Eden's Garden by Greenwood Juliet

Author:Greenwood, Juliet [Greenwood, Juliet]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781906784423
Publisher: Honno Press
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Carys paused at the bottom of the steep flight of stairs, blinking in the darkness, not quite sure where to go next.

As her eyes adjusted, the basement of Wyn’s Electricals opened out into a vast cavernous space. Thick sheets of grey sound insulation hung from the walls and the ceiling, like the insides of giant egg cartons. Not exactly pretty, but no doubt it did its job in preventing half of Pont-ar-Eden high street writing to the council and marching down here to protest at the noise.

‘Hello?’ called Carys tentatively. Her voice echoed around her. In the centre of the dimly lit space, she could make out a drum set and microphone stands, surrounded by several abandoned electric guitars and a full-sized harp, like a land-locked Marie Celeste, its performers spirited away halfway through a verse.

A door opened, letting light flood out. A woman in her early thirties, her short curly hair revealing a pair of intricate dangling earrings, emerged from a room crammed with computers and sound desks, and which was full to bursting with boys of all shapes and sizes.

‘Hi Carys,’ said Mari Lewis, making out the visitor. Since almost everyone in Pont-ar-Eden knew everyone else, any introductions were unnecessary.

Mari was one of those who had stayed in Pont-ar-Eden, leaving only to gain her teaching qualification and a couple of years’ experience teaching music in a tough inner Manchester comprehensive, before bringing her energy and enthusiasm back to Talarn Secondary. She was the first to volunteer when Merlin Gwyn got himself police-checked for working with youngsters.

‘Hi, Mari.’

‘Looking for Merlin, are you?’

Carys nodded. ‘They said in the shop he was down here.’

‘He was.’ Mari Lewis peered around in the gloom. ‘The band are just on a break at the minute, but he’ll be around here somewhere.’

‘He isn’t really expecting me,’ said Carys, hastily. ‘I should have phoned first. I can come another day.’

‘No, no that’s fine.’ Mari gestured towards a small room in the depths of the basement, whose partially open door revealed a desk containing a computer and printer and an ‘in’ tray overflowing with papers. ‘He must be on the phone. He’ll be out in a sec.’

As if in reply to this, the door to the office was pulled wide open and Merlin himself, cordless handset clamped to one ear, waved a biro in her direction in a gesture of welcome.

‘Organised chaos,’ said Mari, with a grin. ‘Sorry, got to go. It’s my job to see this lot don’t find their way round the internet controls and start accessing porn. Or smoke in the loos,’ she added. ‘Nice to see you, Carys. Good to see your mam looking so much better.’

‘Sure, sure,’ Merlin was saying as Mari vanished and Carys slowly made her way towards him. ‘Tuesday? Yeah, no problem. I’ll be here all day.’ He began scribbling furiously on a pad of paper. ‘No problem. I’ll email directions to you. The SatNav can take you round some pretty windy roads, if you don’t keep an eye out.

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