Short and Sweet by Anna Jacobs Read Free Book Online Page A

hurt him to crack a smile?
    Then the removal men arrived with her furniture and she forgot all about her neighbour as she directed them where to put it. There wasn’t much, but she’d buy other bits and pieces as she needed them.
    That evening Sara went to sit on her jetty, tired after unpacking her boxes. Below her dangling feet the clear water lapped against the piles. She stared down at it, mesmerized by the fractured patterns of light and the little fishes darting around in groups.
    A pelican flew past. A cormorant sat on the next jetty, long neck hunched into its body.
    She sighed blissfully. She was going to enjoy living here.
    It was the dolphins who brought her and her young neighbour together. The first morning Sara saw them, she rushed outside, entranced. They were swimming in the canal right next to her block, several adults and two babies. The babies were playing together in the middle of the canal, rolling around in the water like puppies.
    Joy filled her as the adults moved past, their bodies leaving smooth circles in the surface of the water when they dived. One came up with a fish in its mouth. Another splashed her as it twisted in the water, and she could swear it’d been looking up at her.
    ‘They often come past at this time. I like to watch them.’
    Sara turned and smiled as she saw the child sitting on the next jetty. ‘I do, too.’
    Not until the last grey dolphin had vanished from sight did she turn and limp into the house.
    ‘Have you hurt your leg?’ the child called.
    ‘Yes. I was in a car accident in England.’
    ‘Kerry! Come back inside this minute.’
    ‘Daddy doesn’t like me to pester the neighbours,’ the child whispered, hurrying off.
    The next morning Sara watched the dolphins on her own. When she turned to stare at the house next door, she saw a face at the upstairs window and a hand waved briefly, so she put up one hand to fiddle with her hair, afraid if she waved back openly the child would get into trouble.
    A few evenings later there was a frantic knocking on Sara’s front door.
    When she opened it, Kerry was there, tears streaming down her face. ‘Come quickly! My dad’s fallen downstairs and hurt his leg.’
    Sara found her neighbour lying at the foot of the stairs unconscious, blood trickling from a cut on his lip, a bruise already staining his forehead. One leg was twisted at an unnatural angle.
    ‘We need to call the ambulance. And don’t touch that leg. Where’s the phone?’
    ‘In the kitchen.’
    ‘Stay with him. If he wakes up, tell him I’m calling for help.’
    But when she went back into the hall, the man hadn’t stirred.
    ‘He’s not dead is he?’ the girl sobbed.
    Sara put an arm round her. ‘No, he’s not, just knocked out. I think his leg might be broken, though. The ambulance will be here soon to take him to hospital.’
    Kerry clung to her, sobbing.
    ‘Could I call anyone to help you, your mother perhaps?’
    ‘Mummy’s gone to live in America.’
    ‘Any other relatives or close friends?’
    ‘No, just me and Daddy.’
    There was a flashing blue light outside and Sara ran to open the door.
    After one of the paramedics had examined John, who was now half-conscious, he looked at Sara. ‘I’m afraid we’ll have to take your husband to hospital.’
    She limped across to join them.
    ‘Are you hurt, too?’ the ambulance officer asked.
    ‘No. It’s an old injury.’ Before she could correct them about her relationship to John, one had hurried out to get the gurney, and then they were both occupied in lifting him on to it and wheeling him out.
    As she closed the rear doors of the ambulance, the paramedic called to Sara, ‘See you at the hospital. Go to the Emergency Department.’
    Kerry tugged at Sara’s hand. ‘Will you take me?’
    ‘Yes, of course. Let’s make sure this house is locked up and you have some keys.’
    Once that was done, Kerry went to the door, her eyes beseeching Sara to hurry.
    ‘I’ll just fetch my bag and