Catherine Jinks TheRoad (57 page)

At last Del declared, with great assurance, ‘That’s right!’ And she fixed her clear blue gaze on Ross, who made a dismissive gesture.

‘Do what you like,’ he scoffed, turning away. ‘It’s your decision. I’m just telling you what
we’re
going to do – my wife and I. And we won’t be going south, unless it’s for a bloody good reason.’

He was making for the caravan. Verlie hurried after him, catching at his sleeve, wishing that he wasn’t so damned grumpy first thing in the morning. Maybe he was in such a bad mood because he’d slept with his dentures in. Or maybe he was getting worried and didn’t want anyone to know. ‘Ross,’ she said, ‘the kids aren’t awake.’

‘What?’

‘We can’t go in there, the kids aren’t awake.’

‘Oh, for –’

‘Ross,’ said Del, before he could give vent to his feelings. She stepped forward, her hands on her hips, every line of her posture indicating a willingness to negotiate. Verlie couldn’t help noticing the spare tyre around her tummy. ‘Will you hang on here until me and Alec check this out? Eh? Give us – I dunno – an hour, say, we’ll nip down the road, see if we can spot Alec’s truck. If we can’t, then he’s wrong about being able to reach it again in fifteen minutes, and we’ll take it from there. Whaddaya reckon?’

Verlie looked at Ross. Noel cleared his throat. A creaking noise announced that someone was pushing open the caravan door; Verlie swung around to see Linda emerging.

‘Oh. Hello,’ said Linda. ‘I
thought
I heard voices.’

She seemed a bit dazed, like someone who had slept heavily. Verlie envied her this. The younger woman had a remarkably resilient air about her, which stemmed partly from the way her hair bounced as she descended from the caravan, and partly from her fresh colour and vigorous stride. She was buttoning up an olive green cardigan. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked, with a yawn. ‘What have we decided to do?’

There was a brief silence. Verlie waited, and when no one responded she finally announced: ‘Well, I’m going to organise some breakfast. If you’d like to help me, Linda?’

‘And I’ve got some baked beans in the backa me bomb,’ Del added, before Linda could reply. ‘Emergency rations. Yiz can crack open a few of them, if ya want. I’ve got a tin opener and everything.’

‘Oh. Well – thank you.’ Verlie was touched. ‘That’s very generous.’

‘I’ll get ’em out, and then we’ll go.’ Del began to stride towards her station wagon. ‘You comin, Alec?’

‘What? Oh – right.’ Alec hesitated. ‘Couldn’t we – um – do you think we could have a bite to eat, first?’

‘I think we should all eat breakfast,’ Noel suddenly declared. He had wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders; Verlie realised, rather wistfully, that the two of them were often to be seen together in this particular pose, and remembered how Ross had once made a point of seeking Verlie out at parties so that he might reassure himself by placing his hands on her shoulders, or his arm around her waist. It was a long, long time since he had done anything like that. Twenty years, at least.

But that was the way things went. You couldn’t expect a fairy tale ending.

‘It won’t take more than ten minutes to eat breakfast,’ Noel went on. ‘Then Del can nip down the road with Alec, and the rest of us can pack up while we wait.’

‘Wait for what?’ his wife inquired. ‘Where’s Del going?’