Free Soul Love by Lynda Waterhouse

smiling was Lavinya.
    Aurora looked at the picture, tightened the grip on my arm and said in a tight, hard voice, ‘Shitty, evil bitch!’
    ‘Aurora,’ I said, shocked. ‘Isn’t that Gabe’s mother? You shouldn’t call her names.’
    ‘Why not?’ Aurora looked at me and said in a slow venomous voice, ‘I hate her.’
    ‘Whoah!’ I said taking a step away from her. I was really shocked by the force of her feelings.
    ‘She hurt Gabe and I’m glad she’s dead!’ Her mouth tightened and small bubbles of foam gathered at the side.
    Before I could say anything, Isobel appeared in the doorway and called us back to the kitchen. ‘Quiche’s ready. Come quickly!’

Chapter Fourteen
    A urora had spooked me. I hadn’t seen an expression of such pure loathing like that outside of a horror movie.
It was shocking to meet a child who hated a dead person so much. Maybe Lavinya had gone mad. I’d heard a lot of aristocrats do, and she had then tried to hurt her son. It wouldn’t be
the easiest of topics to ‘casually’ bring up with Gabe.
    We sat round a large wooden table in the kitchen. Aurora didn’t seem at all fazed by her outburst and I didn’t speak much over the meal. Fortunately I had a large chewy mushroom to
deal with, which kept me busy for ages. There was still no sign of Gabe.
    The back door rattled and a tall gangly figure, wearing the grubbiest pair of trousers I’d ever seen, came in.
    Aurora frowned. ‘Daddy, where have you been? Jenna has come to tea.’
    He winked at me and kissed her. ‘Sorry, Button, but the car broke down again.’
    ‘Poor show!’ Aurora tutted. ‘And now it’s raining.’
    ‘Can’t blame me for that. Though come to think of it I did get a spot of cramp this morning. Maybe the gods mistook my stomping for a rain dance.’ He began to laugh.
    Aurora’s fist landed on the table, causing one of the mushrooms to leap off my plate.
    ‘You’ll just have to do a sun dance now, then, if that’s the case!’
    Without batting an eyelid Lord Netherby unhooked a yellow wok from the wall and began dancing around the kitchen. Isobel grabbed a torch from the shelf and began to switch it on and off.
    ‘Let the sun shine!’ she sang in a high-pitched voice.
    Hugh Netherby joined in, singing, ‘Oh yeah,’ and they danced round the kitchen.
    It was very funny in an insane-family sort of a way. It reminded me of our ‘Must Have Chocolate Now’ song. Mum, Marcus and I made it up and we sang it when we were hungry, tired or
miserable.
    A loud crash of thunder sounded followed by a heavy blast of rain that sent a chill across the kitchen.
    ‘You’ve been doing it all wrong!’ Aurora wailed.
    ‘No problem,’ I said. ‘Just do the dance backwards.’
    ‘Great idea!’ Hugh bellowed and waved the wok in the opposite direction and sang, ‘Shine sun the let!’
    Hilariously, the rain did ease off a little and we all cheered. There was the sound of a car pulling up outside. Was it Gabe at last? No. Turned out to be Mrs MacLean from the chemist’s.
She shook off her headscarf and was carrying a large white plastic bag.
    ‘Just dropping off the prescription – ’ she said. Then she looked up and saw me, looked flustered and added, ‘And some bit and bobs that you requested.’ She put the
carrier bag down in the hall and left quickly.
    When we had all finished eating, Hugh offered to make us coffee. It took ages, as he was making it the Ethiopian way. He burned some coffee beans in what looked like an old tin can with a
handle. We all had to sniff the aroma. Then he disappeared for ages before coming back with a strange black bottle and some tiny cups on a tray. He poured out the thick black liquid. It tasted like
liquorice.
    ‘Cardamom,’ Isobel said. ‘Good for the digestion.’
    The coffee wasn’t bad and I helped myself to another cup. Aurora got out a battered game of draughts and we all started to play. Another half an hour or so passed and the door opened and