The Rise and Fall of the Queen of Suburbia: A Black-Hearted Soap Opera. Sarah May

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СКАЧАТЬ laughed. In fact, she didn’t stop laughing for a long time after the fish-finger joke. Only Linda wasn’t joking. Fish fingers were the only thing she could think of to remedy the disaster of turning an evening for six into an evening for seven, and she was working on the premise that all children like fish fingers. Only Paul wasn’t a child. He was the tallest person in the room, and he was drinking beer. In fact, there were no children here tonight. Linda felt her hormones take a quick dive. She had to stop thinking about Paul Nieman.

      ‘I’ll get Jessica down,’ she said. Then, ‘Maybe she and Paul could eat before us?’

      ‘Yes, I’d like to meet Jessica,’ Winke said sadly.

      ‘Jessica,’ Joe yelled up the stairs.

      ‘Why don’t we just all eat together?’ Daphne asked.

      ‘I’ll get her, Joe.’ Linda went upstairs and knocked on Jessica’s door. When she went in, her daughter was sitting at her desk. ‘Jessica?’

      ‘I’m busy.’

      ‘What are you doing? Homework?’

      ‘No. Just something.’

      ‘I need you to come downstairs.’

      ‘I don’t want to.’

      ‘You have to come and have something to eat.’

      ‘I already ate. You told me to get something earlier.’

      ‘Well, now you have to eat something with us. Downstairs.’

      ‘I’m busy.’

      There was an A4 pad on the desk with the words ‘Biological Hazards’ written across it. Then a list underneath: Anthrax/splenic fever/murrain/malignant – she couldn’t see the rest. ‘Paul Nieman’s here, that’s why I need you to come downstairs. You know Paul, don’t you?’

      ‘He’s in my physics class.’

      ‘Well, then – downstairs. Now.’

      Jessica stood up. She had a pair of washed-out jeans on and an oversize black T-shirt with the word ‘Kontagion’ printed across it in white.

      ‘For God’s sake, Jessica. I told you to get changed.’

      ‘Well, I got changed.’

      Linda grabbed hold of her daughter’s arm, and kept hold of it as she pushed her down the stairs in front of her.

      The crockery didn’t match and nobody commented on the gazpacho. There wasn’t enough elbow space, and Paul and Jessica, who Linda had hoped to sit together, were on opposite sides of the table in deckchairs from the garage – ones she hadn’t been able to wash the mildew off. She hadn’t even got round to lighting the candles.

      ‘Computers’ll never take off,’ Joe said.

      ‘You’re not tempted to get one for the office?’

      Joe shook his head and Winke put his reading glasses on.

      ‘In two years’ time you won’t be able to avoid them.’ Then, waving his spoon at Joe, ‘The school’s ordered thirty-five BBC computers.’

      ‘When?’

      ‘Last week.’

      ‘How d’you know?’

      ‘I ordered them.’

      ‘At the last Governors’ meeting, we appointed Winke Information Technology Liaison Officer.’

      Linda started to clap then saw the look Jessica was giving her.

      ‘We were thinking of starting up a distribution company – when the time’s right,’ Daphne added.

      ‘As well as double glazing?’ Linda asked.

      ‘For a while.’ Winke turned to Jessica. ‘You’ll get to use them maybe … learn some basic programming skills.’

      ‘You’ve got daughters, haven’t you? You should bring them over,’ Daphne was saying to Dominique.

      ‘Steph’s too young and Delta’s looking after her.’

      ‘Delta – that’s a beautiful name.’

      Linda stood up and started to clear away the gazpacho bowls so that she wouldn’t have to listen to the story of how Delta was conceived in Egypt at the mouth of the Nile when Mick and Dominique used to fly together.

      ‘I read in the FT that Laker Air’s in trouble,’ Winke said to Mick.

      Linda looked at Dominique to see if this was something she knew about.

      ‘Difficulty. Not trouble,’ Mick said. Then, seeing Winke smile, he added, ‘It’s weathered worse.’

      ‘Do you miss flying?’ Daphne whispered to Dominique, who was sitting next to her.

      Dominique stared at the Belgian woman whose hand was on her arm. ‘I don’t know – it was a long time ago – yes,’ she added unexpectedly.

      The two women smiled at each other.

      Something in the way Daphne was resting her hand on her arm made Dominique run on, way beyond the usual confines of her ‘Mick and I got it together at fifty thousand feet’ speech. ‘I mean, I miss the flying, but not the job. The trolley, the foreign hotels between coming and going – I don’t miss that, but the flying itself …’

      ‘Was it what you always wanted to do?’

      ‘I didn’t know what I wanted to do – the only O Level I passed was Home Economics. Then I got accepted on this training programme, and –’

      ‘Do you ever think about going back to it?’

      ‘I don’t know – no – I’ve changed so much.’ This sounded indefinite, more like she was looking for reassurance than making a statement. ‘I’ve changed so much,’ she said again. Then, turning to Winke, ‘What were you saying about Laker Air?’

      ‘That it’s in trouble,’ Winke said, pleased to repeat this.

      ‘It’s fine, Dom.’ Mick, who had overheard, watched his wife’s face as it turned towards him, settling fully on him and resting there.

      ‘I hope so.’ Winke started shaking his head, and he was still shaking it when conversation moved on, and Joe was telling everybody his favourite story.

      ‘Believe it or not, it was one of the first jobs I took on after starting up the company,’ Joe’s voice was saying, ‘and it came my way through one of the estate agents in town – can’t remember which one. They’d been renting out a house for some people who’d gone to America short term then decided to sell, as renting it out was too much hassle and the last tenants had disappeared without a trace. The agents reckoned they’d get a better price if they had the kitchen СКАЧАТЬ