Henrietta let Elizabeth check that she was strapped into the front passenger seat properly, then make sure her little scooter was equally secure in the back of the big four-wheel drive. As they set off, she settled down to enjoy the outing. It would be lovely to go somewhere new. She’d become a bit of a stay-at-home lately.
Simone greeted them with her lovely smile and Henrietta was interested to walk round the ground floor of what was, to her, a little house and out onto the back patio, where there was a bird table. ‘What a clever idea, swapping houses. What are your neighbours like?’
The younger woman pointed to the right. ‘The ones to that side are away at the moment. The owner used to be on telly, Cassandra Benn. Have you heard of her?’221
‘I certainly have and I’ve watched her many times. She’s a very incisive interviewer.’
‘Russell lives on that side.’
‘How lovely. He’s such a nice man. Are those bird tables for him?’
‘Yes. Most people like watching birds, don’t they? One of my neighbours in Australia has a shrub called a grevillea outside a side window that looks onto a blank wall. It flowers all year round, so she’s put a bird bath under the shrub and all sorts of birds come to drink there or feed on the nectar. They get a lot of pleasure watching them instead of staring out at a fence. I’ve sat and watched with them a few times, too.’
‘What a good idea,’ said Elizabeth.
‘I’d love to chat to him again. He knows so much about wildlife. Do you think he’d have time to join us if we go to the lake?’ asked Henrietta.
‘He’d be delighted, I’m sure. I know he’s in. I’ll go and see if he can come with us.’
Henrietta saw Simone look at Elizabeth for confirmation that this was OK, then she nipped next door. It was nice that they cared about her but an annoying part of extreme old age to be guarded all the time.
‘It’s good to get out occasionally,’ she said firmly to Elizabeth. ‘I’m going to enjoy today. And if I get tired, too bad.’
‘As long as you take it easy.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘I’m not stupid. Anyway, that scooter won’t let me go mad – it doesn’t exactly go fast.’
She turned round as Simone and Russ came in. They made 222a lovely couple. He was good-looking, not what she called indoor good looks, but an outdoor type, casually dressed.
He was as easy to chat to as the last time and best of all, he didn’t talk down to her. Ageism people called it. They had a lot if ‘isms’ these days. Sheer bad manners was at the root of most of them, she always thought. She hoped the idiots who patronised her would get treated the same way themselves when they grew old. If they did grow old. If someone didn’t strangle them first.
Russ seemed happy to accept Simone’s invitation to stay to lunch and Henrietta enjoyed watching him tuck into his food. Well, it was a nice spread, healthy and delicious, just the sort of things she liked to eat.
As they finished the little iced fancies that formed the afters, Russ said, ‘I saw you had an electric scooter in the back of the car, Henrietta. We could go right round the lake together, if you like. The path is designed for wheelchairs and has been well maintained. I’ll probably be able to point out creatures you might not notice otherwise. And if you get tired, I can easily nip home, then drive round by the road and pick you and your scooter up from the car park on the other side of the lake.’
‘I’d love to go right round the lake. I don’t think it would be too tiring but we’ll see how we go.’ Henrietta pulled a face. ‘I fought against getting that scooter, but it’s been a godsend, I must admit. I should be able to manage the whole circuit on it.’
‘I’ll just get my camera first, if you don’t mind. You never know what you’ll see. Will you let me film your reactions for my show if we come across anything interesting?’223
‘Me?’ She gaped at him. ‘Who’d want to see my wrinkled old face on their screen?’
‘Other people who also have wrinkled faces, or who love their own wrinklies.’
What a nice way to put it. He winked at her, so she winked back. She did enjoy being teased by a cheeky young fellow.
‘Actually, I got very good comments from viewers about my last series for showing a range of people of different ages reacting to the world around them,’ he went on.
‘Did you now?’ Henrietta was secretly delighted at what he wanted her to do and shot a quick, happy smile at Elizabeth. ‘That’d be a first for me, to appear on the box.’
The walk was slow, but no one seemed to mind, because Russ brought so much of what they saw to life by his explanations. By the time they got back, however, Henrietta admitted to being tired.
‘But I enjoyed it, so don’t try to stop me doing things like that again,’ she said pointedly to her secretary.
‘As if I could.’ Elizabeth turned to their hostess. ‘If you don’t mind, Simone, I’ll take Henrietta home now.’
‘You open the car door. I’ll help her into it.’ Russ scooped her up in his arms. She squeaked and clung to him, laughing. He put her carefully into the passenger seat and laughed back.
‘Voilà!’
She leant back in the car seat, inclining her head regally. ‘Merci beaucoup, Sir Galahad.’
He swept her a mock bow. ‘Un plaisir, madame. My leg is a lot better now. We must do it again.’224
‘Yes, please. Actually, you might like to come to my house and have a better look round the parts that I’ve left completely alone for many years. They’re inhabited only by birds and small creatures these days, but maybe you could film some of them for me. The ground is too rough to get my scooter there.’
‘I’d love to come and explore properly.’
He went round to the back of the big four-wheel drive, took the little electric scooter from Elizabeth and soon had it safely disassembled and fastened in.
While he was doing that, Simone went across to Henrietta, whose car door was still open. ‘Thank you for coming.’
‘I enjoyed it. I don’t get out very often these days.’
‘You’re welcome to come here any time. It can get a bit quiet when you don’t have a network of friends.’
Henrietta leant forward, glanced sideways to make sure Russ wasn’t listening and whispered, ‘You’ve got your neighbour to cheer you up now though. I like that man of yours. You should grab him with both hands and hold on tight.’
‘He’s not my man in that sense.’
‘Rubbish! The way you both look at each other gives the lie to that. Don’t waste a chance of affection, Simone. You don’t meet too many men you can love in this life. You already made one man happy from the way you speak of your late husband and I think Russ is lonely underneath that smiling exterior – as you are. You’ll excuse my frankness, I hope. One of the privileges of old age.’
‘I don’t mind your frankness at all. But you’re still wrong about Russ and me.’225
She chuckled. ‘I’ve been watching people for ninety years, my dear. I’m never wrong about that sort of thing. You’ll see.’
Elizabeth came round to get into the driving seat, so Simone stepped back, closed the car door carefully and waved them goodbye.
Russ came to stand beside her. ‘Thanks for inviting me to join you. She’s a feisty old dame, that one. Fun to spend time with and still got all her marbles.’
‘And a few extra marbles thrown in, if I’m any judge.’
‘Yes, her intelligence shines through, doesn’t it? And she’s photogenic too. Why don’t you come in and have an early sundowner with me, Simone? I’ll get no more work done today and you’re looking tired now.’
‘I’d better not.’
‘Oh, and why not?’
‘We shouldn’t—’
‘You can try to hold me at arm’s length, but you won’t succeed. And today I’m not taking no for an answer.’
He followed up his words by picking her up almost as easily as he had done Henrietta and with his face close to hers, he said, ‘She told me to take no nonsense from you, so I’m obeying her orders and sweeping you off your feet.’
‘Russ, I—’
But his lips cut off her protests and when the kiss ended, she stopped complaining and let him carry her inside and plonk her down on a chair.
‘A glass of wine?’
‘Oh, all right.’
She tried to summon up her determination to keep him 226at arm’s length, but it refused to come out of hiding.
She enjoyed his company, the wine was good and the conversation interesting. He explained about the next stages of his work and how he wanted her to help, then she told him about some of the birds who visited her garden in Australia, including several varieties of parrot and cockatoo.
When she set down her empty glass she forced herself to say firmly, ‘I really do have to go now.’
‘Another glass? With some cheese and biscuits?’
‘No, thank you, I have a few things to do.’
‘Running away?’
She gave up trying to be polite. ‘Yes. And so should you.’
‘I enjoy your company, so I’m not running anywhere.’ He paused and added, ‘I can’t stop you leaving. But unless you’re taking the coward’s way out and resigning, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.’
‘Why on earth should I want to resign? I enjoy the job.’
She didn’t wait for his response but walked out quickly. By the time she closed her own front door behind her she was wishing she’d stayed longer.
She was a fool.
She got herself a snack but the evening seemed to go on for ever and there was nothing worth watching on television.
She really should have accepted his invitation. Who knew where it might have led?
What had happened to all those sensible resolutions she’d made the previous night? They’d vanished, that’s what. The main question now was whether she should even try to resist temptation. Henrietta had urged her to give in to it.227
But as the slow minutes passed, Simone began to worry about Clo as well as herself and that affected her decision too. Her daughter hadn’t sounded as sharply confident as usual. And having an unexpected extra baby would upset their careful budgeting.
She’d help them sometimes with babysitting, of course she would, but she wasn’t going to bring the child up for them.
You only got one life and even that could be cut short unexpectedly, as poor Harvey’s had been. She needed to do more with the rest of hers before it was too late. Look how much she was enjoying exploring this part of the world.
She’d been right to come here, but this was only temporary. She would have to find something more permanent to focus on long term, something in Australia that didn’t separate her from her family.