New World in the Morning Read Online Free PDF

couldn’t keep it all that casual.
    â€œAnd people really do die, then, of broken hearts?” she asked after a moment, quietly.
    I nodded. “Especially when assisted by the right number of aspirin.”
    â€œOh, dear God!”
    Mrs Dawlish also drew in breath.
    But in the space of scarcely a minute all this had got too heavy. “Maybe,” I suggested, “it wasn’t quite as bad as it sounds.” Which was unquestionably the biggest lie I had yet told them. “I managed to cope with it. At school. Threw myself into my studies. Into sport, as well. Became a bit of an all-rounder.” Well, that was certainly true, although now I’d made it sound, practically, as if I’d benefitted from being an orphan.
    â€œAnd then it was your grandmother who looked after you?”
    â€œYes. So now I look after my grandmother.” There was a pause. Possibly liars, too, abhor a vacuum. “She’s eighty-six years old.”
    She would have been, anyway. And if this were so, I’d still have been looking after her. Well, naturally. As I’d been doing—that is, as Junie and I had been doing—until about seven years earlier.
    â€œThough may I suggest we change the subject?”
    â€œOf course. Forgive me. I didn’t mean to stir up painful memories.”
    Then, for a while, there wasn’t much conversation at all; merely the clatter of cascading stones. But we were almost on the front. I re-attached Susie’s lead. We were opposite an ice-cream parlour, in which, despite the hour’s lateness, business appeared fairly brisk. Liz spoke of the holiday atmosphere. At first all our comments sounded forced but soon the easiness returned. Moira was looking out to sea. “Have we been pardoned for dragging you down from the stars? I still feel it was mean.”
    â€œNonsense. The stars will be there anytime. But you, madam, go back to town tomorrow night.”
    â€œThat was extremely gallant.”
    â€œA bit creepy, actually.” I nearly said—so very nearly said— As my son would undoubtedly be the first to point out . “But sincere,” I added, with a flush.
    She smiled. “Oh, by the way, I’ve definitely decided to go ahead with that cottage in Silver Street.”
    â€œI thought you already had decided.”
    â€œNot completely. I finally made up my mind over lunch.”
    In the lamplight her red hair, in conjunction with the green scarf that matched her eyes, was one of the loveliest things I’d seen.
    The red hair—the pale skin—even the dusting of freckles which I hitherto hadn’t noticed.
    â€œSo when do you move in?”
    My inner voice said: Are you ready for such complications? My inner voice answered itself immediately. You bet I am!
    â€œIt could be quite soon,” she said, “the house being empty.” Yet then it seemed she’d thought of something. “Perhaps, Sam, you’d like to take a look at it? I could do with your advice.”
    â€œYes, I’d be pleased to.”
    â€œDo you mean that? In which case…well, how about a week from tomorrow?”
    I had to think quickly; but though my brain often seemed to function only in slow motion, tonight it slid smoothly on castors. “A week from tomorrow would be fine.”
    â€œOr on second thoughts—how about tomorrow itself?”
    I’d have given almost anything to be able to say yes.
    â€œNo, I’m sorry, I can’t.”
    â€œ Next Sunday, then.”
    â€œRight.” I forced myself to play it cool but I suppose I was in the grip of a kind of fever. Practically a madness.
    This wasn’t the time for a reversion to solid citizenship.
    This was my time for living dangerously.

6
    When I got home Junie was in bed. “You two must have had a long walk!”
    â€œNo, I cheated. We went to the beach and then I felt like a beer. Spent half an hour in The Lord Nelson