Voices in the Dark by Catherine Banner Read Free Book Online

eventually. ‘It will be three o’clock before we start dinner at this rate.’
    She marched ahead of us, the scarf about her head tied stubbornly tight and her heeled shoes clicking. The sunlight threw the chaos of the shop into relief, and my grandmother tutted when she saw it. ‘Dear me, it gets messier every week,’ she said, folding her shawl and going to the stove. ‘Give me the potatoes, Maria. Let me do it.’
    ‘I can manage,’ said my mother.
    ‘You shouldn’t, in your condition.’ My grandmother lit the stove and sent Jasmine out to the yard for water, then started the potatoes boiling. My mother fried a piece of pork, cutting it into slices to make it go quicker, which caused my grandmother to shake her head again. Leo picked up an oil lamp from the cupboard and polished it absently with an old rag.
    ‘So there is going to be another war,’ said my grandmother. ‘That’s how it looks, with these vagrants marching about in the streets and the king refusing to leave his castle. I must say, I never thought I’d see the day.’
    ‘Is there going to be a war?’ said Jasmine.
    ‘No,’ said Leo, ruffling her hair.
    ‘Anselm, do something,’ said my grandmother sharply. ‘Don’t just stand there.’
    ‘He is – he’s setting the table,’ said my mother.
    It was true, but I did not say anything. My grandmother straightened the plates and shook her head. ‘When do you go back to school?’ she asked me.
    ‘September. If I go.’
    ‘What do you mean, if you go?’
    ‘If I go back to school and don’t stay and help Papa in the shop instead.’
    ‘Help Leonard in the shop?’ she said. ‘But surely you want an education?’
    ‘I have an education,’ I said. ‘I’ve been at school for ten years, Grandmama.’
    ‘What future is there in secondhand trading?’
    I did not know how to answer that, so I kept quiet. My mother began serving up the food. ‘Our family was meant for better things,’ said my grandmother. ‘If poor Julian was still with us, he would turn over in his grave.’
    ‘That doesn’t make sense,’ said Jasmine. ‘You said if he was still with us, he would turn over in his grave; that doesn’t make sense.’
    A silence followed. Then my mother laughed out loud. ‘Come on,’ she said, clapping her hands. ‘Your food is going cold, Mother.’
    My grandmother ate slowly, stabbing each potato with her fork as though she had a personal grievance against it. Jasmine ate her dinner under the table. She had done that since Aldebaran died, and none of us questioned it, but today my grandmother kept leaning back in her chair to frown at her.
    ‘Light the lamp, Anselm,’ said my mother quietly. It was growing darker; already the brief sunlight had faded away. Clouds banked over the city, shutting out the light from Trader’s Row. ‘This weather,’ said my grandmother. ‘You can never rely on it.’
    Silence fell again. It was broken when Jasmine dropped a potato and crawled across the floor after it. On her way back under the table, my grandmother cornered her and caught her by the wrist.
    ‘Let me go!’ said Jasmine at once.
    ‘Stop that noise. You are to sit at the table until you have finished your food. Do you hear me?’
    ‘Mother, don’t nag her—’
    ‘It is bad manners. Jasmine, do you hear?’
    Jasmine tried to struggle free, but my grandmother kept hold. There was a silence while Jasmine glared. Then the lamp in my hands began to tremble. ‘Hey, Jas,’ said Leo warningly. ‘Jasmine, stop. Anselm, put that lamp down!’
    The lamp exploded as I dropped it. Leo swore and threw out his arm to shield my mother’s face. Mygrandmother let out a shriek. ‘I didn’t mean to! I didn’t mean to!’ Jasmine said.
    There was a silence while the glass dislodged itself from every corner of the room and fell shivering to the floor. Jasmine started to cry and ran to Leo.
    ‘It’s all right,’ he said shakily. ‘No harm is done.’
    I raised my hand to my face.