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.Nina made no response at all.When they sat on a bench beside the sea, she gazed unseeing across the blue water.After a while, Maudie walked Nina back to Mrs Potts.Bryn swept the concrete outside Staceys.“Get Claudia to look after the café,” she hissed.“It’s an emergency.” She took Nina’s clothes off and helped her into bed.She opened the window a little and pulled the curtains.Then she sat beside the bed and wondered what to do.Mrs Potts poked her head through the door once.“It’s not an hotel,” she snapped.“She should be at work during the day.”Maudie put a finger to her lips.She turned away from Mrs Potts, and heard her shuffle to the kitchen.Shortly she returned with a cup of cabbage soup.“It’ll help,” she said, her voice still curt, but Maudie was grateful for the simple kindness, even as she emptied the bowl outside the window.Old Tom came by.“What’s wrong?” he whispered.“I don’t know,” Maudie said.“She seemed alright last night.”“I’ll send the Missus,” Old Tom said.“Will she go to Staceys or Sweet Treats?”“Check with Bryn,” Maudie said.“He’s organised something, I don’t know what.”Bryn came by at the end of the day, his face pink with embarrassment.In his hand he clutched a bunch of wild flowers.“To cheer the sickroom,” he said.“Is there anything I can do to help?”Maudie shook her head.“You are very kind,” she said.“Perhaps when she is able to eat you might bring some delicacy.So she has more to look forward to than, say, cabbage soup.”Bryn nodded, then hurried away, leaping the fence and pausing to give a cheery wave when Mrs Potts shouted that he ought to use the gate as it was intended.Maudie slept on the floor in Nina’s room that night.When the cat yowled, Maudie was the one to leap from her uncomfortable sleep.When the clock struck six, and still Nina slept on, Maudie stretched and yawned.She’d have a quick shower.Nina wouldn’t wake in the next ten minutes, she was sure of it.But Nina did wake.When Maudie came into her room, wet hair still dripping, it was to find Nina sitting on the edge of the bed.“Nice morning,” she said.“I slept through that dreadful cat’s yowling.”“That cat,” Maudie said, “belonged at the campground.He’s made that racket every morning since it closed.He needs to get over himself.”She sat beside Nina and picked at her thumb nail.She had to ask it, but she was scared of Nina’s response.“What’s the matter, Nina? I want to help.”“Everybody has black days sometimes.” And she gathered clean underwear and a towel and padded off to the bathroom.*She would not think, Nina decided.She would not think of the mayor and his desire to shut down the village.She would not think of the fete.Perhaps she would not even participate in the fete after all.Her job, after all, was to keep Sweet Treats open – nothing else mattered.She was so, so tired.She wouldn’t let Mrs Potts irritate her.She wouldn’t encourage the budding friendship between herself and Maudie and Bryn.Maybe she wouldn’t call her parents either.But that was where Nina’s plans to isolate herself came unstuck.She wanted her mother to place a plate of decent home-cooked food before her, prepared with love every step of the way.She wanted to sit pressed close to her father and feel the rumble of his voice in his chest.Maudie gave her cell phone to Nina, and managed to look nonchalant.Nina entered her parents’ number.She had thought she’d wait and see them face to face, but now she knew that was ridiculous.She couldn’t live her life alone anymore.The phone was answered on the fifth ring.A strange voice acknowledged that yes, this was the home of Nina’s parents, that they had gone to the Greek Islands for six months, that they were expected back at the end of April.Nina left her address with the woman.Could she forward it to her parents please.Was there an address or number Nina could have?There is nothing, the faceless voice said.They wanted the freedom to move from place to place.But they did call her once a week to make sure she hadn’t burned the place down.Nina supposed it to be a joke.She remembered this was a new number attached to her parent’s names.“What is your address?” she asked.Suspicion entered the woman’s voice.“Are you sure you’re their daughter?” she said.“I didn’t think it possible for a good girl to be so distanced from her parents?”Thanks for that, Nina said as she disconnected.Thanks a bunch.She worked silently throughout the day.Customers came and went.She put their chosen sweets into little paper bags, took their money, and turned away.Bryn came by.He placed a bundle of rolled-up papers on the counter.He asked her which sweets she would recommend and when he had bought them, he pressed Nina to take the little bag, to consider the sweets a gift.He folded her hand around the bag, the touch of his hand strangely comforting.She looked into his face and saw his own sadness, nearly hidden, in his dark eyes.If it hadn’t been for the darkness in her own head, she’d have squeezed his hand in camaraderie.Hadn’t they both suffered loss? Didn’t they both live in a world shrouded with sadness?Instead she dropped the coins into the till, shut the drawer with a click, put the sweets into her pocket, and offered a brisk farewell.Chapter 42c.AD 1150, EUROPE: Crusaders return with sugar, but only the wealthy can afford it; ITALY: Venetian traders introduce comfits – tiny sweets made from single seeds, or nuts, or pieces of fruit, covered in layers of coloured sugar [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Nina made no response at all.When they sat on a bench beside the sea, she gazed unseeing across the blue water.After a while, Maudie walked Nina back to Mrs Potts.Bryn swept the concrete outside Staceys.“Get Claudia to look after the café,” she hissed.“It’s an emergency.” She took Nina’s clothes off and helped her into bed.She opened the window a little and pulled the curtains.Then she sat beside the bed and wondered what to do.Mrs Potts poked her head through the door once.“It’s not an hotel,” she snapped.“She should be at work during the day.”Maudie put a finger to her lips.She turned away from Mrs Potts, and heard her shuffle to the kitchen.Shortly she returned with a cup of cabbage soup.“It’ll help,” she said, her voice still curt, but Maudie was grateful for the simple kindness, even as she emptied the bowl outside the window.Old Tom came by.“What’s wrong?” he whispered.“I don’t know,” Maudie said.“She seemed alright last night.”“I’ll send the Missus,” Old Tom said.“Will she go to Staceys or Sweet Treats?”“Check with Bryn,” Maudie said.“He’s organised something, I don’t know what.”Bryn came by at the end of the day, his face pink with embarrassment.In his hand he clutched a bunch of wild flowers.“To cheer the sickroom,” he said.“Is there anything I can do to help?”Maudie shook her head.“You are very kind,” she said.“Perhaps when she is able to eat you might bring some delicacy.So she has more to look forward to than, say, cabbage soup.”Bryn nodded, then hurried away, leaping the fence and pausing to give a cheery wave when Mrs Potts shouted that he ought to use the gate as it was intended.Maudie slept on the floor in Nina’s room that night.When the cat yowled, Maudie was the one to leap from her uncomfortable sleep.When the clock struck six, and still Nina slept on, Maudie stretched and yawned.She’d have a quick shower.Nina wouldn’t wake in the next ten minutes, she was sure of it.But Nina did wake.When Maudie came into her room, wet hair still dripping, it was to find Nina sitting on the edge of the bed.“Nice morning,” she said.“I slept through that dreadful cat’s yowling.”“That cat,” Maudie said, “belonged at the campground.He’s made that racket every morning since it closed.He needs to get over himself.”She sat beside Nina and picked at her thumb nail.She had to ask it, but she was scared of Nina’s response.“What’s the matter, Nina? I want to help.”“Everybody has black days sometimes.” And she gathered clean underwear and a towel and padded off to the bathroom.*She would not think, Nina decided.She would not think of the mayor and his desire to shut down the village.She would not think of the fete.Perhaps she would not even participate in the fete after all.Her job, after all, was to keep Sweet Treats open – nothing else mattered.She was so, so tired.She wouldn’t let Mrs Potts irritate her.She wouldn’t encourage the budding friendship between herself and Maudie and Bryn.Maybe she wouldn’t call her parents either.But that was where Nina’s plans to isolate herself came unstuck.She wanted her mother to place a plate of decent home-cooked food before her, prepared with love every step of the way.She wanted to sit pressed close to her father and feel the rumble of his voice in his chest.Maudie gave her cell phone to Nina, and managed to look nonchalant.Nina entered her parents’ number.She had thought she’d wait and see them face to face, but now she knew that was ridiculous.She couldn’t live her life alone anymore.The phone was answered on the fifth ring.A strange voice acknowledged that yes, this was the home of Nina’s parents, that they had gone to the Greek Islands for six months, that they were expected back at the end of April.Nina left her address with the woman.Could she forward it to her parents please.Was there an address or number Nina could have?There is nothing, the faceless voice said.They wanted the freedom to move from place to place.But they did call her once a week to make sure she hadn’t burned the place down.Nina supposed it to be a joke.She remembered this was a new number attached to her parent’s names.“What is your address?” she asked.Suspicion entered the woman’s voice.“Are you sure you’re their daughter?” she said.“I didn’t think it possible for a good girl to be so distanced from her parents?”Thanks for that, Nina said as she disconnected.Thanks a bunch.She worked silently throughout the day.Customers came and went.She put their chosen sweets into little paper bags, took their money, and turned away.Bryn came by.He placed a bundle of rolled-up papers on the counter.He asked her which sweets she would recommend and when he had bought them, he pressed Nina to take the little bag, to consider the sweets a gift.He folded her hand around the bag, the touch of his hand strangely comforting.She looked into his face and saw his own sadness, nearly hidden, in his dark eyes.If it hadn’t been for the darkness in her own head, she’d have squeezed his hand in camaraderie.Hadn’t they both suffered loss? Didn’t they both live in a world shrouded with sadness?Instead she dropped the coins into the till, shut the drawer with a click, put the sweets into her pocket, and offered a brisk farewell.Chapter 42c.AD 1150, EUROPE: Crusaders return with sugar, but only the wealthy can afford it; ITALY: Venetian traders introduce comfits – tiny sweets made from single seeds, or nuts, or pieces of fruit, covered in layers of coloured sugar [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]