Free Paint on the Smiles by Grace Thompson Page A

of tomato soup. Her mouth was like a cartoon with the lips beyond bright red from the food.
    ‘Wait there,’ Ada said and ran back to the house to give them half a loaf and some cheese.
    The homeless couple had been responsible for burning the stable but aware that the cause of the blaze was mostly down to Van, the sisters had not accused them of starting the fire, insisting they had left a lamp burning. They were thankful that the couple had been unharmed. ‘Vandid it because she enjoyed having a secret from us,’ Cecily said. ‘I worry sometimes that her resentment towards me will spill over and cause some serious trouble for us.’
    ‘She’s young. What harm can she do? She’ll soon be too busy having fun to worry about upsetting us.’
    ‘I’m not so sure.’
    ‘So we’ll talk to Willie about replacing the loft floor?’
    ‘Yes, and I suppose I’ll have to accept that Danny will be helping. They work together, don’t they?’
     
    Willie had removed most of the debris from the fire and he and Danny made a start on cutting away the damaged beams and measuring for replacements. Danny delivered post each morning and worked in the afternoon. Willie joined him in the evenings and at the weekends when he could, but the Pleasure Beach was keeping him busy with deliveries during the weeks of high summer. So it was mostly Danny who was there whenever Cecily looked out of the back kitchen window, and Danny whom she heard singing as he worked.
    ‘At least he’s more tuneful than Horse,’ she commented dryly.
     
    August Bank Holiday was warm and sunny. Cecily rose early and took a cup of tea in for Ada and for Van, who was already dressed when she went into her room.
    ‘Edwin and I are playing tennis before the day gets too hot,’ Van explained.
    Van was growing into a long-legged bronzed beauty. Her blonde hair shone with health and she was proud of it. She brushed it regularly and washed it frequently so it fell in gentle curls about her heart-shaped face. Her eyes were sky blue but with a touch of scorn in them which Cecily found disconcerting but the boys loved. The small mouth was perfectly formed but also wore a suggestion of discontent. Although this didn’t detract from her attractiveness either, Cecily realized, only adding to the appeal she had for all the young men in her circle of friends.
    She wondered idly if Van and Edwin would stay together, or whether the separation when Edwin went to university would end their long friendship. They looked so right together, her small features and slimness beside Edwin’s powerful build, her fairness beside his dark good looks.
    Cecily and Ada hadn’t planned to go anywhere. Waldo was ill and the books he usually attended to needed some work. Then, being a BankHoliday, there were the beach orders to prepare. Willie was already loading the van with the first deliveries before the breakfast dishes were washed.
    They worked until midday, then Ada threw down her pen and suggested they went to the beach. ‘Van is spending the day with Edwin and we’d only be sitting here dealing with books that can easily be done tomorrow. It’s daft not getting some fresh air while we can,’ she added, thinking of how Phil had been locked in his cell for most of the day, week in, week out.
    She had gone to the house to see him often but he seemed to be unaware of her presence, hardly acknowledging her when she arrived, just a brief nod when she left. Pausing at the door she would hear him muttering quietly to his mother, then she was hurried out, Mrs Spencer insisting it was ‘too soon’.
    She tried to put aside the disappointments and prepare for a day out.
    When the last of the orders had been piled onto the van and Willie was on his way, they caught a bus. The weather would have brought out hundreds of motorists and, with the visitors already staying and more trippers bringing extra buses to the popular town, parking would be difficult.
    The buses were full too but they