Mute

Chapter 27. Gone fishin'

"This is where we buried them." Lady Alice pointed with the butt of her shotgun at a row of shallow graves.

Georgie, Ant, Naomi and Arthur had taken up Alice's offer of a walk around the grounds, leaving the rest of the occupants of the house, aside from Blaze and Ronnie, who had taken the morning watch, sleeping soundly. They were at the southern edge of the graveyard that sloped down from the imposing flint-grey twin towers at the front of the church.

Lady Alice stopped at the first grave of the neatly ordered row and knelt down. She reached into the front pocket of her blouse and carefully took out a daisy chain. She placed it on the mound of soil and made it into a circle with her fingertips. She stayed hunched over the grave for a while before standing up and crossing herself.

Georgie allowed what she thought was a respectful amount of time before speaking. "Your father?"

Lady Alice nodded, blinking away tears.

"I'm so sorry. Losing him would be bad enough, but what you went through, what you all went through. I can't imagine."

"Thank you my dear. And thank you for not uttering that monstrous platitude that people say."

Ant had to ask. "What do people say?"

"They say, 'sorry for your loss'. I cannot bear it when I hear that phrase. It is so impersonal. If someone wishes to express sympathy at the loss of a loved-one they should say something that expresses that sympathy properly, they should not use an off-the-shelf term."

Ant exhaled slowly with relief. He had been about to say that exact phrase.

Lady Alice gazed down at her handiwork. "One of my earliest memories is of daddy taking me for a walk in these grounds. It was a warm day just like this one. He had me on his shoulders and we stopped in a meadow further up the hill. He sat on the ground with me on his lap and he picked daisies and made them into a chain. I can distinctly remember being amazed at how his big fingers were able to make the tiny holes, and thread the stems through. I watched him make this beautiful thing for me and then he put it on my head, and..." she choked on the words, "...he told me it was a crown for his princess."

"That's beautiful," said Georgie.

"I still have it. I pressed it. It became our little tradition, every spring when the daisies started sprouting I'd make him a chain." She put her hand over her nose and mouth and closed her eyes tightly, holding in a sob. "He didn't make it to spring this year."

Arthur pitched in. "We wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for him. He stood up to them, he bought us valuable time."

"Yes, yes he did."

Arthur bent down and dropped a pine cone onto the next grave. If anybody was expecting an explanation they were disappointed. "That lot in there," he said, pointing at the house, "are gonna want a decent dinner tonight and I reckon us lot will too. I'm off to the river. I've got one spare rod, who's coming?" He was looking straight at Ant.

"I've never fished before."

"Well that's all the more reason you should come with me, lad. You need to learn."

"I suppose so."

Arthur was already on his way out of the churchyard.

Ant called after him. "You mean right now?"

Arthur kept walking.

"Looks like I'm off." He turned to Georgie. "You okay with that?" Ant suddenly felt self-conscious. His relationship with Georgie hadn't followed what anyone would call a normal path. Since they had met they had never been apart. It felt weird to be leaving her now, which is why he had instinctively asked her if she minded. Now he just felt like a teenage kid who has been badgered by his mates into ditching his girlfriend to go to the park with them. "I mean," he stuttered, "I know you'd be okay with that, why wouldn't you be okay with that? I'm not saying you can't survive without me for a few hours, just, well, y'know..."