Pompomberry House by Rosen Trevithick Read Free Book Online

don’t think you should be encouraging her. The
woman is clearly a few feathers short of a cuckoo!”
    “Cuckoo!” trilled Annabel. Dawn copied and the group
descended into a flock of absurd bird noises.
    * * *
    As the evening went on, the sound of the weather became more
than just an ambient backing track. The windows were no longer gently rattling
but banging and crashing. The wind was no longer breezing through bushes, but
howling. I gazed out of the window, enjoying the last views of the sea before
the sunset stole them away. The white horses were no longer ponies playing
together, but giant stallions galloping across the bay. I shuddered with
delight — my God, these people were hard work, but the scenery was spectacular.
What a treat to get away from London.
    Still, Pompomberry Island wouldn’t have a great deal to
offer at night after the darkness had drunk the views. Drained of its
geographical charm, it would simply become a bucket of people — infuriating
people. I felt my heart rate start to increase. Perhaps I should explore a
little more of Cornwall. My anxieties about being stuck in an overcrowded
bucket shielded me from the memories of my difficulty finding Pompomberry
Island. I felt sure that a quick excursion would be an apt way to settle my
nerves.
    “I think I’ll go into town,” I told the others. “After I
finish my pudding,” I added, spooning down another mouthful of lumpy custard.
At least the pre-bought bread and butter pudding was pleasant.
    “What town?” asked Rafe.
    “Well, there must be a town around here somewhere, or a
village, at least somewhere with a pub.”
    “But we’re here to write!” gasped Dawn. I didn’t like it
when she gasped, I could see the uvula at the back of her mouth, dripping and
flabby.
    “Well, we did a little writing this afternoon, didn’t we?”
    “But the anthology!” she cried. Her podgy lips inverted like
a pair of arched maggots.
    I knew that she was right. It was supposed to be a retreat,
and we were supposed to be working on a book. However, looking around me as
Danger picked his nose with his spoon and Annabel gazed at hunky haughty Rafe, whilst
twisting her chestnut locks around a dangerously long fingernail, I wasn’t sure
that my nerves could stand it. I hadn’t clicked with any of them, nor could I
see myself clicking any time soon.
    “It’s too dangerous to make the crossing!” Dawn said
quickly. “There’s a storm brewing. You could get stranded on the mainland,
unable to get back.”
    God forbid.
    “That’s if she makes it there at all!” added Montgomery,
shaking his square head.
    “You mustn’t take chances with the weather,” Dawn explained.
“The owner was very clear about that.”
    “The sea can be a perilous, churning cauldron of harm!”
exclaimed Rafe, clutching his fist against his chest.
    “I’ll take my chances,” I insisted with a sigh. I walked
over to the tall, bay window that overlooked the crossing. How bad could it be?
    I looked down, expecting to see crashing waves. Instead, the
twilight illuminated golden sand, with a light scattering of boulders and
shingle.
    “The tide is out!”
    “Is it?” asked Dawn, with what seemed feigned surprise. She
followed me to the window.
    I began looking up the tide times on my phone.
    “You never know when it might come in again!” she warned.
    “Half past eight.”
    “What?”
    “That’s when it’ll start coming in again. Even once it
turns, I doubt the water will get too high to make the crossing for a couple of
hours.”
    “ Hours? ”
    Suddenly, Rafe appeared before me, and draped himself across
the window seat, facing me in a ‘come to bed’ pose. “What can we do to make you
stay?” he asked, with a twinkle in his eye.
    Well, you could start by never making that expression
ever again .
    There was something about Rafe that I found deeply
unattractive, despite all of his obvious outward charms. I couldn’t put my
finger on it. Perhaps he was just