The Red House Read Online Free PDF

unmanly, so he built a tepee of kindling around the crumpled paper. An image of the Sharne girl passed through his mind. She rowed for Upper Thames . Think of something else. He struck a match. Swan Vesta. The way they lay in the box reminded him of the stacked trunks by Thorpe sawmill. The paper caught and the flame was an orange banner in a gale. He closed the door and opened the vent. Air roared in. His knees hurt. He needed to do more exercise. He imagined making love with Louisa later on, the cleanness of her skin after a shower, the cocoa-butter body wash that made her taste like cake.
    They’re hiding in the trees , said Daisy, with bows and arrows. And we’ve got the secret plans .
    Secret plans for what?
    She peeled a lump of moss off the edge of the bench. For a moon rocket .
    This is boring , said Benjy.
    She thought about the men with bows and arrows. They were really here, weren’t they, once upon a time. And mammoths and ladies in crinolines and Spitfires overhead. Places remained and time flowed through them like wind through the grass. Right now. This was the future turning into the past. One thing becoming another thing. Like a flame on the end of a match. Wood turning into smoke. If only we could burn brighter. A barn roaring in the night.
    Angela looked out of the bedroom window. Dominic and Richard chatting at the edge of the garden, the way men did, beer in one hand, the other hand thrust into a trouser pocket, both staring straight ahead. She wondered what they were talking about and what they were avoiding talking about. Forty-seven years old and she still felt a fifteen-year-old girl’s anger at the younger brother who had teamed up with Mum and frozen her out after Dad died. She took the Dairy Milk from the bottom of her case, tore back the paper and the purple foil, snapped off the top row of chunks and put them into her mouth. That nursery rush. Mum and Richard had visited Dad in hospital theday before he died. Angela wasn’t allowed to go and she was haunted for months afterward by a recurring nightmare in which they had conspired somehow to cause his death. Someone banged a large pan downstairs and shouted, Dinner , like they were guests in a country house. Flunkies and silver salvers. She’d better go and join the fray.
    Daisy, please . Angela reached out to grab her sleeve. Not now . But Dominic was standing in the way and she couldn’t reach.
    What were you going to say? asked Richard.
    Grace , replied Daisy. I was going to say grace .
    The room snapped into focus, wine bottles green as boiled sweets, galleons on the table mats. Melissa let her mouth hang open comically.
    Fire away , said Richard who was accustomed to situations where other people felt uncomfortable.
    Oh Lord … People drifted through life with their eyes closed. You had to wake them up. We thank You for this food, we thank You for this family and we ask You to provide for those who have no food, and to watch over those who have no family .
    Amen and a-women , said Benjy.
    Excellent . Richard rubbed his hands together, Melissa said, Fucking Nora , under her breath and the scrape of chairs on the flagstones was like a brace of firecrackers. Louisa lifted the red enameled lid of the big pot and steam spilled upward.
    Alex looked over at Daisy and gave her a thumbs-up. Nice one, sister .
    Dominic poured two centimeters of wine into Benjy’s wineglass.
    Is this place not wonderful? asked Richard, widening his arms to indicate the house, the valley, the countryside, perhaps life itself.
    Louisa was frightened of talking to Daisy. She didn’t know any proper Christians, but Daisy said, I love that sweater , and suddenly it wasn’t so bad after all.
    Richard raised his glass. To us , and everyone raised their glasses. To us . Benjy drank his wine in one gulp.
    Melissa saw Daisy and Mum laughing together. She wanted to force them apart, but there was something steely about the girl. She wouldn’t back down easily, would