And Bess. Do other dogs eat tangerine peel?
As I thankfully slapped the lid on the last jar the doorbell jangled out its vulgar ‘Oranges and Lemons’ tune (it’s got to go!) and, with a muttered curse, I washed my hands and went to answer it.
On the doorstep was a diminutive old lady, ill-dressed against the cold in a cotton dress covered by a flowered pinny, and with long, draggled grey hair tied up in a skittish ponytail with red-spotted ribbon.
Her pink, dough-like face, set with beady black eyes, had an expression of belligerence that seemed natural to it, and which was not helped by the minor landslide that had reshaped the left side of her face, dragging the eye and corner of her mouth with it.
I’ve seen more attractive old ladies.
‘I’ve come about The Child!’ she hissed accusingly out of the good corner of her mouth.
Chapter 6: The Posy Profligate
‘Oh, yes?’ I answered politely, in case she should prove to be the local lunatic. ‘What child?’
‘What child! What child!’ uttered the old lady scathingly. ‘Why, the one I hear screaming and crying night and morning! Morning and night! Hark at it now, the poor thing! It’s a disgrace to neglect a child like that – besides going out and leaving it alone in the house, which I seen you do this morning! If it doesn’t stop I’m going to complain to the authorities, and so I warn you!’
My mind swung into gear with an almost audible click as I grasped the truth of the matter, for even now there was a raucous screaming coming from the living room.
And this must be the quiet, sweet little old lady from next door! Hardly what the estate agent led us to expect.
‘It isn’t a child screaming, it’s my parrot,’ I explained. ‘I’m very sorry if it disturbed you.’
She turned on me a look of indescribable contempt. ‘A parrot? The child was screaming and sobbing for its mother!’
‘Where’s Mummy, then? Toby want biccy!’ pleaded the feathered encumbrance from the other room.
‘Parrot, indeed!’
There was nothing for it but to invite her in to view the wretched bird, and of course Toby immediately shut up and eyed us with malevolence through the bars, turning his head doubtfully from side to side. Then he scratched the back of his head with one foot, before excreting copiously with a horrid ‘glop’.
I averted my eyes. He makes me feel quite ill, sometimes.
‘He’s not very big to be making all that noise, is he?’ said my neighbour, unconvinced. ‘I thought parrots were them big, colourful birds with curved beaks.’
‘I expect you mean macaws, but he is a parrot – a South African Grey – and it’s surprising just how much noise he can make. I have to cover him up sometimes, just to get a bit of peace, but I can’t cover him up all the time.’ (Unfortunately.)
‘He’s not saying anything now, is he?’
We both stared at the silent cage, and Toby stared inimically back.
‘But if you really haven’t got a child, I suppose it must be him I heard.’
‘I haven’t got a child hidden away, and I’m really terribly busy just now …’
She gave one last, doubtful look at Toby and turned to go.
‘Shut that bloody door!’ screeched an eldritch voice, and she whirled round as fast as her game leg allowed her.
Toby blinked innocently at her, then gave a fruity chuckle that slowly worked its way up to an evil cackle.
Backing out, still staring, she fell over the chair in the hall. ‘I never would have believed it!’ she muttered, hauling herself up by the chair back. Then she looked down and added absently, ‘Nice commode!’
‘We like it,’ I replied coldly. How on earth did she know? ‘Well, I’m glad to have met you at last, Mrs … er?’
‘Peach.’ And the dumpy figure limped away down the drive without another word.
Feeling even more ruffled than before, I closed the door and discovered a long, thin brown envelope lying by the wall, which must have come earlier. Quite a stiff envelope – probably one of the garage brochures we’d sent for.
Ripping open the end, I pulled out the enclosure – and then, with a sharp ‘twang!’ something brick red sprang out and hit me sharply on the nose. I recoiled backwards onto the commode and wept overwrought tears.
I soon had myself back under control, of course, and discovered that the flying object was a cardboard garage, ingeniously arranged so that it would fold flat to fit in an envelope. Once opened it sprang back into its garage shape by means of a system of elastic bands. The name of the firm was emblazoned on the side.
I put it back in its envelope and went back to the kitchen to label my marmalade and clean up myself and the kitchen, and when James returned home he found me arranging the jars proudly on the dresser, where they glowed like amber.
‘What a terribly domestic scene for a rock star’s ex-girlfriend!’ he sneered, and I was so cross that I handed him the garage envelope, hoping it would hit him on the nose too.
No such luck.
‘What a promotional brain wave!’ he enthused, playing with it.
‘Isn’t it just,’ I said gloomily. ‘But they aren’t such good value as the brochure that came last week. That had a garage with a white finish that would blend with the rest of the house.’
‘Perhaps. Let’s wait for the others to arrive before we decide. There’s the phone – bet it’s your mother.’
With the usual feeling of reluctance – not to mention weariness and a bit of residual stickiness – I picked up the receiver and heard her babbling even before I got it to my ear.
‘… and I simply can’t go on. I just can’t carry on like this! She grows more impossible every day!’
‘Hello, Mother. What can’t you go on with?’
‘Mummy, dear – do call me Mummy! Mother is so ageing. And I’m talking about Granny, of course. I just said. And it’s not as if I ever liked her!’
‘But you asked her to come and stay with you after Grandpa died!’
‘I felt I had to. And she never thought I was good enough for her precious son either. Really, I can’t see why I should have to like someone just because they happen to be my mother-in-law.’
‘No Moth— Mummy.’
‘Of course, you and I have always been more like sisters than mother and daughter, haven’t we, darling? But I was such a young mother – little more than a child.’
‘Yes, Mummy.’ A faint, familiar nausea rose in my throat.
‘And I need a rest from Granny. I said to the doctor, “I need a rest.” And do you know what he said to me? “Don’t we all, Mrs Norwood!” Then I said, “What about admitting her into hospital for a week?” And he said she wasn’t ill, and besides, there was a waiting list stretching right into next year! Not that I believe him, of course – he’s just afraid that I would refuse to have her back again.’
‘And would you?’
The words were out before I could help myself.
‘I hope I know my duty,’ she replied ambiguously after a short pause. ‘If my health was up to it I would, of course, be prepared to have her back whatever the strain.’
‘Why don’t you ask that nice district nurse for her advice when she comes to give Granny her injection? Mrs Durwin,