The Sea Change Read Online Free PDF Page A

then, he would bend down to pick up a stone and then throw
it away again after a quick examination of its feel and shape. Finally, he stood up
straight, eyes fixed on one particular piece of flint in his hand. Then he marked a
circle in the mud around his feet, his arm arcing like a rudder through water.
    ‘Maybe it’s a game that children
in London play,’ whispered Annie, from our hiding place behind the cattle
shed.
    ‘Perhaps he’s not from
London … He could be a spy for all we know!’
    ‘I say!’ Annie shouted over to
him, with no warning. ‘Are you a German?’
    ‘Sssh!’ I hissed, pulling her
further behind the shed. We watched as Pete flinched and glanced towards our hiding
place. Looking around in vain for an escape route, we emerged sheepishly from our hiding
place.
    ‘I’m Violet,’ I said,
offering a hand.
    ‘Pete,’ he replied, not taking
it. He clipped the
t
in his nameso that it came off his
tongue as hard and impenetrable as the stone in his palm.
    ‘Where are you from?’ asked
Annie, folding her arms. ‘Because nobody around here seems to know.’
    I tugged at her pinafore. ‘Come on,
we’d best be back before dinner. Pete here will need to unpack his
things.’
    ‘Unpack?’ he scoffed. I felt
myself redden.
    ‘Oh, of course,’ bleated Annie,
‘we heard you arrived without a scrap. But don’t worry, Violet and I can
find you a toothbrush and a blanket, if the Archams don’t have anything for you.
Isn’t that right, Vi?’
    I nodded, looking awkwardly at the space
beyond his head. The feel of his eyes on me made me want to leave the yard.
    ‘I’ll make do,’ he
muttered.
    ‘What’s it like in
London?’ asked Annie, unabashed.
    ‘Annie, let’s go,’ I
pleaded, tugging at her sleeve, then turning away in the hope that she’d follow.
Despite my best efforts, Annie stayed put, leaving me to flounder between the
conversation and the yard gate.
    ‘I bet there are crowds of men with
umbrellas and canes.’
    ‘Beats me. I’m not from
London.’
    ‘Then how come your clothes are all
sooty?’ she protested. ‘You’re not a farmer – farmers don’t have
that sort of dirt.’
    ‘All right, Sherlock,’ said
Pete, with a smirk. ‘If you must know, I’m from Bermuda.’
    ‘Ber
muuu
da?’ parroted
Annie. ‘Never heard of it.’
    ‘No surprises there, then.
You’ve probably never left this village.’
    ‘Actually, there’s a bus that
goes to Warminster every week and Violet’s father has even lived in
Oxfordshire
, hasn’t he, Vi? He’s the parson, you
see.’
    I seized my chance and retraced my steps
back towards them. ‘Come on, it’s late, Annie. Leave him alone. Who cares
where it is?’
    ‘I’ll bet you sixpence you
haven’t heard of Bermuda, Miss Violet.’ The sound of my name caused my chest
to tighten.
    ‘Oh, don’t be so sure of
yourself!’ blurted Annie, before I could squeeze her hand to stop her.
‘Violet’s ever so good at geography. Mrs Williams says she’s the best.
She’s even better than Freda!’
    ‘All right, then, let’s hear
it.’ He discarded the flint he was holding and clapped his palms together.
    ‘You aren’t from Bermuda,’
I said flatly.
    ‘Looks like I’ll be keeping my
sixpence then.’ He smiled. Annie looked crestfallen. I could tell she had been
envisaging the jar of sherbet lemons on the grocer’s shelf at the back of the Bell
Inn.
    ‘That’s not to say I don’t
know where it is,’ I added. Annie’s eyes lit up. ‘It’s in the
Atlantic. Father says they have the most awful storms there – whole towns have vanished
overnight in the wind.’
    Annie narrowed her eyes at Pete. ‘Is
it true?’ I did not know whether she was referring to the storms or to
Pete’s dubious claim.
    ‘If I were you, girls, I
wouldn’t indulge him any further,’ said a voice from the entrance to the
yard. I turned to see my sister in a tea-dress and wellington boots, leaning
nonchalantly on the gatepost. ‘You’re late