(7/13) Affairs at Thrush Green by Miss Read Page A

remained silent.
    'That's settled then,' said Ben, standing up. 'I'll pick you up in the van at a quarter past eight tomorrow morning, on my way to work. The coach sets off at eight-thirty, $0 you'll be all right.'
    'And I'll come over tonight and pack one or two things for you,' added Molly swiftly. 'You may want to stay for a while.'
    'That'll be the day,' commented Albert bitterly.
    But he knew when he was beaten.

    In common with most small communities, news in Thrush Green and Lulling has always spread with the rapidity of a forest fire.
    Sharp eyes that morning had seen Albert waiting at the coach stop. He was actually wearing a tie as well as his best dark blue suit, the one in which he had married Nelly at St Andrew's. At his feet stood a small case.
    Obviously, he was off on his travels, and where would that be? News of Nelly's illness had already gone the rounds, and it did not need much guesswork on the part of his observers to settle his destination.
    The coach stop was immediately outside The Fuchsia Bush, and Mrs Peters, the owner of this establishment, noticed Albert as she drove up to open the café. Ten minutes later Gloria Williams arrived on foot, and soon after that her co-worker Rosa entered their place of work.
    The coach was late, and Albert was shifting impatiently from one foot to the other.
    'No doubt Nelly's took a turn for the worse,' surmised Rosa. 'I did hear she was in the intensive.'
    'What's that when it's at home?' queried Gloria, licking her fingers and arranging a curl over one eyebrow. it's where they put you when it's touch and go,' Rosa explained. 'You're all wired up to a television thing for the nurses to watch.'
    'And Nelly's that bad?'
    'I expect so,' said Rosa with evident satisfaction. 'Can't see old Smiley there bothering to go and see her if she was just in an ordinary ward.'
    'My mum said no one wasn't allowed to see people when they was wired up like you say.'
    Rosa was somewhat put out by this sudden display of medical knowledge from a junior.
    'Oh! Know it all, do you?' she enquired, with heavy sarcasm. 'Perhaps you can tell me—'
    But at this moment, Mrs Peters came hurrying through from her swift inspection of the kitchen, and the two girls broke off their discussion to collect their overalls and to appear moderately active.
    'Come along, girls,' cried their bustling employer. 'No time for gossip! The tables need dusting, and one of you must hurry along to Abbot's. We're nearly out of butter.'
    Gloria cast a resigned look at her colleague behind Mrs Peter's back, and at that moment the London coach drew up with a dreadful squealing of brakes.
    The door opened automatically. Albert picked up his case and mounted the steps. Within a minute he was on his way, all his movements having been watched by the three ladies behind the window of The Fuchsia Bush.

    Betty Bell was full of the drama when she blew into the Shoosmiths' house at Thrush Green 'to put them to rights'.
    'Fancy our Albert making such a trip! I bet he wouldn't have gone if he'd been left to himself though. They say Mr Jones gave him the rough side of his tongue, and Ben and Molly put the pressure on too. I'd dearly like to be a fly on the ceiling when he sees his Nelly in hospital. What's the betting he takes her some flowers? Or a bunch of grapes? I don't think! The mean old devil! Want your study done over?'
    Harold looked helplessly at his wife. She came swiftly to the rescue, as always.
    'Bedrooms today, Betty. I did the study yesterday.'
    'Righty-o! I'll lug the vacuum up.'
    She made for the kitchen, but lingered in the doorway.
    'They say she's pretty bad, you know. Trouble with her breathing. Well, with all that fat and her being so short in the neck it's not surprising. My auntie was the same. Never had a cold but what it was bronchitis. Doctor Lovell took her off butter but it never did any good. Now it's all this fibre nonsense. Everyone comes out of that surgery being told to eat bran these days. Last