The Future Homemakers of America (30 page)

Audrey had been coaxed back to England by a man she had met. Kath said, ‘See, I think that's too soon after Lance. When she was staying with me, she wasn't hardly in her right mind. Going for long walks. Wandering out in the wilds, looking for birds. She could have stumbled and lain there for days. Anil then she meets this Arthur. Well, it's none of my business, I suppose. I don't know him. I don't think she does properly, neither. You take a long hard look at him, Peggy, when you meet him. See what you think.’

79

I got a rental car and the first thing I did was drive out to Drampton, take a look around the old neighbourhood. Our old base had been turned over to their Royal Air Force in ‘62. Later on there had been some talk of it being a NATO stand-by base, but nothing ever came of it and it just stood empty. I found a stretch of fence where you could see across to the old facility. Nothing but jack-rabbits and weeds. It was like we never had been there. Then I drove on, past Crystal's old school, which had new buildings and a new name too, Smeeth Combined First and Middle School, then past the railroad crossing where we met Kath the first time, and across to Blackdyke Drove.

She had already told me she had no wish to see what was left of her old place. ‘Looking back don't interest me, Peg,’ she said. ‘Today's what matters. And tomorrow, if we're lucky.’

There wasn't much left to see. The house was just a shell, one end-wall gone completely. And the inside and that terrible outdoors John were all overgrown with nettles. Looking across to Brakey there were new row-houses as far as the eye could see, and the other side there was a tractor at work where me and Audrey had walked across that day, searching for Lois. I blushed, just remembering it.

I drove back by the place Gayle and Aud had been billeted. Their two houses had been renovated, turned into one home with a new tile roof. I never would have recognised it except for that waterway running behind it, higher than the back yard. Someone had made a cute little country home of it, called it ‘Willows’, and cleared the front yard for parking, but I still wouldn't have spent a night there.

‘Well?’ she said, when I walked in. ‘You see what an eyesore your old base is? I should love to get my hands on it. I'd have it all laid out for driving. You could take the nervy ones on there, first time they get behind the wheel, just let them get the feel of things without traffic tooting at them, getting them flustered. And you could do make-believe tests, you know? Instead of annoying them people up on the Brewer Farm estate, forever reversing round their corners, turning round in their roads, you could do it all up at Drampton. But that just lies there going to waste.’

She made us steak and fries and red wine. ‘This is my tipple now,’ she said, ‘since we've been going to Spain.’

I said, ‘There's not much left to see of your old house.’

‘So I've heard,’ she said. ‘Far as I'm concerned they should have knocked down what the sea didn't take. They could have built something new. There's plenty waiting for decent housing.’

I said, ‘You think you'd still be there? If the flood hadn't come?’

‘I could have been,’ she said. ‘Our mam lived, all her life there. Born there, died there. I could have done. But, of course, other things come along for me. Learning to drive a motor. I don't think you'll ever know what a difference that made to me.’

I said, ‘You were a fast study. Left-hand drive an’ all.’

‘And then John Pharaoh got so poorly ‘ she said. ‘I don't know as we could have stayed up there, not once I needed help with him. Anyway, that great flood did come along and then everything changed.’

There was something I was dying to know. I said, ‘Did you and John still share a bed? Right to the end?’

‘Course we didn't,’ she said. ‘We got lovely new divans when we moved to the maisonette. Well, they were old stock. Some bed shop gave them, help people out after the flood. But they were beautiful to sleep on, after that old bed we were used to.’

The red wine had loosened my tongue. I said, ‘You know, it's the weirdest thing I ever heard, brother and sister sharing a bed.’

‘There was plenty doing the same,’ she said. ‘May and her sisters were four to a bed, till she went into service. May Gotobed. Gotobed if you can find room, that's what we always said.’

I said, ‘Well,
sisters
maybe. But male and female … I mean, there could be consequences …’

‘Oh, I know what you're getting at,’ she said, ‘but me and John Pharaoh never had consequences. He had his adventures, and maybe he shouldn't have done, but he only had a short life and a man needs that. You only have to look at a dog to see. He smells a bitch, he'll do anything to get to her. Can't stop himself until he's had his consequences.’

I said, ‘Neither of you ever think of getting married?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘He had his lady friends. There was one in Brakey. There was one in Kennyhill. Village bikes they used to call them. There was probably others, specially with the war on and men away. But that's as far as it went. He knew not to bring any trouble home. He had enough sense for that.’

I topped up her glass. Topped up mine too. I said, ‘What about you?’

But before she could answer, the phone rang. It was Audrey, calling with directions. ‘After Witham, watch out for a right turn,’ she said. ‘It's just a single-track road, so it's easily missed. If you see a general store, with a red mailbox, you've gone too far.’

When I got off the phone, Kath was curled up on her couch, just gazing at her gas-fire flames.

‘I had my chances,’ she said. ‘I did get offers. Specially after my Premium Bond come up. I had offers'd make your hair curl. But what would I want a man for at my time of life? I come home at night, I don't want to have to start peeling spuds. Missing my programmes because there's football on the other side. You know what it's like? You're on your own and you seem happy enough.’

I said, ‘Yes, I am. But I wouldn't have missed having Crystal.’

‘Course you wouldn't,’ she said. ‘But that was different for me. I made my mind up a long time ago I wouldn't be having any babies.’

The second bottle was nearly empty. She looked right at me, eyes kinda bright and shining, could have been tears. ‘Because of the nerve thing that's in the family. Like our mam had, and then John. That's why he knew to be careful with his consequences. It's in the blood, you see. Only it won't be going any further. I've made sure of that.’

We sat quiet for a minute. ‘You ever had a drink called Fundador?’ she said. ‘It's from Spain. I'll give you a little taster, as a nightcap.’

80

Audrey was right about missing the turn. But I found the general store and the mailbox. I needed to buy Kleenex and throat lozenges anyway. One thing about the English weather. You were guaranteed to get a head cold.

The store-keeper said, ‘That'll be the American lady you're visiting. About a mile back they way you come, then sharp left where they leave the milk churns.’

I found it, second time of trying. The track narrowed and dropped, and then I seen the sign, and an old yellow station-wagon, rusty round the wheel arches. Lower Ness.

Now
that
was what I call a house. It had a kinda saltbox look to it, and lots of outbuildings, stables and stuff and the cutest front yard, with ducks running wild on the lawns. And then out came Audrey, with two big red dogs bounding ahead of her.

She looked great, in a natural, English kinda way, just dressed for gardening. I'd have worn pants myself if I had known I was going so deep into the backwoods. If I had known I was gonna have shoulder-high dogs wanting to be my best friends.

I said, ‘What's this? You gone native?’

She had allowed her grey hair to grow in. She said, ‘Correct. You just drove here. How many hair salons did you pass?’

A man came out of the house. Tall, fair but greying, big droopy moustache.

‘Peggy,’ she said. ‘This is Arthur. We're engaged to be married.’

I guess a good-looking woman like Audrey didn't need to stay a widow for long if she didn't choose.

Arthur was a very polite person. He was very particular about ladies first through doorways and pulling out your chair and all that. I really can't say why I didn't take to him.

We sat straight down to some kinda vegetable soup, then Arthur went off in the station-wagon. Dearest, he called her. ‘Back about six, dearest. Leave you girls to chew the fat.’

‘Okay,’ she said, soon as he was gone. ‘Tell me what you think.’

I said, ‘He's nice.’

‘Nice?’ she said. ‘Nice! He's a genuine English gentleman. His family goes back hundreds of years.’

I said, ‘Honey,
every
family goes back. Question is, where are they headed?’

There was good silver on the table. Not ‘a pattern I knew, but it was quality. The house was shabby, though. Rugs were all faded.

I said, ‘Hey, I'm sure he's wonderful. Where'd you find him?’

‘I came back from Chicago,’ she said, ‘couldn't stand the memories. I rented a cottage at Hythe, right by the water here, and started painting. All those years I talked about it. All those paint-boxes Lance gave me for birthdays. I finally got round to it. ‘Painted from breakfast till the cocktail hour. I tell you, Peggy, the day just flies. Then I made a real fool of myself. I took my best efforts into Arthur's little gallery, see if they were good enough to sell. They weren't. One thing there's no shortage of around here is amateur watercolours. He offered me lunch, though. Lunch. Then dinner. Then a job, helping out in his gallery.’

I said, ‘And then a wedding band?’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘I'm a foreigner. I can't just come over here and take a job. Getting married kinda regularises things.’

I said, ‘You didn't mention falling in love. I suppose that happened, somewhere along the way?’

She laughed. ‘Of course!’ she said. ‘We're just a little long in the tooth for all that romantic stuff.’

Her ring had been in Arthur's family for four generations. When I told Lois, later, back Stateside, she said, ‘My God, how cheap can a man get? Was it a big rock?’

I said, ‘No. I'd describe it as a modest chip.’

Lo said, ‘She's nuts. He's cheap. He's English. Plus, he's old. Soon as the honeymoon's over she's gonna be bankrolling some good American prostate surgery. You heard it here.’

Audrey showed me her paintings, after we had cleared away the soup. They were just sea and sky, mainly, but she had let the different paints mingle while they were still wet, and she seemed to have found a hundred different shades of green. I loved them.

I said, ‘Arthur's crazy. I'd buy these.’

‘Well, Arthur has a very good eye,’ she said. ‘He knows good stuff when he sees it. But, if there's something you like, help yourself.’

I picked out one for me and one for Kath, and we both have them still. Anybody asks me I'm always proud to say, ‘Yes, this artist is a personal friend of mine. According to some big expert, she didn't understand her medium.’

We went for a walk. There was quite a spread of land around the property. I said, ‘What do the boys think? They met Arthur?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘And I don't see it happening. Arthur doesn't care for travelling, and the boys have their own lives.’

It seemed their first act of rebellion, after Lance's demise, was to tear up their papers for the Military Academy. Then they both grew their hair real long. ‘Only time they've ever acted like twins,’ she said.

So Mikey had stayed on in San Francisco, doing something called concept art, and Lance Jnr was in Providence, Rhode Island, selling clam chowder and sourdough bread.

One side of the garden led on to a grass track. We followed it till we came to water. It was called The Estuary, and there was such a pretty view across to an oyster farm.

I said, ‘It's a big step, Aud. Leaving your kids behind. A new country is hardr enough. New husband, too …’

‘I'll take my chance,’ she said. ‘It has to be better than being a lonely widow, starting over some place nobody knows me.’

I said, ‘You only feel that way because it's early days. You're still getting over Lance. Another year or two and you'll turn the corner. That's what they reckon.’

Hell, Audrey was always the strong one. Wherever you dropped her, she'd pick herself up. She'd brush her hair, unpack her good table linen. Next thing you knew, she'd be organising bridge fours at the OWC.

‘Twenty-five years, Peggy,’ she said. ‘I gave it everything I had. Lance got a promotion, I rose with him. He could have made General with me on his team. Now none of it counts for a damn thing.’

One of the red dogs came outta the water, shook itself all over us.

‘Know the worst thing?’ she said. ‘The stupid way it ended. Choking on a stupid piece of beef, arguing … and choking … three stupid Rudman men … and what the hell for? For nothing. Lance is six foot under and the boys have got their, stupid no-hope jobs. I'm the one didn't get a fair deal …’

Her face was hard and bitter. ‘… wasn't just Lance's life ended,’ she said. ‘I lost everything. And I can't even say it was a noble sacrifice. Not like Gayle, with Okey … and then with her Marine …’

I said, ‘Aud, you had half a lifetime with Lance. And you have your boys. What do you suppose Gayle would have given for some of that? I don't believe she took much comfort knowing her husbands were killed on active service.’

‘Maybe,’ she said. She hurled a stick for the dogs. ‘But it sure
sounds
better.’

We went inside. It was a cold house. There was a fireplace big enough to walk in and Audrey started up a fire, but move one inch from the hearth and a person could catch their death. We drank tea, like real English ladies, and listened to the ticking of Arthur's old clocks.

I said, ‘What do you do all day? I guess you don't paint any more?’

‘Help at the gallery,’ she said. ‘Read. Keep this big house squared away. I'm happy enough.’

I said, ‘Okay. Just don't rush into this Arthur thing. Take your time. Know what I'd do? If I could paint pictures like this, I'd go back Stateside, open a little boutique. I guarantee you, fast as you could paint them, they'd be sold.’