Read Online Secrets of the Tides by Hannah Richell - Free Book Online
Authors: Hannah Richell
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father’s tears had been enough to tell her she shouldn’t be spying. Instead she’d stood and tiptoed back to her room, knowing full well that whatever did come next, it wouldn’t be good.
What had followed had been a week’s worth of high emotion, tension and grief, her parents oscillating wildly between affectionate embraces and ferocious arguments. Things were particularly heated when it came to the funeral. Richard had worried it was inappropriate for Cassie and Dora to attend; he worried it would be too much for them, too distressing. It was Helen, however, who had insisted. ‘We can’t shield them from real life for ever, Richard,’ she had argued. ‘They’re not babies any more.’ And Cassie had been secretly pleased. She didn’t want to be protected from anything and she certainly didn’t want to be excluded from the most serious thing that had ever happened to their family. She wanted to be treated like the grown-up she nearly was. After all, she was almost thirteen.
‘I . . . I’m not sure,’ stammered Richard, his words pulling her back to the present and the windswept beach. ‘That’s a pretty big question, Cassie. There are lots of different theories about life and death, and what comes after.’
Cassie regarded him with surprise. Usually he could answer any question she threw at him. It was disconcerting to see him so uncertain.
They reached the stile at the far end of the beach. Richard clambered over and then held out a hand to Cassie before they both began to climb the walking track leading up towards the house. It was hard going and their breath fogged in the cold winter air.
‘But what do you believe?’ she asked, glancing up at her father.
‘Do you know, I’m not really sure. I suppose I’d like to think that there is something after this life. I don’t know if I like the idea of reincarnation, though. What if I came back as a pig?’
‘Or a rat?’ she offered.
‘Or a slug?’
Cassie giggled.
‘Heaven seems like a pretty sensible idea,’ said Richard eventually. ‘I’d like to think of Mum and Dad up there somewhere, watching over us. I think that’s what I believe in.’
‘So you believe in God?’
Richard paused. ‘Yes, I suppose I do.’ They walked for a moment more. ‘What about you, Cassie, do you believe in God?’
Cassie shrugged and sucked on a strand of hair. She hadn’t really thought about it before. She sang those boring hymns at school and joined in with the prayer at the end of each assembly, but that was only because the teachers made them; they got detention otherwise. It wasn’t as if she went to church, or said prayers, other than the generic please-don’t-let-me-get-caught sort of ones. And if she really thought about it, it seemed a little silly to think of some invisible, grey-haired man sitting up there in the sky watching over them all. Where was he, after all, when her grandparents drove off the road the other night? Why wasn’t he watching out for them? They were good people; she didn’t suppose either of her grandparents had done anything really bad in their lives, not like her, stealing sweets from the corner shop and teasing Charlotte Crumb on the school bus until the silly scarlet-faced girl had cried huge, snotty tears. It didn’t make any sense. Maybe people just came and went. Maybe once you were dead you just disappeared, sinking without trace, like the pebbles she had flung into the sea only moments ago.
‘I don’t think I do believe in God,’ she said finally. ‘Too many bad things happen.’ She bit her lip. ‘And anyway, if there is a God, why does he stay invisible? Why doesn’t he prove he’s out there once and for all, instead of keeping us all guessing? He would solve a lot of problems if he just showed up one day and said, “Ta dah! Here I am!” ’
Richard gave a small, sad smile. ‘It’s good to question things in life, Cassie. You’re really growing up, aren’t you?’
Cassie nodded. She
What had followed had been a week’s worth of high emotion, tension and grief, her parents oscillating wildly between affectionate embraces and ferocious arguments. Things were particularly heated when it came to the funeral. Richard had worried it was inappropriate for Cassie and Dora to attend; he worried it would be too much for them, too distressing. It was Helen, however, who had insisted. ‘We can’t shield them from real life for ever, Richard,’ she had argued. ‘They’re not babies any more.’ And Cassie had been secretly pleased. She didn’t want to be protected from anything and she certainly didn’t want to be excluded from the most serious thing that had ever happened to their family. She wanted to be treated like the grown-up she nearly was. After all, she was almost thirteen.
‘I . . . I’m not sure,’ stammered Richard, his words pulling her back to the present and the windswept beach. ‘That’s a pretty big question, Cassie. There are lots of different theories about life and death, and what comes after.’
Cassie regarded him with surprise. Usually he could answer any question she threw at him. It was disconcerting to see him so uncertain.
They reached the stile at the far end of the beach. Richard clambered over and then held out a hand to Cassie before they both began to climb the walking track leading up towards the house. It was hard going and their breath fogged in the cold winter air.
‘But what do you believe?’ she asked, glancing up at her father.
‘Do you know, I’m not really sure. I suppose I’d like to think that there is something after this life. I don’t know if I like the idea of reincarnation, though. What if I came back as a pig?’
‘Or a rat?’ she offered.
‘Or a slug?’
Cassie giggled.
‘Heaven seems like a pretty sensible idea,’ said Richard eventually. ‘I’d like to think of Mum and Dad up there somewhere, watching over us. I think that’s what I believe in.’
‘So you believe in God?’
Richard paused. ‘Yes, I suppose I do.’ They walked for a moment more. ‘What about you, Cassie, do you believe in God?’
Cassie shrugged and sucked on a strand of hair. She hadn’t really thought about it before. She sang those boring hymns at school and joined in with the prayer at the end of each assembly, but that was only because the teachers made them; they got detention otherwise. It wasn’t as if she went to church, or said prayers, other than the generic please-don’t-let-me-get-caught sort of ones. And if she really thought about it, it seemed a little silly to think of some invisible, grey-haired man sitting up there in the sky watching over them all. Where was he, after all, when her grandparents drove off the road the other night? Why wasn’t he watching out for them? They were good people; she didn’t suppose either of her grandparents had done anything really bad in their lives, not like her, stealing sweets from the corner shop and teasing Charlotte Crumb on the school bus until the silly scarlet-faced girl had cried huge, snotty tears. It didn’t make any sense. Maybe people just came and went. Maybe once you were dead you just disappeared, sinking without trace, like the pebbles she had flung into the sea only moments ago.
‘I don’t think I do believe in God,’ she said finally. ‘Too many bad things happen.’ She bit her lip. ‘And anyway, if there is a God, why does he stay invisible? Why doesn’t he prove he’s out there once and for all, instead of keeping us all guessing? He would solve a lot of problems if he just showed up one day and said, “Ta dah! Here I am!” ’
Richard gave a small, sad smile. ‘It’s good to question things in life, Cassie. You’re really growing up, aren’t you?’
Cassie nodded. She
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