The Troutbeck Testimony Read Online Free PDF Page A

friend of my sister’s, actually. She was thinking of going into hairdressing, but she’s allergic to the chemicals or something.’
    ‘How old are you?’ Simmy asked, thinking the girl couldn’t possibly be over fifteen.
    ‘Seventeen,’ came a breathy reply. ‘And a quarter.’
    ‘Are you still at school?’
    ‘Sort of. We finish this term. I’m not going in much at the moment. My aunt says I need to get a job for the summer.’
    ‘Just for the summer? What’s happening after that?’
    Bonnie shrugged. ‘Dunno, really. I might want to stay here – if you take me on, that is. I’m not good enough for college. Won’t get many GCSEs. Just art and English if I’m lucky.’ Her shoulders hunched again, in a forlorn demonstration of low self-esteem.
    Simmy looked at Melanie and raised her eyebrows. ‘What do you know about flowers?’
    Melanie answered for her protégée. ‘She knows more than I did when I started here. She’s very artistic. She just needs … you know, a bit of encouragement. You’ll get along fine together, trust me.’
    Simmy’s instincts were sending confusing messages. The girl was so small and colourless, so silent and somehow sad that any risk of hurting her feelings was terrifying. Such a little mouse would require constant care. But Melanie’s people skills were not to be dismissed. Her burgeoning loyalty to Simmy was such that she hadrepeatedly expressed an intention to find a successor for when she left. And it was a relief to be handed someone on a plate, without a string of interviews and hard decisions.
    ‘Bonnie’s an unusual name,’ she ventured. ‘Is it short for something?’
    The girl shook her head, with a very small sigh. ‘No – it’s from Gone with the Wind . You know – the little girl who dies. My mum and dad were mad about that film around the time I was born.’
    ‘I see.’ It struck Simmy as not a little macabre to choose the name of a dead child for their own baby. And lost babies were always going to be a very sensitive matter for Simmy, who had suffered a stillbirth herself and had no other offspring.
    Melanie was closely monitoring every word and nuance. ‘Give her a try, Sim. Why not? She can come in every day this week as a trial run, if you like.’
    ‘You’ll need to handle money and the computer, and write messages on the cards, and take orders,’ Simmy rattled off briskly. ‘Can you manage all that sort of thing?’
    Bonnie met her gaze with a sudden directness. ‘I can write, if that’s what you mean. And count,’ she added. ‘I pick things up quickly.’
    ‘She’s not stupid,’ Melanie summarised. ‘It’s just she’s not too good at exams and pressure and that stuff.’ She tilted her head and Simmy had the impression there was a lot more she needed to know, but that Melanie couldn’t disclose it in Bonnie’s presence.
    ‘I had anorexia,’ Bonnie supplied for herself. ‘It got really bad last year. I missed a lot of school. That’s why I’molder than the rest of Year Eleven. I’m all right now. It’s not been decided about A-levels yet. I might go to a college to do them.’
    The tiny figure suddenly made a lot more sense. She must weigh barely six stone, Simmy guessed. The translucent skin and wispy hair confirmed the story and compounded Simmy’s urge to take this little thing to her bosom. ‘Oh dear,’ she said. ‘That must have been grim.’
    ‘She’ll tell you all about it, I expect,’ said Melanie, who seemed almost painfully robust in comparison to Bonnie. ‘She’s had loads of counselling and stuff, so she understands all about it now.’
    ‘I’m not going to pry,’ said Simmy, rather stiffly.
    ‘So you’ll take me, then?’ Again, the girl met Simmy’s eyes with none of the initial shyness. It was already becoming clear that there was more to Bonnie than might at first appear.
    ‘If Melanie recommends you, I wouldn’t dream of arguing.’
    All three exhaled, as if an important and difficult