The Lost Days of Summer Read Online Free PDF

say, and probably other things as well. I like sugar in my tea, but then I like it on my cornflakes and porridge as well.’ She laughed, picking up the teapot and beginning to pour. ‘It’ll be strange having to choose between sugar on my porridge or in my tea, but I suppose it will be the same for everyone, so I mustn’t grumble.’
    Auntie Kath sniffed. ‘I keep bees; honey’s good on porridge. Like it, do you? Besides, Ireland isn’t at war with anyone and Eifion – my farmhand – has a younger brother on the ferries. Shan’t be short of much we won’t, wi’ Merion to help out.’
    Nell thought that this was cheating but said nothing. After all, there was no rationing of anything as yet, though her mother had warned her it was bound to come. ‘I remember your gran saying that most nice things were rationed during the last war,’ she had told her daughter. ‘It’ll happen in this one, you mark my words. I’m going to buy loads of dry goods and tinned stuff, enough to see us through for a good while.’
    Nell had thought this an excellent idea and knew that her mother’s hoarding, as the newspapers called it, had started almost before Mr Chamberlain’s declaration that the country was at war. But now, of course, the tins, packets and bottles had had to be relinquished to other members of the family, since Mam was not allowed to take them with her to the training centre. ‘Kath lives on a farm, so she should be pretty self-sufficient,’ Trixie had said, busy packing a box of mixed groceries to sell to her sister Susan. ‘But I’ve got you two pounds of sweets from Kettles on the Scottie, so you’ll have something to suck on your journey.’ As if I were still a kid, Nell had thought crossly, and had told her mother loftily to divide the sweets amongst her sisters. Mam had pouted and said Nell was ungrateful, but had done as she asked.
    Thinking back to her rejection of the sweets, Nell grimaced to herself now, regretting her high-handed reaction. It would have been nice to offer a bag of humbugs or toffees to the other passengers in her compartment. She could have given some to her aunt as well, since that lady clearly had a sweet tooth. I wanted to make Mam unhappy because she had made me pretty miserable, and I don’t believe I succeeded. In fact it was what’s called cutting off your nose to spite your face, so I’ll be well served if there’s no sweet shop in the village.
    ‘Well, miss? Are you goin’ to hand over that paned – tea, I mean – or am I to go to bed dry as a desert?’ Her aunt’s words were accompanied by an impatient tapping of her fingers on the wooden table. ‘And you never said if you liked honey. Rude you are.’
    ‘Sorry,’ Nell said hastily, feeling her cheeks grow hot. It seemed that she must watch her tongue constantly until she grew accustomed to her aunt’s ways. ‘Of course I like honey; doesn’t everyone?’ She poured the tea, added sugar to her aunt’s mug and pushed it across to her. ‘I’m afraid I was dreaming; it’s been a long day. I was up before six, and to tell you the truth all I’m really fit for is me bed.’
    Her aunt grunted. ‘I hope you’re not a dreamer,’ she said censoriously, ‘but it’ll be a miracle if you ain’t. Dreamin’ runs in families, and it don’t go with farm work. You have to keep your mind on your job when there’s stock involved.’
    ‘Stock?’ Nell said. She wished she could tell her aunt how hungry she was and ask for a biscuit or some bread and cheese before bed, but before she could frame a request her aunt was speaking once more.
    ‘Stock is what we call the beasts: cows, pigs, poultry and sheep.’ She picked up her mug of tea and took a long drink, then glared at Nell over the rim of the mug. ‘Drink up, and no more dreaming. Not here for a rest cure you are. Finished? Right, I’ll take you to your room.’
    Following her meekly, Nell hoped that her aunt would not expect her to learn Welsh, for it