The Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood Read Free Book Online Page A

out.
    Oscar knew very little about her. She was a reedy girl with tangerine hair and a star-map of freckles on her face. There was nothing especially attractive about her if you studied her features one by one, but somehow when they were put together in a jumble like they were—small eyes, pale skin, short ears, thin nose—she was quite pleasing to look at.
    Soon, Oscar heard the front door close and Eden came striding into the living room. ‘Mind if I turn down the din?’ he said, and flicked off the stereo without waiting for an answer. The silence made everything seem louder somehow: the strain of the leather upholstery against Marcus’s back, and the scuff of Iris’s feet upon the hardwood as she came in from the hall after her brother, looking solemn, tired-eyed.
    Eden collected a few wine bottles and took a seat beside Jane. There was something so cordial and Victorian about their behaviour towards each other—a smile here, a kind look there, but not a single touch between them—and Oscar found it strange that they could be so close together on the couch and yet so distant at the same time. They listened while Marcus and Yin discussed theart of punting: whether a traditional wooden pole was the best choice on a cold day, or if a metal pole and some sturdy gloves were more appropriate. It was the cause for some debate.
    Oscar watched the orange flames whip steadily against the hearth. His head was foggy with beer, and the voices in the room felt heavier now. Only Iris seemed to be completely sober. She went to turn off a couple of lamps and it gave the lounge a sedate, womb-like feeling—warm, safe, certain. Then she began clearing the mess, sweeping things into a cardboard box.
    ‘For God’s sake, Iggy, will you stop tidying up,’ Marcus said. ‘You’re making us all feel guilty. I’m getting itchy just watching you.’
    ‘Leave it, sis,’ Eden agreed. ‘Petra will do it tomorrow.’
    ‘Petra?’ Yin said. ‘Tell me that’s not your cleaner.’
    Eden blushed, his cheeks turning as ruddy as the open fire. ‘She’s more than just a cleaner; she’s a bloody godsend.’
    ‘When did you get her?’
    ‘A few weeks ago. From one of those agencies. She whistles when she hoovers, like one of the seven dwarfs.’ Eden snapped his fingers. ‘For heaven’s sake, Iggy, come and sit down.’ He patted the empty space to his left. Iris set the cardboard box down on the floor, dusted off her hands, and went to join him.
    ‘I can’t believe you have a cleaner,’ Yin said. ‘That’s so bourgeois.’
    ‘There’s nothing wrong with having a cleaner,’ Marcus said. ‘My parents had two when I was growing up. They were the only people who ever played with me. I loved them like sisters.’
    ‘Well,
that
explains a lot,’ said Jane.
    Eden stared across the room. ‘What do you think, Oscar? You’re the only one here who’s done an honest day’s work in his life. Is there anything wrong with having a cleaner?’
    Oscar gave the question less thought than it probably required, and his words came out a little harder than he intended. ‘As long as you treat her well, and pay her what she’s worth, I don’t see theharm. We’ve all got to make a living. If there weren’t rich Cambridge students like you lot, too lazy to pick up your own socks, there’d be more people out on the streets.’
    The room went quiet, and their eyes all seemed to turn in his direction. ‘Nicely put,’ Iris said, a wide smile on her face.
    Yin smiled too. ‘I guess we deserved that.’
    ‘Do you remember that time at prep when the House Parents made us clean the boarding house, so we selotaped ham under Ian Ashbee’s bed?’ Eden said to Marcus, laughing. ‘For weeks, nobody could figure out where the smell was coming from. Ha! The look on his face!’
    ‘Why did they make you clean the boarding house?’ Jane said.
    ‘Marcus stole a box of KitKats from the tuck shop.’
    ‘For you. I stole it
for you
.’
    ‘Yes, and