The Promise by Susan Sallis

Author:Susan Sallis [Sallis, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409045052
Published: 2011-05-11T23:00:00+00:00

Twelve

By the time Daisy and Marcus arrived at Jenner House on Tuesday morning, it was snowing. Marcus would not admit it.

‘I’ve counted six flakes since you first started screaming,’ he said. ‘The rest is definitely rain.’

Daisy jumped up and down on the pristine carpet and her hair shed two or three white flakes. She screamed triumphantly and Dot, who had let them in, made calming gestures. Marcus grinned. ‘Dandruff,’ he said. And Daisy attacked him with her scarf. The door to the visitors’ toilet flew open and Vera emerged, yellow-gloved and clutching a bottle of bleach.

‘I knew it was you. This is a house for retired people, Daisy Patek! We do not need screaming teenagers. We do not need wet carpets!’ Her voice changed to a wail. ‘I have just this very moment vacuumed all this area and now – look!’

Daisy apologized and hugged her aunt and was instantly forgiven. Marcus was hugged and told he was taller and thinner than ever. Dot herded them to the lift and stabbed the up-button, then held back Vera, who was in the middle of telling Daisy that Mrs Eve Marsh had gone into labour that very morning and Mrs Ballinger would be sending a congratulatory card round for signatures. The lift doors swished closed and her words were cut off.

Daisy said, ‘Sorry, Marc. You know how it is.’

‘Aunts.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘I’d prefer yours to mine. Aunty Gertie is only interested in bad news. Yours are at the ready to rejoice.’

‘Not always. But we couldn’t manage without them. They are kind of like a framework.’

‘Supportive?’ Marcus screwed up his face consideringly and she thought how beautiful he was. ‘I suppose … Ted and Gertie are supportive. At the moment. But it’s all so … disapproving. They never criticize exactly. They just emanate disapproval.’

The lift doors parted and he pushed open the fire door and let her walk beneath his arm. She knew that she was happy but as she left the shelter of the long sleeve of his jacket it was as if she caught a glimpse of the other side of everything and for an instant felt a pang of terror. And then, before they could ping-pong Miss Thorpe’s doorbell, the door opened and she stood there grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

‘I heard the yelling so I knew you’d arrived! The kettle is on, the biscuits aren’t quite stale. And I just looked out of the window and saw the snow! I love snow, don’t you?’

And Daisy forgot the other side of the coin and rushed forward to peck Miss Thorpe and hand over some more snowdrops and ask how she was.

They eventually sorted themselves out. Marcus made the tea and they took off their outdoor stuff and draped it on the radiator in the kitchen and Daisy pulled a packet of seeds from her pocket and wondered whether Miss Thorpe might like to plant them. ‘They’re only cress, but they grow fast and cress makes such a nice sandwich.’

‘How strange! I was thinking just recently that I might start some parsley.

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