One Secret Summer by Lesley Lokko Read Free Book Online Page B

yet tell.
     And who was Keeler’s mother?
    ‘Who’s his mother?’ she asked.
    ‘Diana Pryce. Can’t you tell?’
    Julia looked at him incredulously. Diana Pryce? Diana Pryce was that man’s
mother
? She remembered the day she’d first seen Diana Pryce on television. She was a lawyer, a QC, if Julia’s memory served her
     right. She’d campaigned for the release of two hunger-striking Irish political prisoners for years without a glimmer of hope,
     and then all of a sudden, in a flurry of publicity, their convictions had been overturned. She’d watched the proceedings every
     night for a week, sitting beside her father.‘Damn fine woman that,’ Mike had said admiringly. ‘She never gave up. That’s something to be proud of, Julia. Never give up.’
     Julia remembered staring at the fuzzy image of an immaculately dressed woman in high heels holding tightly on to the arm of
     one of the prisoners, whose emaciated face bore the dazed look of someone whose life had been turned upside down. She shook
     her head disbelievingly. Diana Pryce was Aaron Keeler’s mother? ‘I’d never have guessed,’ she said faintly.
    ‘Oh, stick around Oxford for a couple of weeks and you’ll hear it all the time … that’s all anyone ever says about him,’ Dom
     said. ‘Must be a bit of burden, if you ask me. Always being compared to her. There’s three of them – three brothers. They
     all went to Eton. Heavenly Creatures – that’s what we used to call them. You know the type – good-looking, sporty, clever.
     The sort you love to hate.’ He looked down at her. ‘Anyway, sod the Keelers. We’ve got library induction in about an hour.
     Shall we go and have a coffee somewhere? Have you been to the Bodleian yet?’ Julia shook her head. ‘Come on, then. There’s
     a coffee shop across the road and then we can go over together. Don’t worry, there’s no ulterior motive here. I’m as queer
     as they come.’
    Julia’s mouth dropped open in protest. ‘It never crossed my mind.’
    ‘Good.’ He grinned at her. ‘So … shall we?’
    ‘All right then,’ Julia said, still a trifle uneasily. Although she’d warmed to Dom in the five minutes they’d been chatting,
     she was still baffled as to why he’d chosen to speak to
her
. After all, no one else had. Aside from the arrogant Keeler, no one else had so much as looked her way since she’d arrived,
     so why had Dom? She risked a quick upward glance. There was nothing in his expression that gave her a clue. He held the door
     open for her, and somewhat uneasily, she led the way. They followed the noisy group ahead of them down the stairs and out
     of the faculty building, Julia still puzzling over the fact that Dom appeared to want to be her friend. Why? It didn’t make
     sense. Mind you, she reminded herself quickly, not much about her new life atOxford made sense. She’d never in her life felt quite so out of place.
    Although she’d been one of the very few from her comprehensive in Newcastle to go to university in the first place, there’d
     been plenty of people like her at Nottingham – the first in their respective families to leave home and take up a course of
     study that meant they would probably never return. In her year alone there’d been three or four people whose backgrounds practically
     mirrored her own. Oxford was different. Whatever Dom’s reasons for befriending her might be, it was impossible to believe
     he felt as out of place as she did. No one could possibly be more unsuitable. Everything about her screamed ‘working class’,
     ‘northern’, ‘poor’ – or worse. Amongst the leggy blondes and dark-haired, curvy beauties she’d seen around her, she was an
     oddity with her short, boyish haircut and standard regulation outfit of jeans and a sweater. She’d never been the type to
     worry about her looks – in her eyes at least, she’d never had looks to worry about, so why bother? Alison, her closest friend
     at Nottingham,