A Spoonful Of Sugar: A Novella. Kerry Barrett

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СКАЧАТЬ had arrived in Claddach, the tiny town where we’d grown up, super-early that morning after driving up in Harry’s car. The competition was taking place down in the town, on the shores of the loch and close to Mum’s cafe. I was keen to see what it would be like after Harry’s talk of marquees and what not. We’d not seen anything yet as the road from Edinburgh skirted Claddach itself and wound up into the Cairngorms where our house was perched in the foothills and where we now stood, contemplating the road in front of us.

      It was a beautiful day but the walk into Claddach was pretty steep and I knew that while I might manage to waddle down the slope, the chances of me waddling back up again were slim.

      I sighed heavily and stuck my bump out, and Harry rolled her eyes.

      ‘Okay, fatso,’ she said. She beeped the car doors and I, rather inelegantly, wedged myself into the passenger seat.

      ‘So what should I expect?’ I asked as Harry pulled out on to the main road.

      ‘Nothing fancy,’ she said. ‘There’s going to be the marquee, like I said but, honestly, it’s all going to be fairly understated. It’s not the X Factor.’

      ‘So it’s just a fun way of promoting Claddach?’ I asked, hoping for reassurance. ‘No pressure?’

      ‘No pressure,’ Harry said, glancing at me as she turned off the main road into Claddach centre. ‘Honestly, it’s fine. It’s a tiny show on a tiny channel – it’s not a big set-up.’

      She indicated, then spun the wheel to go round the corner into the lane that led to the café. I was thrown forward as she slammed on the brakes.

      ‘Harry!’ I said in annoyance, giving her a filthy look. But she wasn’t listening.

      ‘Oh. My. God,’ she breathed. ‘Oh. My. God.’

      I looked up from adjusting my seatbelt over my bump.

      ‘Ohhhhh,’ I said, horrified.

      This was no small set-up. This was huge.

      It was a gorgeous June day and Claddach was at her most stunning. The inky-black waters of the loch were, for once, a deep blue, the sky was bright with sunshine and tiny puffs of cloud skipped along in the breeze. On the distant hills gorse burned vibrant yellow, and the trees shone their greenest green. It would have been quite a view anyway, but add Britain Bakes to the mix and it took my breath away.

      A beautiful white marquee billowed on the shores of the loch, close to the cafe, like the sails on a pirate ship. There was bunting strung along the outside of the cafe and forming a sort of corridor between the cafe’s front door and the entrance to the marquee. And there were people everywhere.

      There were cameras being set up all over the place, and lots of people wearing black trousers and T-shirts speaking into headsets running around. There were some young women with swishy hair clutching clipboards and shouting into mobile phones and two huge trucks with HTV emblazoned along the side parked like exclamation marks across the road.

      The Claddach pipe band was playing a little way along the beach, and lots of locals were drifting about, watching what was going on. I saw several people I recognised – my best friend Chloe, who was with her kids and her husband, was easily spotted because of her bright-red hair. I saw another friend, Kirsty, looking like an off-duty rock star in shiny black leggings and an oversized vest top that showed off her tattoos. Millicent Fry was bustling around organising everyone and everything – as always – and it looked like just about the whole town had turned out.

      Harry and I stared at the action through the windscreen. She turned the engine off.

      ‘Shall we go and introduce ourselves?’ she said.

      I folded my arms over my bump protectively.

      ‘We could,’ I said. ‘Or, we could turn the car round, drive back to Edinburgh and pretend this never happened.’

      For a second I thought Harry was going to agree and my heart lifted.

      ‘I admit this is a bit bigger than we thought it was going to be,’ she said.

      ‘Harry, I was imagining a couple of old women in a tent,’ I said, my voice shrill. ‘Not the whole town showing up to watch me make a mess of a Victoria sponge on national television.’

      Harry swallowed.

      ‘Britain Bakes is a bit more popular than I thought it was,’ she said. She looked through the windscreen again and took a breath, then she threw her shoulders back, shook her super-shiny hair, and gave me her most dazzling smile.

      ‘But this is good,’ she said.

      ‘It is?’

      ‘Yes. It’s good. It’s great, in fact. All this fuss means the whole country will be looking at Claddach. It will really put the town on the map. Business will go through the roof. See how amazing it all looks – the tourist board will be going wild.’

      If I’d been trembling before, I was shaking violently now.

      ‘But look at all the people,’ I said. ‘Look at how many people there are. Everyone’s going to be watching me make a huge mess of this.’

      Harry patted my hand. I pulled it away.

      ‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘You’ll be fine.’

      But I wasn’t convinced.

      Harry unclipped her seatbelt and got out of the car. I followed, far less elegantly.

      ‘Where do we have to go?’ I asked, hoiking up my maternity leggings.

      Harry glanced at me over her shoulder. She was wearing sunglasses and, with her Mulberry bag on her arm, she looked like a film star.

      ‘Make-up, I think,’ she said.

      ‘Really?’ That was good news. Perhaps they could make me look like a film star too.

      We walked down the path towards the cafe. I was expecting things to be frantic with Mum and Suky running around like mad things. But instead we found them standing outside with their business partner Eva having their photographs taken for the local paper.

      ‘Check you out,’ Harry said as we kissed them hello. ‘You’re like local celebs.’

      Mum kissed my bump and then my cheek.

      ‘Are you okay?’ she said, taking my chin in her hand and studying me closely. ‘You look tired.’

      ‘I’m fine,’ I said. I angled myself away from Harry so she couldn’t hear what I was saying. ‘Just a bit nervous. I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew here.’

      I nodded back over my shoulder to where the action was happening and lowered my voice.

      ‘It’s more of a thing than I expected,’ I whispered. ‘I’m not sure I’m up to it.’

      Mum gave me a sympathetic hug.

      ‘Just СКАЧАТЬ