A Distant Dream by Pamela Evans Read Free Book Online

can’t visit, do we?’
    ‘Of course not,’ said Betty, wanting to please him. ‘I’ll get around to writing to her sometime. But it’s all so weird her going away to that awful place.’
    ‘Who said it was awful?’
    ‘It’s bound to be, those kind of places always are,’ she said with authority.
    ‘Have you been to one, then?’
    ‘No, but I’ve heard about them. Terrible places, everyone says so. Poor May, just the thought of that horrible illness makes me feel sick. Mum says I mustn’t tell anyone that I have a friend who’s got it.’
    ‘I don’t see why not,’ said George.
    ‘Because it’s
that
illness, I suppose,’ she suggested. ‘If you know someone who has it, you might have it yourself, is what they think.’
    ‘Anyone would think it was leprosy the way people carry on,’ he said disapprovingly. ‘Well I’m proud to be May’s friend, whatever is the matter with her.’
    ‘Oh yeah. Me too, of course,’ Betty said unconvincingly.
    Puzzled as to why she had come, he gave her a questioning look. ‘Is there any particular reason why you’ve called?’ he asked.
    ‘Er . . . there is, actually,’ she began hesitantly. ‘I was wondering if you’d like to go out sometime . . . to the pictures or something.’
    He stared at her in astonishment and closed the front door behind him because he knew Sheila’s ears would be flapping. ‘What, you and me . . .?’
    ‘Not like that, of course,’ she was quick to explain, having seen the look of dismay in his eyes. ‘It’s just that we are both missing May and I don’t have anyone to go around with now. I thought perhaps we could keep each other company every now and again.’
    This was something of a dilemma for George. He didn’t want to hurt Betty’s feelings because he guessed she would be lonely without May. But neither did he want to get involved with her. He could see from the look in her eyes now, and from her behaviour on previous occasions, that that was what she had in mind. He was at an age when his hormones were running riot, and he was flattered, of course. Betty was an attractive girl in an ordinary sort of way and she had a good figure, but May was the only girl for him; not her best friend. Besides, even though there was nothing actually binding him to May, it would seem disloyal to her somehow.
    ‘It’s kind of you to ask me but I think we’ll wait until May comes home and we can all go out together.’
    ‘Oh,’ she said, smarting from the rejection and astonished at his optimism, she herself having written May off completely. ‘But she’ll be away for ages, probably years, and some people never come back from those places.’
    ‘That’s something I never even allow myself to consider,’ he said sharply. ‘I’m not prepared to give up on May yet.’
    ‘No, of course not, me neither,’ she blurted out guiltily. ‘It’s just that you hear such terrible things about that illness and we have to face up to it, George.’
    ‘And I will if I have to,’ he assured her. ‘But the time for that definitely hasn’t come yet. Maybe at some point later on we might be able to go and visit her. I know visitors aren’t allowed at the moment but that could change.’
    ‘Oh, I wouldn’t go there even if we were allowed,’ Betty burst out, looking alarmed at the thought.
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Definitely not,’ she stated. ‘I’m sorry if that makes me sound awful, but I wouldn’t go near one of those places and neither will you if you’ve got any sense.’
    George found her attitude cold hearted in the extreme but knew she wasn’t the only one to feel that way. ‘That seems a bit hard on May,’ he remarked.
    ‘It probably is, but I can’t help the way I feel.’
    ‘No, I suppose not.’
    ‘It’s a dangerous illness, George.’
    ‘All the more reason for us to give May as much support as we can.’
    Betty shrugged in reply.
    ‘Anyway, let’s just look forward to the three of us getting together