plans?’ Mum asked.
‘Nothing,’ Edie said.
‘Good, get your coats. Your dad and Ray’ll come along later.’
*
Auntie Becca called it an Indian summer and insisted they sat outside.
‘It may be the last good weather we get this year.’
Edie thought India was supposed to be hot, she was freezing, the low, bright sun was blinding her and the egg mayonnaise sandwich she was eating had fallen apart, its filling leaking down her arm. Mum was in the deckchair opposite, a cup of tea balanced on her lap. She wore black jeans, a camel-coloured jumper and large sunglasses. She’d been quiet since they arrived and sat rubbing her temples. Auntie Becca, oblivious to the cold, was wearing her usual black trousers and black top. Tess had nabbed Auntie Becca’s discarded sunglasses to copy Mum. Edie wished she had some. She moved one hand over her eyes as a shield. Pepe took his chance to jump up and take a bite out of the remains of her sandwich.
‘No, Pepe, bad dog,’ Auntie Becca said.
She didn’t sound like she meant it.
Pepe ignored her and leapt at Edie again. She moved her arm away, then decided she didn’t want the dog-licked sandwich and threw it to him.
‘Don’t give him that. He’s a delicate digestion. It’ll make him sick,’ Auntie Becca said.
‘Too late,’ Edie said.
The dog swallowed it in one gulp and set off running around the garden. Usually Edie liked animals, but she wasn’t sure about this one, all it did was run in circles, bark and eat. It never seemed to lie down or want stroking. A funny looking thing too, a Welsh terrier, with a tan body and black back. She was surprised Uncle Ray had let Auntie Becca have Pepe, she knew he didn’t like dogs. And it was odd that Auntie Becca, who was so fussy and house-proud, wanted one, a dog meant mess. Then there were all those vases and figurines to knock over.
Pepe hurtled towards the flower bed, growled at a rose bush then ran to the garden gate, put both front paws on top of it and started barking.
‘I don’t think we’ll be staying here long, Gina,’ Auntie Becca said.
‘No?’
Auntie Becca and Uncle Ray were always moving and Mum sounded bored. She was no fun today. Edie hoped Uncle Ray would turn up soon. He’d promised her a tape with new tracks and maybe a single on vinyl from the record fair he’d been to the weekend before.
‘The garden’s too small for Pepe and as for that lot …’
Edie knew what was coming: the neighbours, feckless parents and feral kids.
‘They let those children run wild. And the parents are no better. We thought this was a nice area.’
‘They looked nice enough when I saw them,’ Mum said.
Edie had also been surprised on seeing that the neighbours wore clean clothes and combed their hair. The word feral made her think of cats, she’d expected them to have mange.
‘They may look nice,’ Auntie Becca said.
‘Isn’t he a bank manager?’ Mum said.
‘That means nothing. That boy, I can’t remember his name, kicked a ball right over the fence into my washing. It splattered everything with mud. I had to do it all again. Not one word of apology from his mother, let alone him.’
‘Kids are always making a mess, Becca, and maybe his mother doesn’t know.’
‘How could she not know?’
‘You can’t keep an eye on them all the time.’
‘She should do. That’s how these children turn out so rough, even if their father is a bank manager.’
The way Auntie Becca went on you’d think it had happened for the twentieth time that morning, not once, two weeks ago. And Pepe was worse than any kid, he was still at the gate barking loudly. Uncle Ray had told Edie that Pepe had got out and torn up next door’s roses. When they complained, Auntie Becca said he was just a dog and didn’t mean any harm. Uncle Ray had had to go around and pay for the damage later. It was their secret to laugh about, Edie wasn’t to tell anyone.
‘Yes,’ Auntie Becca said with a nod. ‘Time to start looking elsewhere. Are you alright, Gina? You don’t look well.’
Mum’s head was slumped over her cup.
‘I’m just a little hot.’
‘But it’s freezing,’ Edie said.
‘I’ll go and splash some water on my face.’
She stood up, which drew Pepe back from the gate so he could jump up at her instead. Edie batted him away. He growled back at her.
‘Stay where you are, Edie,’ Mum said. ‘I’ll be fine.’
Pepe continued to circle Mum until Auntie Becca called to him.
‘Gina’s not quite herself, is she?’ Auntie Becca said when Mum was inside.
‘It’s since Mrs Vickers left,’ Tess said.
Edie tried to catch Tess’s eye, to shut her up, but Tess wasn’t looking at her, deliberately, Edie thought.
‘Val Vickers,’ said Auntie Becca. ‘She can’t be much of a loss, if she’s anything like her sister.’
‘She’s always nice to us,’ Edie said.
‘You know Valentina’s sister?’ Tess said at the same time.
Her eyes lit up.
‘I knew her. At school, Lillian Harlith. My God that girl gave herself some airs and graces. You’d think her father was a lord not a trader on the Rag Market. I’m sure some dodgy dealings were going on there. They always had fancy cars, cruises, fur coats. You don’t make that much money selling a few yards of cloth, do you?’
‘And Valentina was at school with you, too?’ Edie asked.
‘No. She’s a few years younger. I couldn’t believe it when she moved in next door to you. I’m sure that’s not what her father had in mind. I’ve no idea what happened there. Rumour had it that her husband was a gambler; it would explain where all the money went. Because I know when their father sold up he gave them a pretty penny. Lillian bought that huge place over by the rose gardens. I don’t know what Valentina did with her money. Whatever it was it didn’t last. A Harlith girl on the Limewoods Estate. I’d never have believed it.’
‘We live on Limewoods,’ Edie said.
‘I know,’ said Auntie Becca. ‘But it’s not forever, is it?’
‘I don’t want to move.’
Auntie Becca screwed up her face.
