Touch Read Online Free PDF Page B

The slug’s eyes extended warily on their stalks, and the rooks were at it again, calling out and flapping in the black sticks of the trees. The concrete wall was green with moss and algae. Damp seeped everywhere, glistening on every surface like sweat on fungal skin.
    Carol gathered herself and asked if she could use the toilet. Martin directed her back upstairs. We heard her scrabble at the heavy lock.
    â€˜How far gone is she?’
    If I was surprised at his directness, I tried not to show it. His voice was thick. It was odd to think he’d been looking at her.
    â€˜About four months. So we’re looking for more room… a bit of space for the baby.’
    He smiled wryly and his fingers went to his neck where a purple birthmark disappeared under his collar.
    â€˜Yes, I’m looking for a bit less, now…’
    He picked at a fingernail with his thumb, dropped his voice to a whisper.
    â€˜She wanted blood from a stone. Then she came back for’t fucking stone!’
    His mouth twisted again, his lips chapped and bloodless. Just then, the sun charged through clouds across the valley and a rainbow arched above the village, fading just as quickly. He turned away into the kitchen, his footfalls silent in the tartan slippers, and I followed.
    Â 
We spent the obligatory fifteen minutes looking around on our own as he hovered discreetly. The house reeked of other lives, living and dead. An old lady had eked out her last years there, he’d told us, before they’d moved in. That’s why so much of the house was original. There’d been a lot to do and there it was: still to do, still unfinished. We left awkwardly, mumbling our thanks. The door clicked behind us and we saw a shadow at the window, watching us walk away. I put my arm around Carol so that he could see. See that I cared, that life hadn’t yet driven its wedge of desolation between us.
    We walked to the river bridge, staring into the water for a moment. It was dark brown with peat from the fells. Then we walked back towards the café and hopped through the puddles to the car. The lady cyclists were just pulling away, their calf muscles tight as hawsers. Carol shuddered into her seat and pulled her coat tight.
    â€˜Ugh!’
    â€˜Yes, poor guy.’
    â€˜Poor guy my foot! It was disgusting! You should have seen the hand basin and the stains in the toilet.’
    â€˜Yes but he was alone wasn’t he? I wonder what happened to his wife and kid?’
    I didn’t want to tell her that I knew. That she’d come back for the stone after drinking the blood. I thought I’d test her.
    â€˜They could be dead I suppose… an accident or something…’
    â€˜Yes, but there’s always bleach.’
    Carol snapped on her seatbelt. I slipped my hand between the belt and her belly to feel our child there, but she pushed my hand away. There’d been a lot of that lately.
    â€˜No, Steve. Not ever. Not there. Not in any way, shape or form.’
    â€˜I wasn’t suggesting we should make him an offer.’
    â€˜An offer? I’d rather die. Fuck, no!’
    The windscreen wipers dragged a sycamore leaf across the windscreen, tormenting it until it blew away at last. I started the engine and reversed, bouncing backwards through the puddles. Rain began again, streaking the windows. Down at the river the black and white birds were back, tramping at the water’s edge. I could see their bright beaks dipping to the mud and rising again as if they’d been dipped in molten fire.
    Â 
We drove home in near silence, back to the dark clot of the town, to the terraced house we moved into after we got married. Tomorrow was Saturday so no work, not this week anyway. I opened a bottle of wine and watched the football for an hour. Leeds versus Arsenal and a crap game. Carol took herself off to bed early, saying she was tired. I snuggled in next to her just before midnight, feeling