The Decision Read Online Free PDF Page A

punishment.
    There was a lot of bravado, of boasting of imminent and immense sexual conquests and drinking, but Charles, looking round the hut as they waited to leave, almost everyone pale and hollow-eyed, thought there would be precious little energy for either activity. All he wanted, after a decent dinner, was to lie down on his own comfortable bed in his own quiet room at Summercourt and stay there until it was time to return.
    Matt Shaw had no intention of spending any time in his bed. Since it would be in a room shared with two younger brothers and usually the family dog as well, a constantly yapping terrier called Scruff, there would be little point.
    He got off the train at Clapham Junction and walked along the Northcote Road, savouring the freedom to move slowly, to smile and chat with various stallholders in the market who recognised him, ribbed him on his haircut, asked if he was a Field Marshal yet.
    The Shaws lived in a small terraced house in a street just south of the Northcote Road; as Matt opened the gate, his two young brothers shot into his arms. He was touched.
    ‘You miss me, then?’
    ‘Not ’arf. No one to talk to,’ said twelve-year-old Derek.
    ‘An’ I ’ad to walk Scruff on me own,’ said nine-year-old Alan.
    ‘Shockin’. Oh, now here’s Mum. How’s my best girl then, eh?’
    His mother smiled at him, gave him a hug.
    ‘Hello, Matt. You all right? You look a bit thin, love. And my word, what they done to your hair? It looks shocking.’
    ‘Mum, it’ll grow. Worse things happen than that, I can tell you. You look good, Mum. Like your hair.’
    ‘You noticed! More than your dad did. It was Scarlett’s idea, getting it cut.’
    ‘Very nice. Where is she?’
    ‘Away, love. Should be back tonight though, with luck. She’s in Rome.’
    Sandra’s pride in Scarlett and her new career as an air hostess was almost unbearable. For a family to whom the Isle of Wight was abroad, to have a daughter who flew regularly to legendary places like Rome – and Paris and Venice and Madrid – was truly extraordinary.
    ‘She enjoying it still?’
    ‘Loving it. And the people she meets, really Matt, you’ve no idea—’
    Matt, who had every idea of the people Scarlett met, having been regaled with the list of them as well as the destinations, said he was pleased to hear it, and he and Scarlett could catch up later.
    ‘Imagine if you get sent abroad, Matt, that’d be half the family over there. What a thought. Come and sit down, love. Want something to eat? How about a bacon sandwich?’
    ‘Oh, Mum, now you’re talking. Army food’s disgusting.’
    He watched her as she fried the bacon, sipping a cup of her extra-strong, extra-sweet tea. She was great, his mum. She wasn’t like the other mothers round their way, she didn’t look halfway to old age already. At forty, Sandra Shaw was still pretty – very pretty. She was dark, very slim, with large brown eyes. She’d had a hard life; she’d had to do cleaning work to close the gap between what Peter Shaw brought home from his building job and what their large family needed, but had always claimed cheerfully that as it got her out of the house and away from her own cleaning, she didn’t really mind. Sandra was nothing if not upbeat.
    Since Scarlett and Matt had been out in the world, she’d been able to retire as she put it, but in a way she missed getting out of the house and having at least a few shillings of her own. Although she’d never had any money for clothes she managed to look as if she did. She was clever at sewing and made herself blouses and dresses from fabric she got at the market, and studied the fashion pages of Woman and Woman’s Own carefully every week.
    Today she was wearing a pair of narrow black trousers and a black sweater, as made famous and fashionable by Audrey Hepburn. She did her eye make-up like Audrey’s as well, with thick black eyeliner and heavy eyebrows and had now had her hair cut urchin-style like