Read Online The Owl Service by Alan Garner - Free Book Online Page A

Then he turned the taps on, and leant with his hands flat against the sink and watched the water rise. He squirted some detergent into the sink, picked a dirty wineglass from the draining board, and began, slowly, methodically, to wash up. Then he dried everything and put it away. He made hardly any sound from start to finish and it was only when he went to hang the cloth to dry that he noticed his mother by the stove.
    She sat on a kitchen chair, gazing at the closed firedoor. One hand gripped the towel rail, her wrist flexed as if she was trying to unscrew the rail, but her fingers slipped on the bright steel.
    â€œHello, Mam,” said Gwyn. “Didn’t see you there. Shall I light another lamp?”
    â€œNo, boy,” said Nancy. “Leave it.”
    â€œNot like our own fire at Aber,” said Gwyn. “Is it, Mam?”
    â€œI should never have come,” said Nancy. “I shouldn’t have come. It’s not right. Never go back, boy. Never go back.”
    â€œWhat’s the matter, Mam? Got a bad head?” said Gwyn. He could not see her eyes, but he heard the rasp of her breath that was as close as she ever came to tears.
    â€œIf there was justice in Heaven,” said Nancy.
    Gwyn put his arm round his mother’s shoulder.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Mam?”
    â€œI shouldn’t have come.”
    â€œThen why did we?” said Gwyn. “How did they find our address?”
    â€œHe gave it her. Then she wrote.”
    â€œWe still needn’t have come.”
    â€œIt’s good money, boy,” said Nancy. “But I should never have listened to her soft soap.”
    â€œWho had our address?” said Gwyn.
    â€œThat idiot outside.”
    â€œHuw? Why should he have it?”
    Nancy’s hand worked on the rail.
    â€œMam,” said Gwyn. “Listen, Mam. We got to talk about it.”
    â€œThere isn’t nothing to talk about.”
    â€œYes there is. Listen, Mam: just once. Please.”
    â€œI told you not to have anything to do with him. I mean it.”
    â€œMam: just listen – Please, Mam!”
    Nancy was silent.
    â€œYou told me so much about the valley,” said Gwyn, “it was like coming home. All my life I’ve known this place better than Aber. Mam, I even know who people are when I see them, you described them that good! So why didn’t I know about Huw Halfbacon?”
    â€œHe don’t count,” said Nancy.
    â€œYes he does,” said Gwyn. “People in the valley don’t call him a fool. He’s important. Why haven’t you told me?”
    â€œWho you been listening to?” said Nancy. “You been talking behind my back, have you?”
    â€œNo, Mam,” said Gwyn.
    â€œYou on their side, are you?” said Nancy. “Giving my character!”
    â€œMam!”
    Gwyn was standing by the kitchen table. Nancy was sitting on the chair. She had not looked away from the door of the stove since Gwyn had first spoken to her, but now both hands were on the rail.
    â€œMam. I got to know about Huw. And them plates.”
    â€œI’m telling you, boy,” said Nancy. Her voice was slow. “If you says another word to that old fool, or if you says another word about it to me or anyone else, I walk out of this house, and you leave that school. No more for you: you start behind the counter at the Co-op.”
    â€œYou can’t do that,” said Gwyn.
    â€œI’m telling you, boy.”
    â€œYou can’t.”
    â€œIt’s bad enough having to bow and scrape before them in there,” said Nancy. “I’ll not stand it from my own flesh and blood. I’ve not slaved all these years in Aber so you can look down your nose at me like one of them.”
    â€œI’m a Premium Bond on legs, is that it?” said Gwyn.
    Nancy went to the kitchen dresser and fumbled in one of the cupboards. “I’m telling you, boy. – Where you off