A Handful of Time Read Online Free PDF Page A

Our cottage was one of the first ones on the lake,” Kelly continued proudly. “When Mum was little they didn’t even have electricity and plumbing. All the cottages at our end are the proper ones.”
    â€œOurs is old, too,” put in Christie.
    â€œYes, but not as old as ours … and it’s the one where our parents stayed when they were children.”
    Patricia envied the passion in her cousin’s voice when she talked about her family. “My mother went there too,” she reminded her timidly.
    â€œI know that ,” Kelly shot back. “There were four children. Uncle Gordon’s the oldest—he lives in Victoria now. Then Uncle Rod, your mother and Mum. They sold their share of the cottage to us because your mother and Uncle Gordon didn’t live around here anymore, and Uncle Rod wanted a bigger one. That’s why it’s all ours,” she added with satisfaction.
    They had finally reached the other end and, just as Kelly said, the cottages were bigger and more modern, some with painted tubs of flowers in front of them.
    â€œNow here’s the plan,” said Kelly. “I want to inspect their Laser. We’ll sneak along the beach and you can keep watch by the boathouse while I look at it.”
    At this end, the beach was level with the path. They crept past a red boathouse and huddled in some bushes, while Kelly strolled over to the Cresswells’ pier and studied the sailboat lovingly.
    â€œWhat insect goes skin diving?” Trevor asked after a few minutes.
    â€œA mosquito!” answered Maggie. “I know that one. Why is Kelly taking so long? I don’t like sitting in here.”
    â€œIt’s boring,” agreed Bruce. “Do you want to go fishing, Trev?”
    Christie shifted uncomfortably after the boys had left. “I’m getting cramped. I know, Maggie—let’s raid the Vaughns’ garden. There may be some carrots. Potty you keep watch until we come back.” She and Maggie crawled out and then ran up the beach.
    Kelly was inside the sailboat now. She hadn’t noticed anyone leave. Patricia was bored, but she was afraid to desert her post. She scratched one of the mosquito bites that dotted her legs. It was chilly in the bushes. She edged farther in to a bare spot and sat down again in the sun-warmed dirt. Bees droned in the still air and a blue dragonfly floated past.
    All at once Patricia wondered what her parents were doing. She had been trying her best not to think of them, but sometimes she couldn’t help it. They were probably having reasonable discussions about things like how often Patricia would visit her father. When she returned he would be living with Johanna permanently.
    Johanna was the woman he had fallen in love with. Patricia had met her only once, at a lunch arranged for this purpose. She was very different from Patricia’s mother. Plain, with a gentle face—and quiet, like her father and herself. They had been three shy, silent people, sitting in the Courtyard Café and trying to overcome their embarrassment about the awkward situation they were caught in.
    Patricia liked Johanna. She didn’t blame her father for wanting to leave them and marry her. She sometimes even envied him for escaping from her mother.
    â€œThere’s no reason we can’t all be sensible about this,” her mother kept saying. “Obviously your father”—she no longer referred to him as Harris—“and I can’t be together anymore. But you and I will be fine on our own.” She said it sternly, as if it were an order.
    Patricia could remember when her mother had not been as brittle as she was these days. She had always been domineering, but she used to laugh a lot, as the three of them stripped wallpaper in their old house or went exploring on their bicycles. The more successful her mother became, the more Patricia was awed by her; but it was only this last year, when