Free The Insect Rosary by Sarah Armstrong Page B

gasped, raising one hand to her chest, but it was only Donn. She smiled at her reaction, who else would it be? He looked half made without a dog next to him, looking at his side occasionally as if he could still see a black and white shape keeping faithful pace. The fields had been sold off one by one. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before everything had gone. She needed to remember to give him some money for the food they’d eaten, for being here.
    Donn walked around the side to come in the back door. It made sense with the state of his boots, but seemed to indicate that it wasn’t really his house. The owner should use the front door, no matter the mud they carried with them.
    Through the serving hatch she heard him come in, the shuffle of boots and closed and opened doors. Bernadette came out of the parlour and shouted up the stairs.
    â€˜We’re off, let’s go!’
    Her husband and Nancy’s husband met on the landing.
    â€˜Bye, girls,’ said Bernadette.
    Nancy watched them go down the front steps to the car parked out the front and saw them drive away. Someone, maybe Elian, waved to her. She turned back to the room. The girls were whispering to each other.
    â€˜Maeve wants a drink,’ said Erin. She didn’t take her eyes from the TV.
    Erin and Maeve, that was it.
    â€˜She knows where the kitchen is,’ said Nancy, and forced a smile. The girls exchanged a look. ‘How about we switch the consoles off and play a game?’
    â€˜No thanks,’ said Erin. Maeve giggled.
    â€˜What’s funny?’
    â€˜You don’t let Hurley watch TV. That’s weird.’
    â€˜It’s not weird to not watch a screen all the time. Look,’ Nancy took each console and closed it, ‘it’s quite possible to live without it.’
    â€˜We’ll tell,’ said Maeve. ‘You didn’t save our games.’
    â€˜You can tell. The game is still there, I haven’t turned it off.’
    â€˜But you closed it!’
    â€˜And the world didn’t end.’ She placed them on the table. ‘So, there was always a chess board and cards in this cupboard.’ Nancy moved to the dresser at the back of the room and kneeled down. There were photo albums and old Christmas cards, but underneath was the chess board, folded back on itself to hold the pieces inside. She pulled it out with one hand, using the other to hold everything back inside the cupboard. When she stood up she saw the girls had slipped out. Maybe they’d gone to get a drink. Then she noticed the consoles had gone too.
    She put the board on the table by the window and used her nails to unclip the sharp piece of metal which kept the sides closed together. The wooden pieces looked unscathed, although the green felt underneath them was peeling away on a few. She placed the board upright and tried to remember which order they went in – castle, knight, bishop or castle, bishop, knight?
    It didn’t matter. There was a black pawn missing. She thought about delving back into the cupboard but knew the girls weren’t coming back. They were probably in their bedroom with their screens raised to their noses. Hurley was just absent. All the time.
    Nancy rested her face on one hand and looked out of the window. It was getting dark now. The ceiling light reflecting from the window made it seem even darker and she could see herself, bored, slouched, within the pane of glass. There was half a memory of a group of people standing here, trying to see past their reflections, staring into the darkness of trees and, what was it? There was something out there that was scaring everyone. She’d been scared too but didn’t know why. A shape appeared above her reflection and she swung round.
    â€˜Donn! You frightened me.’
    â€˜Sorry. I was just going to tell you that Hurley had gone to bed. He said to tell you.’
    â€˜Oh. He could have said