Ladies Who Launch by Milly Johnson Page A

petite with a
smiley face, the other at least six foot three with huge hands and feet and angelic waves of hair cascading down her back. The smaller one glanced over at Selina, did a double-take and waved
over.
    ‘Hello Cheryl,’ said Selina, turning to Angie. ‘It’s my cleaner, Cheryl. Lovely girl. Not sure I could live without her now that I’ve found her.’
    But Angie’s attention was on the view out of the window: a thin stream known locally as Pogley Stripe. There had been a lot of rain the past week and the water level was swollen enough to
attract some ducks who were lazily drifting along with the slow flow. As Angie watched them she wished pregnancy was as simple as popping out an egg and then going for a swim. She was
exhausted.
    Patricia appeared with a huge china teapot sprinkled with a sunflower design and two matching cups and saucers.
    ‘Afternoon tea won’t be long,’ she said. ‘I can’t keep up to this bleeding lot. They’re like locusts,’ she said, thumbing towards the gathering of
cleaners.
    ‘That’s Patricia’s sister in the corner. The slim lady with the red hair,’ Selina whispered to Angie. ‘I think she’s the matriarch.’
    ‘I’d love to have a tea room, wouldn’t you? Your house would be a great place to create one. I’m so green with envy, Sel; I make Shrek look pale in comparison.’
    Selina laughed. ‘So, do you like what I’ve done with it?’
    Angie’s mouth dropped open. ‘Are you kidding me? It is absolutely gorgeous. When you first showed it to me, I was worried, I don’t mind admitting. There seemed so much to
do.’
    ‘Tell me about it, Ange. It’s cost a fortune. But finally it’s all finished. I never thought I’d see the day.’
    ‘I can’t get my head around the fact that you sleep in the same room that Miss Dickson did. I wonder if she haunts the place,’ and Angie, fluttering her fingers in the air and
giving a ghostly ‘whooo’.
    ‘Please, please stop,’ replied Selina shaking her head but laughing.
    ‘She died recently, you know. There was a story in the
Chronicle
. She was one hundred and two.’
    Selina raised her eyebrows. ‘Jesus, I thought she was one hundred and two when she taught us. She used to terrify me, swanning around in that black cape like Batman. I don’t think
she could scare me any more as a ghost than she did as a human being.’ Selina shuddered at the thought of their old headmistress.
    ‘Don’t make me laugh, I’ll trump,’ giggled Angie. ‘I can’t keep anything in these days.’
    ‘Dirty girl. Oy, don’t even think about reaching for the teapot, I’ll pour. I don’t want you having your labour triggered off early.’
    ‘I doubt pouring two cups of tea out will set off my contractions,’ huffed Angie. ‘But if you want to pamper me, then go right ahead.’
    ‘Here you go, ladies,’ said Patricia, arriving with a three-tiered cake stand crammed with crustless finger sandwiches on the bottom layer, sweet and savoury filled pastry cases on
the second, interspersed with some very delicious-looking round chocolate truffles and scones the size of a carthorse’s hooves on the top. ‘If you don’t finish it all, I’ve
got a box to tek it home in.’
    ‘
If
?’ gasped Angie. ‘If I finish that lot off, you’ll have to lift me into the car on a forklift truck.’
    In the corner, Patricia’s sister knocked a salt pot on the table to call order. Their meeting was about to start.
    ‘Afternoon, ladies. Can I have your attention, please? Ava sends her apologies but she’s had to go to the doctor today about her bunion. It bust her shoe open yesterday and
she’s in ever so much pain. More about that at the end …’
    ‘You’ve got a cleaner now, haven’t you?’ said Selina to Angie, pouring out two beautifully strong cups of tea. ‘Tell me, do you always give the place a bit of a
once-over before she comes?’
    Angie nodded vigorously. ‘Yes, I do. Gil thinks I’m nuts. To be honest,