea. ‘That was wild,’ he said in admiration. ‘You’re a natural, so you are. Maybe you should think about joining the BADS?’

‘Berecombe Amateur Dramatic Society?’ Amy let a tired giggle escape. ‘Thanks for the compliment but I think there’s a waiting list.’ She gulped her tea gratefully. ‘What a day!’

Patrick joined her on the beanbag. They were alone, and with the low October afternoon light striking through the double-height windows on the west side of the shop, it felt very intimate now the buzz of the storytelling session crowd had disappeared.

‘You can say that again.’ He shook his head. ‘I’ve no idea how you can pull that character out of the bag when you’re as shy as a mouse most of the time.’

Amy frowned as she viewed her stained fingers with disgust. It wasn’t the first time someone had made that observation. She disagreed. She didn’t think she was shy, just reserved. After what had happened to her, with her father leaving and then Lee jilting her, she didn’t find it easy to trust people, to open up to them. She wasn’t someone who wore her heart on her sleeve but then neither was Patrick. After a pause, she answered. ‘I suppose that’s why. I pretended to be someone else. I couldn’t have done what I just did by being me. It’s easier to hide behind someone else.’ She laughed again. ‘Actually, I quite like Jocasta. Think I’ll channel her some more.’

‘I think you should.’ He gave a dry chuckle. ‘Those kids’ faces when you appeared out of the dry ice. Some of them really thought you’d appeared out of the caldron.’

‘Ooh, that cauldron! Caused me a riot of problems. Found it at Bridport antiques market. Only just got it back on the bus. It weighed a ton.’

‘Well, the kids loved it, especially when the inflatable ghost popped out.

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