The Brief by Caroline Blake

Author:Caroline Blake [Blake, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Sunday

After the church service, the vicar opened the huge wooden doors of St. Peter’s Church and allowed the children of the congregation to spill out into the churchyard. They burst into the open air with the power of fighter jets and raced across the grass to the trees, spilling past the graves at the back of the church. Elsie followed them, her cup of tea in her hand and made her way over to Stanley’s grave.

“Oh Stanley,” she said, “Those poor choir members were shivering. It’s freezing cold in there. I don’t know why they insisted on building churches with their main windows facing east. Facing south to catch the sun would have been a much better idea. Jesus wouldn’t have minded, would he? He wouldn’t want our old bones to get cold. Anyway, I’ve done my bit for today. I made the tea for those who wanted it at the end. Everyone’s perished, so I don’t think anyone said no today. The pianist came over rubbing his hands together, they were so cold. I don’t think he’s taken a sip of his tea; he’s just using it as a hand warmer.” She laughed at the thought of their old pianist, Trevor, using his cup like a hot water bottle, clutching it for dear life. “I felt thoroughly ashamed of the lack of heating, I’ve got to say, Stanley. It’s not a very warm welcome for our new family, is it? A very cold welcome in fact. And there I was last week, saying what a good thing it was that the boiler has become defunct at the beginning of the warm weather, rather than in the middle of winter. How wrong could I be?”

“Who’re you talking to?” Elsie turned around and saw a little girl, about four or five, staring at her quizzically.

“My husband, Stanley,” said Elsie.

“Where’s Stanley?” asked the little girl.

“Daisy, there you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere. You shouldn’t run off like that.” Her young mother, looking harassed, visibly sighed in relief when she spotted her daughter. She walked over and grabbed hold of her hand.

“It’s Emma, isn’t it?” asked Elsie. “Lisa, the vicar, told me that you’ve just moved here?”

“Yes, last month. Hello.” Emma shook hands with Elsie and then rested her hand on her daughter’s head. “And this is Daisy. I still haven’t found my other one. I turned my back, and they were gone.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” said Elsie, waving her arm around to indicate the churchyard. “It’s perfectly safe here. There’s an extremely high wall around the whole of the garden. They won’t come to any harm. The first thing all the children do at the end of the service is escape outside. I wish we were allowed to run from the sermons sometimes, but being grown up doesn’t give us such a privilege, does it?” She held her hand to her mouth as though ashamed of her supposed blasphemy.

“No, I don’t suppose it does,” said Emma.

“Mummy, can I go and play?” asked Daisy.

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