Free Towards a Dark Horizon by Maureen Reynolds

deaf ears so that was the story we all stuck to.
    Thankfully, as far as Hattie was concerned, Maddie had said very little except to say the engagement was off for the time being. So we all settled into this uneasy calm. I didn’t see much of Danny and even less of Maddie and, in a way, I was grateful because I didn’t know what to say to them. I was also grateful to be kept busy at the shop and looking after Lily and the house.
    Joe became a regular visitor. ‘I’m telling you, Johnny, that this Hitler guy is a dangerous wee dictator.’ He also kept referring to the last war and telling Dad about a possible new one as if Dad could do anything to stop it – as if he could wave some magic wand.
    During these visits, I normally left the two men to their cigarettes and blethers. Connie had said I could visit her at her house if I ever wanted to get away from Joe’s doom and gloom. She knew him well. Her house was in Stirling Street, in a nice block of tenement houses. It was much more posh than ours but it wasn’t better kept. The square-shaped living room held so much furniture that reaching the fireside was like tackling an obstacle course.
    ‘This is the way my father left it and I don’t have the heart to throw out his things,’ Connie said.
    Actually, I liked it because it resembled the furniture shop on the Hilltown with its mixture of everything.
    One night in the early summer, Connie said, ‘Although it’s a secret in the British newspapers, I’ve heard through the trade that the King is seeing a married woman. Her name is Wallis Simpson and she’s American.’
    I was agog with excitement. ‘How did you find out?’
    ‘Well, it’s in the American papers but it might just be a rumour. If she does get a divorce and marry him then this will be her third marriage.’ Connie looked sad. ‘Lucky for her I say and here I am – I can’t even get one man.’
    I wanted to ask her a favour. ‘You know that Lily is going to the school this summer, Connie?’
    She nodded.
    ‘Well, I wondered if I could maybe change my hours so that I can take her to the school in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon?’
    ‘Aye, that’s no problem, Ann. If you start at six thirty, work till eight, then come back at nine and work till your usual time, will that help?’
    I thought it was great and I said so. That would give me time to pick Lily up from the Overgate and get her to the school gate in time for her classes and the afternoons were nearly always free anyway. Thank goodness that was settled, I thought. Granny was right when she said it would all work out. If Danny and Maddie’s lives were sailing on choppy seas well at least mine seemed to be on an even course.
    Then the two letters arrived on the same day – a lovely hot day in August. The first one came from Greg, which wasn’t unexpected, and the other one came from Mrs Pringle. Greg’s said he was coming to Dundee on the Sunday and he asked if I could meet him while Mrs Pringle invited me to her house on the Saturday.
    ‘Bring Lily with you, Ann, as she’ll be good company for Joy,’ she wrote.
    On the Saturday afternoon we both set off for the Perth Road. Lily seemed strangely quiet and not like herself while I felt wary at the thought of Maddie’s mother and I wondered who else would be there, dreading the thought of Hattie and Maddie in the house also. Then I felt guilty by these thoughts – some friend I was turning out to be.
    With its smooth green lawns surrounded by banks of colourful flowers, the garden at Perth Road was a delight. The flowers’ perfume lay heavy on the warm sunny breeze. The garden sloped down towards the river and, although it was sheltered by a long green hedge, it was possible to see the Tay’s silver sheen through the greenery.
    Mr Pringle was weeding. Dressed in an old short-sleeved shirt and a battered straw hat, he looked the picture of a country gardener – except that this garden lay not far from a busy road and