Read Online Forecast by Janette Turner Hospital - Free Book Online Page B

frightened.’
    â€˜I’m not frightened.’
    5. Hurricane Watch
    Face to face, the woman and child float inside a bubble of light. Elbows on the warm oak table, chins in cupped hands, eyes gleaming, they have the air of conspirators very pleased with themselves. Shadowy gold from the candle moves like reflected water on their skin.
    â€˜Isn’t this exciting?’ Leah whispers.
    â€˜Yes,’ he whispers back.
    â€˜And what do you think I’ve got hidden under the table?’
    â€˜The photograph box!’
    â€˜How did you guess?’
    Steven laughs, leaning across a large carton that is crammed with portraits in fading sepia tones,black and white snapshots with deckle edges, bright Kodacolor prints in postcard size. ‘My pick, my pick. I pick first.’
    Steven squeezes his eyes shut and reaches in, his hand delving deep. He pulls out a photograph and holds it against his chest like a poker card.
    â€˜Black and white,’ he says, pleased, sneaking a look. ‘Guess who?’
    â€˜Must be your grandfather. Or me.’
    â€˜Both,’ Steven says. ‘Ten points. See?’
    â€˜Hold it closer to the candle.’
    â€˜Is it very very old?’
    â€˜Ah, that one,’ she says fondly.
    â€˜Is it older than Hugo?’
    â€˜Much older. That was a very long time ago, before we were married. I remember that day. We’d been beachcombing for shells and starfish and I was covered in sand-fly bites. Your grandfather kept offering to rub them.’
    â€˜Did he like me?’
    â€˜He adored you. Can’t you remember that?’
    Steven shakes his head.
    â€˜You used to ride on his shoulders through the saltmarsh. Somewhere in the box, there’s a photo of you both on the boardwalk.’
    â€˜Was I three?’
    â€˜No, just a baby almost. But you used to clap your hands whenever you saw a white egret.’
    A shadow of a memory brushes Steven, but he cannot hold on to it.
    â€˜It’s your turn, Grandma.’
    Leah slides her hand into the box and shuffles the past. ‘Ah,’ she says. ‘Look what I found. It’s Steven with no clothes on!’
    Steven wrinkles up his nose. The baby in the photograph is lying on a blue bath towel. He has a cloth toy in one hand. ‘That’s Humpty Dumpty!’ Steven says, startled. Puzzled, he thinks about Humpty Dumpty. ‘We lost him,’ he muses. ‘Where did he go?’
    â€˜Probably off to one of your baby cousins. Your turn.’
    â€˜Abracadabra,’ Steven says. He pulls out a coloured photograph and studies it. ‘It’s you and Grandpa again,’ he decides.
    Leah holds the image close to the candle. ‘Oh my!’ she says, startled. ‘How did that get into the box?’
    â€˜You put all of them there, Grandma.’
    â€˜No,’ she says. ‘Not that one.’
    â€˜Grandma?’
    â€˜A street photographer took it. We didn’t know until he tried to sell it to us.’
    Steven can see a white line around the edge of his grandmother’s fingers where they are pressed into her cheek. With her other hand, she turns thephotograph over. ‘He kept it,’ she says. ‘But I wrote on the back of it first.’
    Steven leans in to the candle. There is no writing on the back of the photograph. His grandmother presses her lips against the back of her right hand.
    â€˜What were you and Grandpa doing?’
    â€˜Do you think that looks like your grandfather?’
    Steven studies the photograph. All grown-ups look much the same to him. ‘I don’t know,’ he says.
    â€˜It’s not your grandfather. It’s someone I knew from back before that.’
    â€˜What were you doing?’
    â€˜We were riding out a hurricane,’ Leah says.
    6. The Eye of the Storm
    Sleep approaches like a dangerous calm. Leah blows out the candle. Steven is curled up on the sofa, his head in her lap, and she strokes his