Weldon, Fay - Novel 07 by Puffball (v1.1) Read Free Book Online

the
genius architect, temporarily unemployed. Lovely to be able to help!
                 “Friendship,”
Liffey said, “is all about helping.”
                 “Urn,”
said Richard. Five years earlier the remark would have enchanted, not
embarrassed him.
                 “Don’t
you think so, Bella?” persisted Liffey, not getting the expected response from
Richard.
                 “I
daresay,” said Bella politely. Ray was out visiting friends who had a
sixteen-year-old daughter he was helping through a Home Economics examination.
Bella was in a bad, fidgety mood. Richard knew Ray was making her unhappy and,
from charity, had lifted the embargo on the friendship. And Bella was being
very kind—the kindest, in fact, of all their friends— offering packing cases,
time, concern, and showing an interest in the details of the move. Now, on the
eve of their departure for the country, she gave them spaghetti Bolognese. The
sauce came from a can. Richard followed Bella into the kitchen. Liffey had
gone to the bathroom.
                 “Liffey’s
a lucky little girl,” said Bella, “Having a husband to indulge her so.”
                 Bella
kissed Richard full on the lips, startling him.
                “If you’re not careful,” said Bella,
“Liffey will still be a little girl when she’s got grey hairs and you’re an
old, old man.”
                 She
dabbed his mouth with a tissue.
                 “You’re
going to hate the country,” said Bella. “You’re going to be so lonely.”
                 “We
have each other,” said Richard.
                 Bella
laughed.
                 Liffey
came back from the bathroom with a long face.
                 “No
baby?” asked Bella.
                 “No
baby,” said Liffey. “I’m sorry, Richard. Once we’re in the country, I’m sure it
will happen.”
                 The
removal van arrived on the morning of Wednesday, January 7. Liffey’s period was
soon to finish. She was in a progesterone phase.
                 Richard
took the day off from work. They followed the furniture van in the car, and
left the key under the mat for Mory and Helen. There was no need of a lease, or
a rent-book, between friends.
                 “Goodbye,
you horrible town,” cried Liffey. “Hello, country! Nature, here we come!”
Richard wished she wouldn’t, Bella’s words in his mind. And, he rather feared,
Bella’s lips. He had never thought of her as a sexual entity before.
                 Mory
and Helen moved in a couple of hours after Richard and Liffey had left. With
them came Helen’s pregnant sister and her unemployed boyfriend, both of whom
now had the required permanent address from which to claim Social Security
benefits.
                 Honeycomb
Cottage in January was perhaps colder and damper than Liffey had expected, and
the rooms smaller, and the banisters had to come down before any furniture
could get in, and Richard sawed the double bed in two to get it into the
bedroom, but Liffey was happy, brave and positive, and by Wednesday evening had
fires lit, decorative branches, however bare, in vases, and a cosy space
cleared amongst chaos for a delicious celebration meal of bottled caviar,
fillet steak (from Harrods), a whole pound of mushrooms between them, and
champagne.
                “All this,” marvelled Liffey, “and
five pounds a week profit!” She’d forgotten how much
she’d asked Helen to pay, in the end.
                 “You’re
leaving out the fares,” murmured Richard, but not too loudly, for it was always
unkind to present Liffey with too much reality all at once. Fares would amount
to some thirty pounds a week. Liffey had bought a whole crate of new books
—from thrillers, new novels, to heavy works on sociology and