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.She should move to the nearest town, she lectured herself, get a job and get a car on the pay-up.Gutless, she raged at herself.But she was gutless.Her growing dislike of Maggie and her longing for freedom were not strong enough to enable her to face the world on her own.She pushed her lank hair out of her eyes and crunched across the gravel to the bungalow which every day seemed more like a prison.It was too warm, too characterless, decorated in interior designer's brown and cream with glasstopped tables; glass dining table and glass coffee table on wrought iron legs and little glass side tables.The air always seemed to smell of window cleaner, for the efficient Mrs.Todd was always polishing and shining the glass.Despite the kindness of Mrs.Todd, the kitchen was hardly the refuge it should have been.With its looped-back red and white checked gingham curtains, red geraniums in bowls, and glittering white Formica work surfaces, it looked as sterile as a stage set.Mrs.Todd had not yet arrived.Alison made herself a cup of coffee and tried not to want a cigarette.Then she heard Maggie lumbering down the stairs, and her thin shoulders hunched as if to ward off the verbal blows about to descend on her.To her surprise, Maggie was dressed.Usually she spent the mornings wandering around in a nightdress and dressing gown."I'm leaving today," said Maggie abruptly.Alison felt a rush of relief.Maggie was abandoning her and so she would need to make a life for herself after all."I want you to stay here and look after things," said Maggie."You can type, can't you?"Alison nodded."Well, on the desk in the study you'll find a pile of tapes.I've been dictating my life story.I want you to type it out.High time you earned your keep.""If you had let me learn to drive," said Alison defensively, "I could have taken a job in the village.""What you would have earned in the village would barely have paid for the petrol," snapped Maggie."I'll be away a few months.""When are you leaving?" asked Alison."Any moment now," said Maggie, squinting at her wristwatch."The man from Chisholm's is coming."Ian Chisholm, the local garage owner, had a large antique Daimler which was usually hired only for weddings and funerals."I'm getting him to take me down to Inverness," went on Maggie."I'll do some shopping, have dinner, and take the sleeper.""What are you going to do?" asked Alison, beginning to brighten.Maggie was obviously not taking her car.She always left the keys in the ignition.Now, if she would only leave those keys behind, then."I'm going to do a bit of work on myself," said Maggie."I've let myself go to seed.Makes two of us, hey? Although I used to be beautiful and you quite obviously never were."All in that moment, Alison reflected that Maggie was indeed very like her sister, Alison's late mother.Alison's mother had been a colourless woman compared to Maggie, but she would say things just as Alison was preparing to go off to a school dance like, 'I've done my best, but you'll never be a beauty, dear.' People always said things about words not hurting you, thought Alison miserably, but they hurt like hell, the insults piling up until one's self-esteem begins slowly to crumble under the sheer weight of them.She thought of Maggie's mild heart attack, if that's what it had been, the evening before.She thought of Maggie's money.She, Alison, was Maggie's only relative.Had Maggie made a will? What if Maggie should die and leave her the house and the car and the money? Alison half closed her eyes.She would redecorate the house and sweep away the brown and cream and the glass tables and make it a homey place."Take that silly look off your face," said Maggie."Oh, here's Mrs.Todd.Go off and get started on those tapes, Alison.I want the whole thing typed up by the time I get back."Alison rose and went through to the room off the sitting room which Maggie called her study.It had a workmanlike desk, an electric typewriter, and there, sure enough, were the tapes and a recorder.Alison had never seen Maggie at work.Maggie must have dictated the tapes during the nights, Alison thought, or have done them some time in the past before she came north.She began to listen to the first tape, her eyes slowly widening in horror.It was pornography.But then Maggie's life had obviously been pornographic.The first chapter dealt with Maggie's loss of virginity.Alison did not yet know that it was mild stuff compared to what was to follow.Then above the sound of Maggie's voice, she heard the Daimler arriving.She switched off the tapes and went outside.Only one small suitcase was being loaded into the car.Mrs.Todd was standing respectfully while Maggie rapped out last-minute instructions."And take all my clothes from my bedroom and send them to Oxfam or the Salvation Army," Maggie was saying."I leave it to you.And see that Alison gets on with typing out that life story of mine and doesn't moon around getting lazier and spottier [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]