[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
. Absently I patted his serge-clad shoulder, and he blew his nose.That got usthrough to the beginning of the service, and all I had to do was listen politely tothat.The minister and I had widely differing views about the afterlife, or at leasthe had a view a bleak one whilst I felt I might have to wait and see.I wasn ttoo bothered how soon I found out.I was hungry, bone-cold, tired.www.samhainpublishing.com 263 Harper FoxAnd that was just the beginning.I had to stand around and say goodbye toall the good souls discreetly thinning themselves out before the interment.Ireally hadn t thought this through at all about who should be asked to thegraveside, or maybe invited for tea and corned-beef sandwiches back at thehouse.Minister MhicRuari was having to beckon to Harry s closer friends, Shonaand the postman and the cronies from the pub.Archie was still glued to my side.Before I knew what was going on, a group of a dozen of us was gathering underthe birches by a fresh-dug hole in the earth.I let Archie prop me.I didn t have much choice, and he was doing a subtlejob of it, disgracing neither of us.No, I hadn t thought about the details.I d keptmy eyes on the embroidered kneeler at my feet in the church, considering thelilies of the field depicted there, and never once looked at the coffin now plantedsquarely before me in the rain.What I couldn t get away from was the fact of itsbeing a box containing my grandfather s body.Nausea swept me.Archie s armwas round my waist beneath my jacket, holding tight.The minister began theburial rite, and I closed my eyes.There wouldn t be a funeral gathering at Seacliff Farm today.I wished I danticipated the need for one.I would have liked to be a good grandson and dohonour to Harry s name, but it hadn t occurred, and serve me right for notconsulting Shona like she d told me to.I had no doubt that Cam would havemade and set out the sandwiches if he d known such a thing was required.Butwhen the final amens had been said when the people I supposed these dayswere called graveyard technicians were moving in, their mechanical diggerinadequately concealed behind a cypress I just turned and walked away.It was264 www.samhainpublishing.com Scrap Metalall I could do.Shona s warm fingertips brushed my wrist as I went past her, butshe didn t try to follow.Archie wasn t so discreet.His big policeman s feet crunched after me on thegravel, and before I could reach the Toyota he dodged in front of me, forcing meto a halt. Let me go home, Archie. Why? What s there? Your fine lad Cameron? I couldn t believe this.For a moment I was just outraged.Then a thin bladeof fear went through me.There was a challenge in Archie s eyes I d never seenbefore. Among other things.What business is it of yours? He should have been here with you today. He s not well yet.You know what happened. Bollocks, Nicky.I saw him lifting a five-stone tup into a trailer yesterdayafternoon.He should have been here.What s he worth, if he won t stand by yourside on days like today? I tried to step round him. That s my problem, not yours.Let me go. No.Not until you tell me what s going on with you right now.You looksick with the whole bloody world. My grandfather died. I know.And my heart s aching for you, love.But it s more than that.Whydid you not shed a tear for him all the way through that service? Sharp replies rose in my throat.I m no so big a sap as yourself, perhaps, or tearsare for girls and spilled milk.But the angrier I got, the tighter I would lock myselfinto this confrontation, which had to end before the crackling black misery insideme found its way to the surface.I shrugged, took a pacifying backward step. Pink eyes don t suit mycomplexion and hair as well as they do yours, Constable. www.samhainpublishing.com 265 Harper FoxIt almost worked.He flashed me a glance of horror that I d throw out such agag at such a time.Then he helplessly smiled. Oh, you re an evil sod, aren tyou? God, I ve missed that stupid sense of humour.Come home with me. Archie& Come on. He reached out and captured my hand.To my astonishmentthe car park was scattered with people emerging from the churchyard, MinisterMhicRuari amongst them he tried to lift it to his mouth. I love you.I ll takecare of you. Archie, do not hit on me at my grandfather s funeral. He dropped my hand.No one could go white quite the way he did.Thefuries snarling round in me enjoyed their moment.Then the bastards died,leaving me alone with my words unable to stand Archie, myself, or any aspectof this bloody incomprehensible morning any longer.I shouldered past him.TheToyota s rusty lock didn t turn, and I thumped my fist into her, leaving a dent.Pain shot up my arm.I took the key out, tried again.This time it worked, and Ihauled myself into the cab.Gear, ignition, handbrake off.One good check forhapless pedestrians in front of me, and another up the lane for oncoming traffic,unlike that long-lost Spanish coach driver who d gone down with his vessel.Ibatted my rearview aside so I wouldn t have to see in it the crash site I d leftbehind, and I tore out onto the road.The kitchen was quiet, full of rain shadows.It took me a moment to discernCameron among them.His colours had altered over the last week, his brightnessdimmed.Another of my mother s stories drifted through my head.There was a man who found on the beach a scale from a mermaid s tail and thoughthis fortunes secured, for it was made of sapphires, amethysts and gold.And so it stayed266 www.samhainpublishing.com Scrap Metaluntil he took it to the fair and tried to sell it, when all he had in his pouch was a quaint-looking scallop shell.It was like the seal bride, you see, Nichol we can t hang on tothem, not even one little part, unless they want to stay.Had she been trying all my life to prepare me to face loss? I went in quietly,closing the door behind me
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]