Read Online Days Without Number by Robert Goddard - Free Book Online
Authors: Robert Goddard
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recently, scraping by at Carwether?'
'Farming was his choice, not mine.'
'So what? I'm not asking you to give him careers advice. I'm asking you to sympathize with him. To understand. But you can't, can you? Or won't. You refuse to understand any of us.'
'I understand you only too well.'
'Yeah? Well, that works both ways. Don't think I haven't rumbled you.'
'As a matter of fact, my girl, I--'
The back door slammed so hard that the china in the cabinet next to the fireplace tinkled like a wind-chime. Then Irene came back into the room. 'He's gone,' she said with a sigh. 'There was no talking him out of it.'
'There was no talking him out of any of the many follies he's embarked on in his time,' said Michael, quite neutrally, almost analytically. 'It's not in his nature to take advice.'
'Any more than it's in yours,' snapped Anna.
'On the contrary. I heed the advice of those qualified to give it. I always have. It's how I made my way in the world. It's how I made a success of my life. Whereas . . .' He smiled at them. 'Well, we demonstrate our own cases.'
This is hopeless,' said Irene, her expression underlining the point. She looked like someone who had carefully and lengthily planned a course of action, only to see her plan disintegrate as soon as she embarked upon it. Which was, of
61
course, exactly what had happened. 'I think I'd like to go home. Nick?'
He shrugged. 'Fine by me.'
'Withdraw and regroup,' said Michael. 'Yes. Quite the best tactic, in the circumstances. Retreat to a place of safety and prepare an alternative approach. It won't work, of course.' His smile broadened into a beam of contentment at what he clearly regarded as their rout. 'But don't let me stop you trying.'
'Why did we think it would be any different?' Irene asked rhetorically an hour later, in the back bar of the Old Ferry Inn. There were no customers to hear her words, evening opening time still being some way off. Her audience comprised Nick, Anna and Basil. They had left Trennor more or less simultaneously and proceeded in convoy to Saltash. Now they sat around the fire, staring glumly at each other and wondering where any of them went from here. 'I mean, how could we be so na�ve as to believe he'd see reason when he's never seen it in my experience so much as once in his life? How could we?'
'It is difficult not to think of one's father as one would wish him to be rather than as he truly is,' Basil mused.
'I don't like him,' said Anna, sounding surprised by the realization. 'I love him, of course. But I don't actually like him. I mean, not at all.'
'I think I'll phone Andrew,' said Irene, jumping up. 'See how he is.'
She went to the wall-mounted phone behind the bar to make the call. They watched her dial and stand with the receiver in her hand, listening to the ringing tone on the line. A minute slowly passed. Then she put the phone down.
'I wish he'd get an answering machine,' she murmured.
Perhaps he was already out searching for big cats with his nightscope and video camera, Nick thought. He would find them easier to catch than their father, that was for sure. 'We should take Dad's advice,' he said softly.
62
'What!' Anna gaped at him.
'Reasoning with him won't work. He's made his mind up and there's nothing - absolutely nothing - we can do to change it. It's as simple as that. Forget Tantris's offer. Forget Gorton Lodge. And tell Elspeth Hartley it's no go. Anything else is a waste of effort.'
'That's pure defeatism,' Irene protested.
'If you like.'
'Well, I don't like.'
'We could change our minds,' said Basil. 'Urge Dad to reject the offer.'
Anna made a face. 'You mean on the basis that he'd accept it just to be contrary?'
'Quite so.'
'You are joking, aren't you?'
Basil grinned at her. 'In the circumstances, what else can one do?'
After Anna and Basil had left and Irene had opened up for the evening, Nick went for a walk round the town. Saltash on a Sunday night in January was about as lively as a
'Farming was his choice, not mine.'
'So what? I'm not asking you to give him careers advice. I'm asking you to sympathize with him. To understand. But you can't, can you? Or won't. You refuse to understand any of us.'
'I understand you only too well.'
'Yeah? Well, that works both ways. Don't think I haven't rumbled you.'
'As a matter of fact, my girl, I--'
The back door slammed so hard that the china in the cabinet next to the fireplace tinkled like a wind-chime. Then Irene came back into the room. 'He's gone,' she said with a sigh. 'There was no talking him out of it.'
'There was no talking him out of any of the many follies he's embarked on in his time,' said Michael, quite neutrally, almost analytically. 'It's not in his nature to take advice.'
'Any more than it's in yours,' snapped Anna.
'On the contrary. I heed the advice of those qualified to give it. I always have. It's how I made my way in the world. It's how I made a success of my life. Whereas . . .' He smiled at them. 'Well, we demonstrate our own cases.'
This is hopeless,' said Irene, her expression underlining the point. She looked like someone who had carefully and lengthily planned a course of action, only to see her plan disintegrate as soon as she embarked upon it. Which was, of
61
course, exactly what had happened. 'I think I'd like to go home. Nick?'
He shrugged. 'Fine by me.'
'Withdraw and regroup,' said Michael. 'Yes. Quite the best tactic, in the circumstances. Retreat to a place of safety and prepare an alternative approach. It won't work, of course.' His smile broadened into a beam of contentment at what he clearly regarded as their rout. 'But don't let me stop you trying.'
'Why did we think it would be any different?' Irene asked rhetorically an hour later, in the back bar of the Old Ferry Inn. There were no customers to hear her words, evening opening time still being some way off. Her audience comprised Nick, Anna and Basil. They had left Trennor more or less simultaneously and proceeded in convoy to Saltash. Now they sat around the fire, staring glumly at each other and wondering where any of them went from here. 'I mean, how could we be so na�ve as to believe he'd see reason when he's never seen it in my experience so much as once in his life? How could we?'
'It is difficult not to think of one's father as one would wish him to be rather than as he truly is,' Basil mused.
'I don't like him,' said Anna, sounding surprised by the realization. 'I love him, of course. But I don't actually like him. I mean, not at all.'
'I think I'll phone Andrew,' said Irene, jumping up. 'See how he is.'
She went to the wall-mounted phone behind the bar to make the call. They watched her dial and stand with the receiver in her hand, listening to the ringing tone on the line. A minute slowly passed. Then she put the phone down.
'I wish he'd get an answering machine,' she murmured.
Perhaps he was already out searching for big cats with his nightscope and video camera, Nick thought. He would find them easier to catch than their father, that was for sure. 'We should take Dad's advice,' he said softly.
62
'What!' Anna gaped at him.
'Reasoning with him won't work. He's made his mind up and there's nothing - absolutely nothing - we can do to change it. It's as simple as that. Forget Tantris's offer. Forget Gorton Lodge. And tell Elspeth Hartley it's no go. Anything else is a waste of effort.'
'That's pure defeatism,' Irene protested.
'If you like.'
'Well, I don't like.'
'We could change our minds,' said Basil. 'Urge Dad to reject the offer.'
Anna made a face. 'You mean on the basis that he'd accept it just to be contrary?'
'Quite so.'
'You are joking, aren't you?'
Basil grinned at her. 'In the circumstances, what else can one do?'
After Anna and Basil had left and Irene had opened up for the evening, Nick went for a walk round the town. Saltash on a Sunday night in January was about as lively as a
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