‘Bad luck Frank having to be away,’ said Dawn’s husband Bill kindly.
Patty looked wan. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It can’t be helped.’
I wonder if they really know, she thought. I wonder what Mum’s really told them.
They were all out in the backyard where they had dragged two tables which put together (there was a drop of two inches half-way along the total length) made a board sufficiently large to accommodate them all. There would have been room for Frank too. Patty wasn’t feeling frightfully well: she had eaten very little and she was further discommoded by the sharp-eyed glances she had been getting at regular intervals from Joy. She was doing her best, she was doing her bloody best, she just wanted to be left alone. She had to think.
They had just finished the pudding and were about to pull the crackers; Dawn was bringing out a great pot of tea and Joy followed with the cups.
They’re good girls, my girls are, thought Mrs Crown. I can’t complain. Oh dear, poor Patty. Dear me.
‘Pull this cracker with me, Patty,’ she said.
The bang was a terrible further strain on Patty’s nerves. She found herself with a tiny slip of paper in her hand on which something was printed.
‘What does it say?’ asked her mother.
Patty read it out. ‘Laugh and the world laughs with you,’ she read. ‘Weep and you weep alone.’ Then she burst into tears and ran into the house.
‘Auntie Patty’s not feeling well,’ said Dawn to the children, ‘so you try and behave yourselves. When you’ve finished pulling your crackers you can get down and go and play. Yes, you can make a cubby house in the rabbit hutch. Or you can play Lotto with your new set.’
Having distracted the children she gave Joy a dark and pregnant look and followed her mother into the house.
Joy, alone with her husband and brother-in-law, lit a cigarette. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I told Dawn it’s ridiculous all this pretending. I knew it wouldn’t work. That Frank is a selfish bastard though. Poor old Patty. I’d divorce him if I was her.’
Bill looked uncomfortable; he wasn’t sure where his primary loyalties must lie.
Joy’s husband Dave, who was doing very well and would do even better, offered his brother-in-law a cigar. ‘He’ll come back,’ he said. ‘It’ll blow over. He just has to sort himself out. Poor blighter. Did you put that beer in the fridge like I asked you to, Joy? Then let’s crack a few, I’ve got a real thirst after all that food.’
Joy went off to help with the washing up, and found Patty at the sink.
‘Never mind, Patty,’ she said. ‘He’ll be back soon. You’ll never know he’s been gone.’
Oh, that was the truth all right: that was the whole trouble.
‘I don’t know,’ said Patty. ‘I’ll see. I’ll see when he comes back.’