How Was It For You? by Carmen Reid

Author:Carmen Reid [Carmen Reid]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2004-02-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

PAMELA STRODE ALONG the back road, enjoying the walk, relishing the cold, clear air, drawing it in to the very bottom of her lungs, loving the warm socks and wellingtons, her new knee-length quilted coat and snug hat. There was a bundle of mail in her gloved hand. Two days’ worth of Mr and Mrs Price’s Christmas mail and she was striding along to bring it to them.

Walks needed a purpose, which was obviously why so many people had dogs. The sky was still pale pink with the afterglow of sunrise. Pamela didn’t think she’d ever noticed until she’d come out here, how little daylight there was in the winter. It wasn’t properly light until after eight now, and gloomy again by three. Right now, just past nine in the morning, the sky was pink and white over brown, bare land, naked trees silhouetted, frozen in the cold. Her breath steamed out in front of her and she could feel the blood prickling in her cheeks and fingertips.

Such a wide horizon: she was always looking around here, to the left, to the right, out for miles around, up into the endless sky, feeling her smallness in the face of this huge view.

There had been a little thawing in her relationship with Olive Price. Olive did now occasionally open the door and say hello. There had even been talk of the weather, how Pamela was settling in and Olive’s family.

The older woman’s attitude had taken Pamela aback slightly.

‘Four boys I’ve had,’ she’d said dourly without any hint of pleasure or pride in the fact.‘Three’s got families of their own. Only the mistake’s left here now. But he’s off to college in Norwich next year. Good riddance. I’ve done enough cooking, cleaning and laundry to last three lifetimes by my reckoning.’

‘Yes,’ Pamela hadn’t felt she had much choice but to agree.

‘You haven’t got any, have you,’ Olive had said.

‘Children?’ Pamela knew this wasn’t a conversation she wanted to pursue.

‘You don’t know your luck,’ Olive had told her.‘A lovely, quiet, grown-up, interesting life. That’s what you can have. Plus, no need to stay married if you don’t want to.’

‘No,’ she’d felt obliged to say, slightly incredulous at the way this doorstep chat was going, wondering what was coming next.

‘Living on your own. That must be something.’ Olive had looked at the empty landscape outside her front door, eyes reflecting the sky, then she’d added abruptly: ‘Well, must get on. No time to stand gossiping.’

Gossip? Pamela had thought. Is that what she called it?

The mail had been taken from her hands, and without even a goodbye Olive had stepped back into her porch and pulled her front door shut.

The only other thing Pamela knew about Olive was what Jeff, the landlord of one of the three small pubs in town, had casually confided.

It was on their third or fourth visit on a quiet Sunday evening when Jeff had handed them their drinks with the words: ‘So, what do you make of Olive the lesbian, then?’

‘Olive who?’ Pamela had said.

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