The Crossing of Ingo. Helen Dunmore

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СКАЧАТЬ shiver. “I’m so cold, Conor. Let’s get home quick.”

      As we climb up the rocks I look back. The cove is filling. The tide’s coming in. A wild tide, full of anger. Next time we come here the moon will be rising. We’ll walk into the water and our journey will begin.

      Rainbow is at the cottage. She has tethered Kylie Newton’s pony Treacle to the gatepost and he is munching placidly at a clump of grass. I glance up at the roof. The gulls attacked Sadie; they might go for Treacle too. Every hour of the day they are there now, watching. Sometimes they change guard as one posse flies out to sea and another flies inland to perch along the ridge of our roof. I wonder what else they have got in their nest now. As if it feels my thoughts, one of the gulls stretches out its neck and screams down derision.

      I could have given your stupid egg to the cat, but I didn’t. You should be grateful, I tell them in my mind, but I don’t think the gulls can read my thoughts.

      “They can’t be nesting at this time of year,” says Rainbow, puzzled. The biggest gull is staring at her and Treacle with its yellow eyes. Suddenly it looks aside, like a bully pretending to have lost interest when he spots that someone’s not going to be intimidated. He struts along the roof a little way, then flies upward in a wide circle that keeps well clear of us. One by one the other gulls lift off, squawking out their protests, and fly out to sea. For the first time since Granny Carne visited there are no gulls on our roof.

      “I won’t have them on our roof,” says Rainbow as if she has perfect gull control.

      “Don’t you like gulls?” asks Conor.

      “I used to, but they’ve changed. They’ve become really aggressive. I don’t mind them dive-bombing to take food off people because that’s their instinct. They’re scavengers by nature. But the last year or two I’ve seen them attack for nothing. They went for my neighbour’s dog one day – you know, Sky. And she’s tiny, she’s only a Yorkshire terrier. I had to beat them off.” She strokes Treacle’s neck reassuringly.

      “Does Kylie ever get a chance to ride her own pony?” I demand. Rainbow laughs.

      “You know Kylie,” she says. “If she can get someone else to exercise Treacle for her, she will. She likes the idea of having a pony but she doesn’t like the work.”

      I stroke Treacle’s nose while Conor goes in to make tea and rummage through the larder to see if we’ve eaten the last of the last Guilt Cake.

      “Kylie is unbelievably lazy,” I agree. “If I had a pony I’d want to do everything for it.”

      “They’re going to take me on at the stables on Saturdays,” Rainbow says.

      “Which one?”

      “Tregony. It’s mainly mucking out and leading the little ones out on rides. I don’t get paid but I’ll get two hours free riding and I can use the jumps any time I want.”

      “It’ll be good for you to get up on something a bit more exciting than old Treacle,” I say. Rainbow’s a good rider.

      Rainbow pats Treacle protectively. “How can you say that? He’s got the best temperament. You could put a cat up on him and he wouldn’t shy.”

      “And he gallops exactly like his name.”

      “Don’t listen to her, Treacle.” We both laugh. Conor comes out with a clutch of mugs in one hand and a plate of biscuits.

      “No more cake?” I ask.

      “No more cake.” He smiles at Rainbow. “You’re growing your hair.”

      I hadn’t noticed, but he’s right. Rainbow’s bright hair is curling down over her neck now. She blushes a little. “I just felt like it,” she says, looking down at the mug of tea Conor hands her, rather than at him.

      “It’s nice,” says Conor.

      “But where’s Sadie?” asks Rainbow abruptly.

      “She’s gone to stay with Granny Carne for a while,” I answer, not looking at Rainbow.

      “We’ve had a call from family upcountry,” says Conor.

      “Mum’s second cousin,” I put in quickly. “They want us to go up there for half term, and maybe stay on for a week afterwards, because of Mum being away. We’re going to write to our schools for permission to miss the time. But we can’t take Sadie because they live in a flat.”

      Too much information, I realise as the words gush from my mouth. Second law of lying: don’t put too much icing on the cake. Silence falls, an awkward silence.

      “In Plymouth,” I blurt out.

      Rainbow looks from me to Conor. Her face is puzzled. Her blush returns and deepens. “I didn’t know you had any family in Plymouth,” she says. “Have you been up to stay with them before?”

      “Yes,” I say.

      “No,” says Conor at the same moment.

      Another silence falls. Rainbow turns away and starts to fuss over Treacle. “There, boy, good boy, steady there…” Treacle looks surprised but smug, while Rainbow gulps down her tea, even though it must be too hot.

      “They’re not well,” I blunder on. “Our cousin and his family, that is. That’s why they want us to go, to help look after them…”

      “I’ve got to get going,” Rainbow mutters into her mug. “Kylie will want Treacle back…”

      Kylie Newton wouldn’t care if you took Treacle out until the middle of next week, I think, but I say nothing. I have the feeling that Conor’s got to sort out this mess, not me. The silence drags on painfully. Rainbow puts her mug down on a flat stone, fumbles for her hard hat and puts it on.

      “Rainbow,” says Conor.

      “Yes?” Her voice isn’t cold – Rainbow’s voice could never be that – but it’s constricted.

      “Rainbow, I’m sorry. That wasn’t true, what we said.”

      “I know.”

      “Saph and I do have to go somewhere. But we can’t tell you any more than that. We can’t tell anyone. If our schools think we’re with family there won’t be any trouble.”

      “You didn’t have to lie to me,” Rainbow says.

      Neither of us knows what to say. Colour rises under Conor’s brown skin. He frowns and his lips tighten. I hope Rainbow doesn’t think he is angry with her. He’s furious with himself, and with everything that’s forced him to lie to Rainbow. “I was stupid,” he says quietly.

      “Yes, you were.” Rainbow is frowning too. Elvira would have melted into sympathy by now, I think. But Rainbow’s not like that. She thinks a lot of Conor but she expects a lot from him too. They take no notice of me. In fact they’ve probably forgotten that I’m here. Rainbow is trying to work out what can have made the Conor she knows behave so much out of character.

      Suddenly СКАЧАТЬ