Free Sky Run by Alex Shearer Page B

like. Peggy’s never been against working and getting your hands dirty. Honest toil, right, Gran?’
    The tall woman let another flow of golden, tinkling laughter spill from between her perfect teeth and out of her rosebud mouth.
    â€˜Oh, isn’t he just so cute,’ she said. ‘Isn’t he such an absolute darling?’ And she actually ruffled his hair, which if I’d done it, would have been suicide. But Martin could hardly kick her, so he just glared.
    And I thought to myself, is that really my brother Martin you’re talking about? Cute? Darling? Martin?
    How ignorant can you be, lady? I thought.
    But I was about to find that out.

7
the villa
    GEMMA STILL REMEMBERING:
    â€˜We can walk it,’ Peggy said, as we left the harbour and saw the houses up on the hill.
    â€˜Oh no,’ the lady said. ‘Really. You can’t possibly.’
    â€˜It doesn’t look far. And we’ve been cooped up on the boat. It would be nice for us to stretch our –’
    â€˜No, really. It’s what the Drools are for. They’d be upset if you wouldn’t let them transport you. Just take a chair each and they’ll carry us up the hill.’
    Sedan chairs, Peggy told me later, is what they were called. Two poles, a chair, one Drool at the front, one at the back, up they lift you and away you go.
    Our little convoy set out, following the sedan chair carrying Tania, which turned out to be the lady’s name. Peggy followed her, then Martin, and I was last.
    The two men carrying my chair were like the ones we had seen on the jetty – short, squat, and poorly dressed. But their eyes were bright and alert, and to me, far from being mere drudges, they appeared keenly intelligent. Calling them Drools seemed nothing better than a deliberate insult. They were friendly and cheerful too, but I had the sense that they were watching and waiting and biding their time. But for what, I didn’t know.
    They carried us along through the small town and up the hill in the direction of a large villa which surely had to have a fine view of the coast. I could see the back of the man at the front of my chair; the muscles of his neck were knotted; sweat soon began to appear on his skin.
    On we went. We passed more tall and elegant people. Tania knew and greeted them all, and called that we were visitors, and everyone and anyone was invited to her villa for drinks.
    Her friends regarded us with curious looks and smiles. And every single one of these tall, elegant people had a couple of Drools alongside, carrying the shopping, or waiting to move the people on in their sedan chairs. I noticed as we passed that the Drools were behind the shop counters, that they worked in the restaurants, and that they swept the streets. In fact, it was the Drools who did everything, while the better-off people did nothing. The rich-looking ones were completely idle. But the Drools were all business and industry.
    â€˜Who lives there?’ I heard Peggy ask, as we went on up the hill. The road narrowed and began to spiral. To our left, at a distance, was another shanty town.
    â€˜Oh, the Drools,’ Tania answered languidly. ‘They have their space. We have ours. But it all works frightfully well. They know how to run everything and we let them get on with it. I couldn’t even iron a pillowcase, myself. But then, I don’t need to, not with the Drools about. Do you have many Drools on your island?’
    â€˜None,’ Peggy said, rather curtly too.
    â€˜Well, good Lord! Then who does the work?’
    â€˜We do,’ Peggy said.
    â€˜Oh, how marvellous! How awfully original. No Drools? How frightfully old-fashioned. I don’t know how we’d manage without our Drools. And doing things for yourself, isn’t it just so tiring?’
    â€˜It’s better than sitting there,’ I heard Peggy mutter. ‘On your butt all day.’ But I don’t know if Tania caught what she