The Summer of the Bear by Pollen Bella

Author:Pollen, Bella [Pollen, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780230755291
Publisher: Mantle
Published: 2010-08-19T16:00:00+00:00

‘Why, yes,’ Donald John consoled her later. ‘As soon as Murdo married her and took her to England she got terrible grand, Letitia.’

‘She’s completely lost her accent,’ Letty said indignantly.

‘Oh, boo boo,’ he agreed delightedly. ‘She talks just like someone on the wireless right enough. The simple life is no’ for her.’

‘Oh, poor Alick. He must hate having them here.’

‘Oh, tse tse, yes indeed. He’s no’ been down for a visit since the day they arrived.’

‘Is he on a bender?’ Alick’s drinking sprees were intense, short-lived episodes, invariably followed by bouts of remorse.

‘Aye, I’m afraid that’s it, Letitia.’

‘I don’t blame him. Do you know what business Murdo has up here?’

‘Something to do with the army; building contracts, I think,’ Donald John said vaguely. ‘Still and all, he’ll be away to the mainland soon and Alick will be rid of them.’

‘I hope so.’ Letty tried to shake off a lingering feeling of concern. Even if he was on a bender, Alick was rarely absent this long. But then once, when he’d disappeared for a few days and she’d suspected drink, it turned out that he was secretly holed up in her own garage repairing the Peugeot after Georgie had smashed into a telegraph pole. Another time, she remembered him ploughing the machair with Donald John following behind, throwing rye and barley seed for the cattle out of a sack slung over his shoulders, and they’d both been alarmed to see the tractor lurching erratically from right to left.

‘Why, the bugger’s drunk!’ Donald John had exclaimed. But in fact, the lapwings were nesting on the machair that year and Alick had been deliberately weaving in between the nests in order not to disturb their young.

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