The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (9) by Alexander McCall Smith Read Free Book Online Page A

of you—which
     I am. I’m very proud of you.” He paused. “But please be careful over this one. This
     isn’t just some minor issue you’re helping with—this is really serious.”
    Isabel sought to reassure him. “I’m only going to be speaking to him. That’s all.”
    It was as if he had not heard. “And the point about serious matters like this is that
     people get hurt.”
    “I shall be very careful. I promise you.”
    They went inside. She bathed Jamie’s hand, as the clash with the deckchair had broken
     the skin slightly. She patted it dry with a clean towel and then kissed it. He looked
     at the clock; Charlie would have to be fetched in half an hour or so. He put his arms
     about Isabel and embraced her, pulling her to him. Her hands were on his shoulder
     blades. It was warm in the house and the sound of a mower drifted in from over the
     road through an open window, bringing with it the smell of cut grass.

CHAPTER FOUR

 
    T HE ARRANGEMENT , made by Martha Drummond, and relayed to Isabel later that afternoon in a telephone
     call from Martha, was that Duncan Munrowe would come, as Isabel had suggested, to
     the German bakery in Bruntsfield at one o’clock the following day. Isabel’s housekeeper
     Grace had been on holiday but would be back in the morning and would be able to collect
     Charlie from nursery school in place of Jamie, who was recording in Glasgow.
    Grace had been in Stranraer, where she had a cousin who was married to a farmer. Each
     year she went to visit this cousin for a week, and inevitably came back sleep-deprived
     and vaguely grumpy as a result. “He snores something terrible,” she explained to Isabel.
     “I’m short of a week’s sleep. He goes to bed at ten every night—regular as clockwork.
     By ten-fifteen the snoring starts, and it goes on all night. You hear it throughout
     the house and it makes the walls shake. I’m not exaggerating—all night. Snoring and
     snorting.”
    “Poor man,” said Isabel.
    “Poor man? Poor us. My cousin hardly sleeps, she says, andno sooner do I drop off than I’m woken up by the sound of his snoring down the corridor.”
    “It sounds as if he might have sleep apnoea,” suggested Isabel. “My father had it.
     You stop breathing every so often and wake up. People who have sleep apnoea are usually
     chronically sleep-deprived.” She thought of the cumbersome mask her father had sometimes
     used to deal with the problem. “He could be helped.”
    “Not him,” said Grace. “He’s stubborn. He doesn’t think there’s anything wrong.”
    This discussion of sleep led to the matter of Charlie’s afternoon nap. In Grace’s
     absence, Charlie had taken to resisting this period of rest, and yet he was clearly
     tired.
    “His mind seems very active,” said Isabel. “He wants to keep going.”
    She paused, remembering her conversation with Jamie about Charlie’s mathematical ability.
     “He seems to be very keen on counting things at the moment,” she went on. “Have you
     noticed that?”
    Grace did not seem surprised. “Yes, of course I have. I’ve been teaching him, you
     see.”
    Isabel frowned. “Teaching him mathematics?”
    Grace nodded. “Yes. I’d noticed that he was quite good at counting and so I’ve been
     giving him lessons. I’ve taught him how to divide things, and some basic multiplication.
     I found a book in the library that tells you how to do this. It’s by a Korean woman
     who’s had two of her children win prizes in the Maths Olympiad. She explains how it’s
     done.”
    Isabel was not sure what to say. So that was how Charlie had been able to come up
     with what seemed to be naturallybrilliant answers: he had been taught. For a few moments she was silent. She trusted
     Grace with so much of Charlie’s life, and she was not sure why she should feel concerned
     about her teaching him mathematics. At the back of her mind was a feeling that one
     had to be careful with method when it came to