Read Online From Aberystwyth with Love by Malcolm Pryce - Free Book Online

politely. She started and looked up.
    ‘I’m with the spinning-wheel man,’ I said politely.
    ‘I know, I saw you arrive. I’ve seen you before somewhere, too, but I can’t remember where.’
    ‘Perhaps in church,’ I said.
    ‘Definitely not there.’ She picked up a towel and began to dry her hair. Colour emerged from the dark mass, like flowers appearing in the undergrowth of a gloomy wood: russets, mahogany, rosewood, copper. Then she swept the hair up into a white turban of towel.
    ‘If you were looking for the outhouse it’s through the kitchen.’
    ‘I just came for a walk. My name’s Louie.’
    ‘Arianwen. It was so nice of you to come, grandmother is lost without her wheel.’
    ‘It looks like she’s going to need a new one.’
    ‘Can’t you fix it?’
    ‘No, we think someone must have put a spell on it, probably in league with the birds.’
    She giggled. ‘I don’t believe in spells.’
    ‘Nor do I.’
    ‘If you ask me, someone spilled some glue on it.’
    ‘But who would do a thing like that?’
    ‘I don’t know, an intruder I expect; definitely a very wicked person.’ She let her gaze linger on me for a second that might have been a hint of forbidden knowledge or simply the absence of guile. ‘You’re quite good-looking for a spinning-wheel salesman.’
    ‘No one’s ever said that to me before.’
    ‘That’s if you really are a spinning-wheel salesman.’
    ‘What else could I be?’
    ‘I think you are a rogue.’
    ‘I could be both.’
    ‘We get quite a few salesmen pass this way and you’re not like the usual ones. They’re always so corny: “My word, how pretty you are! Here, try this stovepipe hat on. Wow! Just look at that, have you ever thought about starring in the Butlies?” ’
    ‘What are they?’
    ‘You know, the “What the butler saw” flicks.’
    ‘I didn’t know they were called Butlies.’
    ‘Just shows you’re not a real spinning-wheel salesman, then, doesn’t it?’ She emptied the pail down the drain next to the kitchen wall. ‘And besides, you don’t smell of air freshener.’ She slung the pail down next to the drain, straightened up and smiled. ‘I bet he told you I was seventeen and never been kissed, too.’
    ‘Yes, he did.’
    ‘It’s because he heard the line in a song once. I’m twenty-one, in case you were wondering, and I’ve been kissed by three different boys, although I’ve never gone further than that, well not much.’
    ‘It’s never a good idea to rush these things.’
    She feigned disappointment. ‘Oh you’re not much fun, are you? You sound like my grandmother.’
    ‘One thing you learn in life is almost everything your grandmother told you when you were young, and which you thought at the time was just the lunacy of old age, is actually true.’
    Meici Jones appeared round the corner of the cottage, holding a stovepipe hat. He gave me the black look of a man who finds another trespassing on his territory. ‘What are you doing here?’
    ‘I just came for a walk.’
    ‘You should have asked me first.’ He explained to Arianwen: ‘This is my assistant Lou.’
    ‘Yes, we’ve met.’
    ‘I’m sorry if he’s bothering you.’
    ‘Oh there’s nothing to be sorry for.’
    ‘He’s still learning, you see. Lou, get back to the car and write up your report on the call.’
    ‘Oh you’re a spoilsport, sending such a handsome man away to write a boring report.’
    Meici’s face reddened and his eyes misted up. He ploughed on with dogged determination. ‘I bought you this.’
    ‘Not another silly hat! Granny never wears them.’
    ‘It’s for you.’
    ‘Oh. I see. It’s very kind of you.’
    ‘I was a bit surprised you weren’t wearing the dress.’
    ‘I wore it so much it had to go in the wash.’
    I made a slight chivalrous bow to Arianwen, because I knew it would annoy Meici, and walked back. Calamity came out of the kitchen and gave me a wink that said, ‘Tape retrieved, mission accomplished.’ We waited