Free Promise to Obey by Stella Whitelaw Page A

flushed with pride, but alarmed by the thought ofthe climb back upstairs. A few minutes in her beloved walled garden gave her renewed courage to make the climb. She picked a few roses for her room.
    ‘You can do it,’ said Jessica encouragingly. ‘Well done. You’ve proved that.’
    ‘You’re such a bully,’ said Lady Grace. ‘And yet you are so slim. I don’t know how I put up with you.’
    ‘Because you know I’m right. Exercise is the answer. You might not admit it but the pain is not so bad these days, is it?’
    ‘I still need my painkillers.’
    ‘I know that but not so many,’ said Jessica, preparing the blood thinning medication. ‘I’m the guardian of your painkillers . Custodian, keeper, steward.’
    ‘You do talk a lot of highfalutin nonsense. Get me a cup of tea, please, Jess. And those roses need dead-heading. Look at the poor things.’
    ‘I’m not here to do gardening.’
    ‘I shall have to bribe you.’
    ‘Difficult, but you could try.’

    Lily got the wettest. She had no fear of the water and was soon paddling and jumping over incoming waves, splashing through puddles. The tide was on the turn and they were surprised how the expanse of wet sand began to disappear under the incoming sea. They had the sense to obey Jessica and return back to shore.
    Daniel was more interested in what the tide was bringing in with it. So many shells and bits of seaweed, dead fish and driftwood . He was scavenging in the pools, collecting all sorts of bits and pieces in his bucket. The shells were so interesting and so intricate. He was completely immersed in his treasure hunt.
    Jessica had brought a magazine to read on the beach but she didn’t get past page three. A book would have been better but she dare not take her eyes off either child for more than a moment. She might get lost in a good book.
    Irrational fears crowded her mind: drowning, abduction, fish hooks.
    The day before yesterday she had taken the children to the mobile library on its weekly visit to West Eastly. They had never been before and were amazed at the choice of books. Jessica had found some new books for Lady Grace which were accepted with reluctant gratitude. Daniel settled on a book with colour photographs of animals which he liked a lot. Lily chose more books than she could carry and insisted on carrying them across the green to the car.
    ‘Let me take some of them,’ Jessica offered.
    ‘I want to carry all my books from the library myself,’ Lily insisted.
    Now they were enjoying themselves on the beach as children should, running about here and there, digging wet sand, collecting shells. Lily was filling her lungs with clean coastal air, not coughing or wheezing at all. Pure sea ozone.
    As the waves edged them nearer and nearer to the shore of shingle, it was not quite so much fun. Bare feet on sharp stones is
ouch
time. They were slipping and sliding on a shelf of wet pebbles. But Jessica had brought plastic flip-flops for them to wear and the discomfort was soon forgotten. They had a picnic tea higher up on the beach – plenty of cheese sandwiches, apples and pears, yogurts, cartons of juice. They ate every crumb, then shook it all down skimming pebbles into the waves, watching the greedy seagulls diving into the deeper water for their fish suppers. Daniel was quite good at skimming. He watched the bouncing pebbles.
    ‘Wow! Daniel’s pebble bounced four times. One more go, everyone.’
    It was two very tired children whom Jessica drove home to Upton Hall, drowsy and wet and sandy. Lily went to sleep on the back seat. Daniel sat close, examining his treasures. His romp on the beach had brought a colour to his cheeks. His hair was stiff with sea water.
    ‘Did you enjoy the beach, Daniel?’ Jessica asked. ‘It was fun, wasn’t it?’
    ‘Fun,’ he said, from the depths of his bucket.
    ‘You’ve both brought half of the beach home with you,’ said Jessica later, as Lily’s bath water filled with a swirl of sand.