Clouds Below the Mountains by Vivienne Dockerty Read Free Book Online

don’t you come and sit on the mat with Evan? He’s new. Perhaps you came on the aeroplane together from England”
    The two little boys stared at each other for a moment, then Jack let go of his mummy’s hand.
    ***
    â€œThose clouds over there don’t look too promising, Mavis”, observed Fred, as he and his wife relaxed on their sun loungers, under the shade of a palm tree by the swimming pool wall.
    â€œWell, the girl on the coach said the next two days were going to be bad, didn’t she? Remember that chap we spoke to at the Antilla last year, he was saying that February and March were the rainy months on Tenerife. He said if you look at the clouds in the morning and they came below the mountain, you could forget sitting in a deck chair and make other arrangements for the rest of the day.”
    Mavis took a look at her husband under lowered eyelids as she said her piece. She was still annoyed with Fred for booking at this place instead of the Antilla.
    â€œWhy did you book for February anyway, Fred, there was nothing to stop us coming in January, was there?”
    â€œYer know I was waiting to see what was happening over George’s chest. I thought if he got th’all clear we could have a late booking. Anyroad, this were cheapest week, price goes up again with half term looming.”
    â€œWith the amount of children that’s here already, you’d think it was half term,” Mavis retorted. “I don’t know, I would never have dreamt of taking our Valerie and Lilian, off school to go on holiday when they were kiddies.”
    â€œWe never had the money anyway in those days, Mavis. Just enough to spend a week in a caravan each summer near Rhyl. We only just scrape enough together to have one of these package holidays and that’s with me getting a private pension as well. This bloody government wants shooting, the way they take their share before I get any of it. You know, I’ve worked for forty nine years for that pension, started as an apprentice with the Post Office, digging holes and climbing poles, then worked me way up to a Level 1, just for this bloody shower to dip their greedy fingers into it. Our Valerie had the right idea when she cleared off to Australia. I wish sometimes we’d bloody well gone with her, but now we’re far too old.”
    â€œCalm down love, you’ll be pushing up your blood pressure,” said Mavis, having listened to her husband’s moans since he retired from work ten years ago. “ Go and have a look in the foyer and see what kind of things they do in the daytime. There’ll be a board somewhere with all the activities on.”
    ***
    Jenni and Simon sat a table on the patio overlooking the swimming pool. They had come down too late for lunch, as the restaurant closed at two thirty. The waiter had told them that if they waited until three, the pool bar would be serving hot dogs, beef burgers or pizza. Simon had just ordered a slice of pizza and some french fries each and while they were waiting, he was drinking a pint of beer and Jenni was sipping a coke.
    She shivered a little, though it was still warm in the sunshine. She had taken a shower after Simon had finished with her, now her head was thumping and she was glad he’d abandoned the idea of a swim in the pool. She had changed into a pair of white shorts and a pink boob tube and had tied her brown shoulder length hair into a pony tail, though now she wondered whether she should go back to the room and get a cardigan on? Perhaps later, after we’ve had something to eat, she thought. It’s because I’m tired that I’m feeling the chill. At least that’s what her granny would have said.
    Jenni looked at Simon as he sat opposite her, he was staring at something in the sky with a blank expression in his eyes. He did that sometimes, looked as if the lights were on but there was no one at home. She wondered not for the first time,