‘I wasn’t meaning to upset you. It’s just that, well, it’s almost time to go home, where we’ll have even less time for you and me. There’ll be work, and the kids, and …’ He hesitated.
‘And
what
?’
Embarrassed, he looked away. ‘It’s just that I never get you to myself these days, and I miss you, Nancy. So very much.’
‘Oh, I see.’ Nancy was in the mood for a fight.
‘You mean my
father
, don’t you?’ she demanded. ‘You don’t like it because I asked him to come and live with us after we lost Mum. Admit it! You want my father out of our house and the sooner the better. That’s it, isn’t it? That’s what you’re trying to say.’
Brian was shocked. ‘Never. That is
not
what I’m saying, and you know it. I love your father as much as you and the kids do. Besides, it
was
me
who suggested he should come and stay with us – or have you forgotten?’
‘No, I haven’t forgotten, but it sounds to me as though you’re beginning to regret having suggested it in the first place.’
Angry, Brian took her by the shoulders. ‘What the hell is wrong with you tonight?’ he demanded. ‘You’ve been acting strange all evening.’
‘Nonsense.’ His wife tried to wriggle away. ‘You always
did have a vivid imagination.’
Brian wasn’t about to fall for that one. ‘It has nothing to do with imagination and it has nothing to do with the wine you drank either. I saw you, Nancy! I saw your expression when you looked at Sammie. It was as if you’d never seen her before. As if you were looking at a stranger.’
‘Now you really are talking nonsense!’ Nancy snapped.
‘Apart from that, you’ve
hardly spoken a word to anyone all evening; then you asked me to fill your glass to the brim, even knowing how wine can affect you.’
He went on, ‘Just a while ago I found you sobbing your heart out, and now, for some reason I can’t even fathom, you seem to be hellbent on picking an argument with me!’
All evening he had seen her behaving out of character, and it worried him. ‘As for accusing
me of wanting to throw Don out of house and home … For crying out loud, Nancy, I think the world of him, and you know that. So why don’t you tell me, what’s
really
going on in that head of yours?’
Exasperated when she deliberately turned away, he swung her round to face him. ‘I’m beginning to think there’s something you know and I don’t. So come on, out with it. What’s going on?’
Aware that
she had foolishly aroused his suspicions, Nancy quickly turned the tables on him, ‘It’s
you
! You’ve got me all confused, with your need to sit in the summer house, just the two of us. Then you moan about the kids always being round us, so where else would you have them be, eh? Roaming the streets, getting into trouble?’
Just as she had planned, her tirade put him on the defensive. ‘Don’t be silly,
woman! It’s just that we seem to have lost touch with each other. We never have time to sit and talk about us – you and me! It’s always other people – family, neighbours, the woman in the corner shop or the man who sells papers on the market. Other people!’
When he thought he had got her attention, he went on more quietly, ‘The truth is, Nancy, we seem to have lost our way. All I want is for
you and me to get to know each other again … just to talk and be together without anyone bursting in on us, or demanding our time, or calling us away … stealing what time should be ours, so that in the end, there’s nothing left for either of us.’
His voice grew soft and persuasive. ‘I bet you can’t even remember the last time I told you how much I love you?’
Nancy gave a small embarrassed laugh.
‘Honestly, Brian, just listen to yourself! We’re not two young people who need to keep telling each other things like that.’
‘Oh, but you’re wrong, Nancy. It’s at our time of life, when the children are learning to flex their wings and time is running short, this is precisely when we need to let each other know our feelings.’ He took hold of her hand. ‘I want you to know that I do love you, Nancy.
I always have and I always will.’
He smiled knowingly. ‘In spite of the fact that you can be bossy and frightening at times.’
Humbled and somewhat flustered by his unusually sincere outburst, Nancy drew away from him. ‘You’re drunker than I thought!’ she chided. ‘We’d best go inside, before they wonder where we are.’
More sober now, and definitely in control, she marched up to the house, with
Brian staring after her, forlorn and rejected. ‘All right, girl, if that’s the way you want it,’ he mumbled, following behind. ‘You can pretend all you like, but
I know
there’s something different about you tonight. You’ve been too quiet, and just now when you flew at me in a temper, it wasn’t me you were angry with, oh no. Seems to me, it was someone else who upset you tonight, and for some reason,
you don’t want me to find out – in case I start a skirmish, eh? Well, you needn’t worry, because I’m not
that
drunk.’
Kicking out at a loose stone, he raised his voice to yell after her, ‘And I’m not taking the blame either!’
In fact, there very nearly was a skirmish later on that night – but neither Brian nor Nancy had anything to do with it.
David and Sammie were in Sammie’s room, chatting
about the end of their holiday, and saying how they would have liked to have stayed on a while longer. ‘I’m sure if we asked to stay for another few days, nobody would object,’ Sammie remarked. She couldn’t remember now why she had been so reluctant to come on holiday. It had been brilliant!
David shook his head. ‘No. I’ve had enough of the seaside. Anyway, I’m due back at work on Monday. How
do you fancy a weekend in London instead, seeing the sights? Sam Martin’s brother had his stag night there, and apparently it was the best night they’ve ever had in their lives.’
‘Oh, whoopee-doo!’ Sammie threw one of her pillows at his head. ‘We’ll have to get
you
married off, then we can all have a party. That’s if we ever find a girl who’ll have you!’
‘You little monster!’ Grabbing the other
pillow, David threw it at her, then when she retaliated, the pillow fight really got underway, with a volley of screaming and shouting and laughter that reached the downstairs lounge, where the others were talking about boats and holidays.
‘What the devil’s going on up there!’ Nancy was already on her feet and ready to run up the stairs, when Brian caught hold of her.
‘They’re just being high-spirited,’
he said. ‘They’re just kids, burning off energy. That’s all.’
When Nancy seemed determined to go and investigate, Mac stood up, albeit rather unsteadly. ‘I’m the man of the house,’ he declared stoutly. ‘You lot talk among yourselves, while I sort the kids out.’
Before anyone could object, he was already headed for the stairs.
David heard the footsteps approach. ‘Ssh. Somebody’s coming!’ In
a minute he was out the door and back in his room, before Mac even got to the top of the stairs.
With his ear to the door, he heard his Uncle Mac knock on his sister’s door. ‘Sammie, it’s Uncle Mac. Is everything all right in there?’
‘Yes, thank you, Uncle Mac.’
‘We thought we heard a lot of noise.’
‘Oh, it must have been the radio. Sorry if it disturbed you. I’ve turned it off now.’ There
was a pause, then, ‘Goodnight, Uncle Mac.’
‘Goodnight, then. Sleep tight.’
David heard the conversation and was quietly chuckling to himself. ‘“I had the radio on, Uncle Mac”.’ He mocked Sammie’s voice to perfection. ‘“Goodnight, Uncle Mac”.’
He had to stop himself from laughing out loud.
Waiting until Mac’s footsteps receded down the stairs, he then slunk out of the door.
As he came onto
the landing, he was astonished to see that Uncle Mac had not gone downstairs, after all. Instead, he was half-crouched by the balustrade, stamping his feet in a manner that would suggest he was actually going further away, when in fact he had never left the spot.
Realising his intention, David smiled. You cunning old devil, he thought and shrank further back into the shadows. Trying to make Sammie
believe you’ve gone down the stairs – until she starts with the ‘radio’ and then you’ll be banging on the door again.
He quietly chuckled. ‘You’re more crafty than I gave you credit for!’
What he saw next wiped the smile off his face.
Unaware that David was watching from the shadows, Mac peeped over the balustrade, making sure there was no one on their way up. Satisfied that he was alone, he
gingerly placed his hand on the doorknob to Sammie’s room, and very carefully turned it, until the door inched open.
A furtive glance to right and left, then the man leaned forward, painstakingly pushing open the door, just enough for him to look inside and watch Samantha as she undressed for bed.
When he became visibly excited, licking his lips and shifting from one foot to the other, David
was deeply shocked. He could hardly believe what his eyes were telling him.
Why was Uncle Mac still there? Why was he peeping into Sammie’s room like that?
Suspicions were forming in his mind; dark, terrible suspicions that made his skin crawl. No! He had to be mistaken. But there in front of him was the truth – Uncle Mac, nervous and excited, like he had never seen him before. No, he had to
be wrong! Uncle Mac would never do such a thing.
Making as much noise as he could, David came down the landing, whistling and calling, ‘Uncle Mac! Oh, did the radio disturb you? I told Sammie she should turn it down, but she wouldn’t listen.’
Flustered and shocked, Mac instantly shrank from the door. ‘Oh, David! Er, yes, I was just waiting at the door to make sure she turned the darned thing
off.’ With the effects of drink still on him,
he staggered drunkenly to the top of the stairs. ‘Sounds as though she might have gone to bed now, so I dare say we won’t hear any more of that tonight, eh?’
Going unsteadily down the stairs, he called back to David. ‘Goodnight, lad.’
Still shaken by what he had witnessed, David mumbled back, ‘Goodnight.’
Returning to Sammie’s room, he softly tapped
on the door.
Sammie called out, ‘Who’s there?’
‘It’s me! Can I come in for a minute?’
‘What’s wrong?’ Sammie left the door open for him. ‘I thought you’d be in bed asleep by now.’
‘I don’t feel tired, sis.’ It was clear to David that she had just climbed out of bed; her robe looked like it had been thrown on, and her feet were bare.
‘Uncle Mac was at the door, complaining about the noise.’
Giggling, she threw herself onto the bed and swung her legs over the edge. ‘I told him I was sorry to have disturbed them, but that it was the radio, which was now turned off.’
David already knew all that. ‘Did you let him come in?’
‘’Course not!’ she laughed. ‘I was getting ready for bed. Anyway, he was only there for a minute and then he went away.’
David wondered if should tell Sammie of
his suspicions. But then if he did, what would he say – that Uncle Mac was peeping at her through the open door?
When he thought of it like that, it sounded ridiculous. After all, the very reason Uncle Mac had come upstairs was because of the noise, which she had told him was the radio. So wasn’t it feasible that he should look in to make certain Sammie was not waiting to turn the radio back
on, once his back was turned?
Besides, David wasn’t sure if what he had thought to be Uncle Mac being excited or sinister, wasn’t merely agitation at having reprimanded Sammie about the unacceptable noise.
He couldn’t even be certain if Uncle Mac had seen anything untoward. What if Sammie was already in her bed and completely covered over? What if Mac really was just checking to see if everything
was all right like he said?
David had partly convinced himself. ‘Maybe I should run it by Dad?’ he muttered aloud.
‘Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,’ Sammie declared.
David looked up. ‘What are you talking about?’
Sammie groaned. ‘I just said, telling Dad first, about a possible
trip to London, sounds like a good idea to me. Then he can tell Mother, and maybe persuade her that we would
come to no harm if she was to let us loose for a day. Then we could decide where to go and what to do.’ While David was thinking of his suspicions about Uncle Mac, Sammie had been rattling on about the idea of going to London.
David gave a sigh of relief. ‘Oh, right! Yea … or we could maybe go fishing, what do you think?’
Sammie didn’t know
what
to think, ‘I reckon you should make up your mind,’
she grumbled. ‘First we’re going up in a hot-air balloon, then we’re going to somewhere else. And now, it’s fishing!’
Relieved to leave his suspicions behind and pick up on the conversation, David reminded her, ‘Mother probably wouldn’t let us go on our own anyway.’
Sammie was determined. ‘We’ll just have to
insist
then, won’t we?’
‘Oh, what! And start World War Three?’
‘If needs be,
yes
!’
Something about Sammie’s fighting attitude made David think.
If he was to raise the matter of Uncle Mac peering in at Sammie’s door, it might cause more trouble than it was worth. Or it would turn out to be something and nothing and he would end up with egg on his face.
He decided to let matters rest.
After all, he was probably overreacting. He reminded himself that Uncle Mac had obviously had
too much to drink over dinner, and that he was probably fidgeting about because he was unable to remain steady on his feet.
Even though he had no particular liking for his uncle, there was no real evidence that Mac was harbouring bad thoughts towards Sammie, and why should he? They had always got on like a house on fire, even when David had tried so hard to turn Sammie against him; and that was
probably out of petty jealousy. It riled him that Uncle Mac had always paid more attention to everyone else than he did to his nephew.
Yes, that was it! David told himself. It was nothing more than his own sibling jealousy, and that was the truth of it.
For the next little while, he and Sammie talked of certain things they’d like to do before getting back to normality.