Wild Lily Read Online Free PDF Page A

silence.
    Then Cedric said, ‘Not me.’
    John cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘Rather you got a bit more practice in first, old chap.’
    ‘Simon?’
    ‘No bloody fear.’
    Antony stared at them, mortified. Disappointment and indignation mingled in his features. He pulled off his brand-new flying helmet and flung it down in disgust. Lily thought he looked as if he were going to cry, his triumph short-lived. ‘I thought we were going to be in this together, get about and have a load of fun. I didn’t think you were such a lily-livered bunch of old women. I went into it thinking of all of us, all of us having a lark …’ His voice trailed off.
    Lily stepped forward. ‘I’ll come, Antony. Take me. I’m not scared.’
    ‘Lily!’ They all gaped at her.
    Antony’s face broke into a great smile and Lily thought for a glorious moment he was going to hug her. But he rounded triumphantly to the others: ‘You see, a girl! Lily’s not scared! She’s worth ten of you lot. You’re a brick, Lily, I love you!’
    If only, Lily thought. She stood, trembling.
    Then Antony said, ‘Tomorrow morning, Lily. Meet me here, and you will be my first passenger. I promise you, it will be great. My first real trip, all round Surrey. You will love it!’
    The time lapse – tomorrow! – was balm to Lily’s nerves.She thought she would pass out with relief. All night to get used to the idea, to talk herself into believing in Antony’s skill. Of course she had faith in him, there was nothing to be scared of, only a great treat to look forward to! She looked up and saw the three boys staring at her. Their expressions were hard to make out, but she had an uneasy instinct that pity was uppermost.
    She felt her lips quiver, but she said, ‘Fine, Antony, I’ll be here in the morning.’
    And walked home.

5
    Lily did not sleep that night. She dozed, and her dreams were all of death. She dreamed of her dead mother. She saw her again, lying exhausted after Squashy’s birth, and later with the life gone out of her, her beautiful blue eyes closed for ever and her cheeks marble white, sunk in disappointment. It was one of the neighbours who inadvertently christened Squashy: ‘That baby’s not right, you can tell – all sort of squashy-looking. The brain will be amiss, you mark my words. Poor little soul.’
    But Lily took her baby brother under her wing and from his birth scarcely ever left him, trailing him behind her in a little cart their father made, playing with him, laughing. So Squashy grew up much loved by Lily and his dog Barky, and was happy. Their father was not a loving man, but he made sure the village boys didn’t rag his son, nor the under-gardeners. He worked him very hard, but Squashy thrived on the work and was happy whatever the task.
    He wouldn’t be very happy seeing her fly away in Antony’saeroplane, Lily knew that, and determined that he would go with his father in the morning, off to market. Then she would be in the clear. She could not convince herself that she had made a good decision, in spite of impressing the boys, but the admiration in Antony’s eyes consoled her. If she hadn’t seen his terrible landings she would have been more excited than terrified, and she tried to convince herself that of course, with her on board, he would take infinite care to get it right. He obviously didn’t want to die either. She concentrated on thinking how amazing it would be up in the sky like a bird, looking down on all the woods and fields.
    But it seemed a very long night, full of the sad cries of the owls and the lament of a distant cow with its calf lost and then the infinite silence with a half moon lying on its side in a sky full of stars where her mother’s soul dwelt and all the souls of everyone who had gone before … how could one count the numbers? What matter if she and Antony were to join them? Who would miss them? Only Squashy and her father, and Mr Claude Sylvester, she thought. No wonder she could not