Despite the Angels - By Madeline A Stringer Page 0,156
run down. Needs shopping. Let’s go after lunch.” She took out the cheese and the eggs and fished the sandwich toaster out of the cupboard. “Set the table, then I’ll sort you out.” David did what he was told, wondering not for the first time where Clare had got her facility with cooking. Not from him, or her mother. He watched as she worked, creating a tasty meal from odds and ends.
“If things had gone right, you’d have said Lucy taught her,” said Jotin, wishing he could join in and taste the egg cheese and onion toasted sandwiches that were now sizzling in the machine, “but really they both learned in France, in that kitchen in Merillac.”
Over lunch, David told Clare about Carmel and the tea dance, and tried to persuade Clare to go with him. But Clare refused, insisting they needed to go to the supermarket. She was not impressed by Carmel’s hunch that David should go to the dance, pointing out that Carmel was a ‘romantic old lady who’s having a heart attack’ and giving her opinion that as such, she was unlikely to be reliable.
“Oh, she was reliable, for the situation as it was a few hours ago. We were feeding her all the right cues,” Jotin laughed and Clare’s guide joined in.
“Yes,” she said, “and now we’re feeding you. You’re the easiest of the lot to guide, my pet. You actually hear me, even if you are a bit of a cynic. And you are right, the supermarket is a great idea, even though you did think of it yourself. I’ll go and talk to Trynor.” And she was gone.
“Come on, Dad. Let’s make a list.”
Lucy had asked the children what they would like to do for the afternoon and they had tried to guess what Martin had planned for them, ‘so we don’t miss it’ as Robbie explained solemnly. He had cheered up once an outing was promised. Good thing, thought Lucy, not to always be the boring ‘go to school, time for bed’ parent and get a chance to be the ‘where would you like to go’ one. They had a discussion of fun places and places they had never tried and old favourites. Lekna was busy, talking to Aisling. She had had an exciting visit from Clare’s guide..
“How about the Natural History Museum, Mum? I like that.”
“What’s that?” Robbie had forgotten their visit there last year.
“You know, Robbie,” said Aisling, “the Dead Zoo.”
“Oh, yes! Whale bones!”
So it was decided. They would go into town, but on the way back they would stop off at the Merrion shopping centre and get some groceries. Robbie and Aisling would be allowed to choose what tonight’s dinner would be. I hope I don’t have to bribe them into happiness every weekend, thought Lucy. I hope Martin comes back and sees them again. Better phone Jen and tell her I can’t go to the tea-dance.
“But they could come here, my Mum is coming to sit with our kids.” Jen was insistent. For a moment Lucy weakened, after all, she had bought an outfit specially to go out in. But when she thought about it she remembered Robbie’s face and she knew where she wanted to be.
“No, I’ve promised them a trip to the Natural History Museum. I can’t just dump them with no warning. Maybe next weekend?”
The children enjoyed the whale skeleton and the stuffed animals; they were lucky and were allowed to see the glass replicas of microscopic creatures, while the curator explained to them how tiny the actual creatures are. Robbie was more impressed by the size of the whale, but Aisling was enthralled by being able to ‘see’ such tiny creatures. They came out into the sunshine and with promises of ice-cream, made their way to where they had parked on Baggot Street, talking all the way about the animals they had seen and agreeing that next time, maybe they should go to the real Zoo, to see some of them ‘with their own insides and eyes’ as Robbie put it.
Aisling and Robbie fought for the right to control the trolley and with Lucy behind them keeping peace and steering, they made their way into the supermarket. They started in the vegetable section and Lucy was choosing carrots when Aisling gave a squeak- ‘Clare!’ Lucy looked round.
“Look, Mum, over there, it’s Clare!”
“Who?”
“Remember, Clare who babysat for Marge once, when we were there. She walked us home. She was nice.”