Coincidences Read Online Free PDF Page A

she looked so much like her.
    Alice had never tried contacting
her father for fear of upsetting her mother. But as she continued to stare at
the picture in disbelief, she couldn’t help feeling the need to find out more.
She looked up and saw the man in the red T-shirt exiting the shop. Feeling
self-conscious and not wanting him to see her still holding the paper, she
rushed to place it back in the holder.
    As she turned around, she saw
her bus disappearing into the distance; she hadn’t even heard it arrive...
     
    ***
     
    Whilst Charlotte was busy serving the customer, Alice
folded the newspaper and placed it out of sight under the counter, wanting to
avoid any further discussion about the photograph. Charlotte turned to face
Alice when her customer had left, and her eyes searched the counter, looking
for the newspaper.
    ‘I’ve been invited to a party,’
said Alice, hoping that this would distract her.
    ‘Oh? Tell all!’ Charlotte sat on
a stool facing her, waiting for her to continue.
    Alice blushed as she remembered
that Andrew would be at the party. She coughed to try to hide her
embarrassment. ‘It’s a friend’s birthday party.’
    ‘What are you going to wear? Now
let’s see... do you have a gold dress? It would set off your eyes so well, and
you look so good in dresses. You should wear them more. You’re always in jeans.
And you’ll need to wear make-up. I bet there’ll be lots of boys at the party,
right? You want to look your best. It’s time we got you a boyfriend.’
    ‘Well, Andrew will be there,’
said Alice turning away towards the counter, hoping she hadn’t turned too red.
    ‘Is he that boy you fancy? All
the more reason for you to dress up and try to catch his eye. Don’t worry, I’ll
give you some great tips. He won’t be able to resist you.’
    Charlotte chatted away happily,
dishing out advice to Alice in between serving customers. She soon forgot about
the picture in the newspaper, and so did Alice; her mind far away dreaming of
Andrew.
     
    ***
     
    Alice passed by the newsagent’s on her way home. Once
more, she felt overwhelmed by the feeling that she had to find out more about
the plane crash and about the girl on the front page. She decided to buy a copy
of the newspaper.
    When she got home, she scoured
the newspaper, reading every word of the story about the plane crash survivors.
She wasn’t sure what she was hoping to see written in the paper, but was left
feeling disappointed. The only mention of Jane Forester, apart from her
photograph on the front page with the other survivors, was a quote from her,
when asked about her experience. ‘It was very frightening. We thought we
would all die.’ The paper described her as “traumatised” and “tearful”.
Alice read the paragraph at least three times, and then stared at the
photograph again. She took the newspaper with her into the kitchen to prepare
her dinner.
    As she stood stirring her pasta,
her mind was going over the possibility of Jane Forester being related to her
father. She knew her father’s parents lived in America—she had heard her mother
talk about it when she was younger. She was sure she could remember her mother
saying that they lived in Boston. But the information was very fuzzy in her
mind, almost as if she had made it up to suit her purpose. Could she ask her
mother about it? She felt unsure. If it was true, perhaps Jane Forester had
been to Boston to visit her grandparents and was returning when the plane
crashed. Or, could Jane be an American cousin? Maybe her father had brothers or
sisters in America. The newspaper had not said whether she was American or
British. Alice felt excited, but also slightly confused and disconcerted
because she didn’t like the way she seemed to have developed a fascination with
the plane crash and this girl. A splash of boiling water hit her hand and she
was awoken from her daydream to see that the water in her pasta had started to
boil over while her mind was