Read Online Echoes by Maeve Binchy - Free Book Online

spoil every single thing I’m doing. You’re not going to ruin it for me.”
    â€œOh, that’s all right if it’s only a picnic.” Clare had snuggled down under the blankets again. “I just didn’t want the fuss if you ran away. That’s all.”
    Â 
    There was a small red traveling clock on the kitchen mantelpiece. David took it to bed with him. Nolan said that he’d wake all right in the spare room but David didn’t want to take any chances. The clock was under David’s pillow and its alarm was muted but it woke him from a deep sleep. For a while he couldn’t think what was happening, and then he remembered. He had the bottle of cider and the sausages packed neatly in his school gym and games bag. Nolan had bought four bottles of stout and two packets of marshmallow biscuits which he said were great if you toasted them over a fire. Gerry Doyle had said there would be a bonfire in the back of the Seal Cave and that they knew it would work because they had tried it out already. There was a part of the cave which was perfect for it.
    The only problem was Bones, the dog. David’s father said that Bones would go up and lick the paws of any intruder or assassin but he’d bark the house down if you went in or out yourself. He was more of a liability than a watchdog. David and Nolan had decided to bring Bones with them to the midnight feast. It was either that or drug him and though Nolan preferred the notion of knocking him out for a few hours David had been too strictly brought up, in a house where even aspirins were locked away, to think that this was remotely possible.
    He crept into the spare room and Nolan was indeed dead asleep but woke eagerly.
    â€œI was only thinking with my eyes shut,” he said.
    â€œSure, and snoring with them shut too,” David said.
    They shushed each other and crept down the stairs. Bones jumped up in delight and David closed his hand around the dog’s jaw while stroking his ear at the same time. This usually reduced Bones to a state of foolish happiness and by the time Nolan had eased open the door they were safe. Bones trotted down the garden to the back wall ahead of them, finding nothing unusual in the hour. David and Nolan with their torches in their pockets stumbled. They couldn’t shine a light until they were over the stile, it would surely be the one moment that David’s mother was going to the bathroom and would look out the window and then waken the neighborhood.
    But down the path which said Danger they used their torches, and slipped and slid more than they walked. It was dry now but it had been raining earlier and the twisty path had a lot of mud.
    â€œThis is fantastic,” Nolan said, and David swelled with pride. When they got back to school Nolan would tell everyone of the terrific time he had in Power’s place and the others would look at him with respect. He had always been slow to tell people about Castlebay, it sounded like such a backwater compared to the great places they all came from, but looking at it through Nolan’s eyes he realized there was much more to it than he had thought.
    Down on the beach Bones ran round like a mad thing, up to the edge of the sea and back again, barking excitedly, but he could bark forever down here, the sound of the waves crashing and the wind whistling would carry it far away. Dr. and Mrs. Power wouldn’t even hear it in their dreams.
    The Seal Cave was dark and mysterious looking. David was quite glad he wasn’t on his own. There was a big fire at the back; Gerry was right, there was a part of it that was dry and not dripping with slime. They had begun the cooking and rashers dangled dangerously on long sticks and a couple of toasting forks. There were at least a dozen people around the fire. There were giggling girls nudging each other and breaking into loud laughter. That was Peg and Kath, he knew them to see; and Chrissie O’Brien