Chapter 7
SEVEN
Nancy pulled up in the yard of Hilldale Farm, being careful not to run over the chickens that seemed to have a death wish and kept strutting in front of her car.
As she got out, she immediately noticed the quiet.
Nothing but the sound of birds. The sun lit up the round bales of hay, scattered through a field like giant golden playing pieces on a board game.
The ground beneath them was now stubble.
A large farmhouse was on her left, with pale grey stone walls and a green front door.
Two outbuildings were opposite – essentially big wooden sheds.
Nancy jumped at the sound of a loud whinnying and looked behind her to see a black horse staring at her over the fence.
Behind it were more fields, stretching as far as the eye could see.
She went up to the house and knocked on the door but it was silent inside.
Of course, she thought, farmers don’t sit around drinking tea.
They’re out, working the land. She was starting to think she’d made a wasted journey when she saw a figure crouching down, a distance away in the fields.
Nancy screwed up her eyes against the sun to see better.
The person seemed to be dragging something along the ground.
She thought it was Hannah up there so climbed the stile and walked the footpath that crossed the field.
As she approached, Nancy saw she was right. It was Hannah. She was bent over, dragging something heavy, and then, in a sudden shock, Nancy saw what. A sheep lay dead on the grass, its limbs stiff and comically aloft, while Hannah pulled on two of those limbs.
‘Everything OK?’ asked Nancy, the words no sooner out of her mouth than she realized what a stupid thing it was to say.
Hannah looked up and her face was contorted with effort and anger. ‘No. A dog attacked my flock this morning, killed a ewe.’
Nancy looked down at the mangled creature, its coat matted with blood. Its neck was on show and she suddenly saw the inside of its neck was on show too. She gagged, then turned away, unable to stomach the sight of ravaged flesh and sinew.
‘A dog did that?’
‘I’ve seen worse. Some left without faces once.’
‘Where’s the owner?’
‘At the time of the attack, who knows? Shouting ineffectively at their dog? Failing to put it on a lead? Witnessing the destruction then scarpering like a shameless coward?’
Hannah seethed and Nancy felt uncomfortable. ‘I’ve come at a bad time,’ she said.
Hannah stood up straight and exhaled. ‘It’s fine. Can I help with something?’
‘I wanted to see if you had any chickens for sale,’ said Nancy. ‘Dean mentioned you might. When he came over to quote for the house.’
‘You ever looked after chickens before?’
‘Never,’ said Nancy, thinking she was about to be told it was no business of hers, a townsperson going around trying to acquire living creatures.
‘It’s pretty simple,’ said Hannah. ‘I’ll show you the ropes.’
An hour later, Nancy shut the boot of her car on four plump Derbyshire Redcaps, a coop and all the necessary food and bedding to get her started.
She headed down the road, driving with extreme care, nervous about her cargo.
She could hear them clucking to each other, perhaps terrified of what this utter novice was going to do to them.
‘Only eggs, ladies,’ Nancy called from the front. ‘No roast dinners, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.’
As she returned home, Nancy turned into her driveway and let out a delighted laugh when she saw a blue car parked outside her barn, a woman leaning against it, her face tilted to the sun.
The woman looked up as Nancy leapt out of the car and ran over to envelop her in a tight hug.
‘You’re early!’ She pulled away and looked at her friend. ‘It’s so nice to see a friendly face.’
‘Are people around here not friendly?’ asked the woman.
Nancy drew back, as if surprised that the question had arisen. ‘No, they are. It’s just, you know, everything’s new. Honestly’, she reiterated in response to the look on her best friend, Beth’s, face.
Satisfied, Beth looked up at the barn. ‘Well, haven’t you gone up in the world? A country house. You, a lady of the manor.’
‘It’s nice, eh?’
‘Nice? That’s like saying Buckingham Palace is nice. Or a pink diamond is nice. It’s better than nice. It’s positively amazing.’ Beth moved over to the Tesla, ran her hand over it. ‘And check this out.’
‘Well, you know . . . after where we used to live. All those car fumes. It was really important to me to go electric . . .’
‘I hope you’re not apologizing for doing the right thing by your daughter,’ said Beth. ‘Now, you gonna show me around?’
‘In a minute. There’s just one thing . . .’
Beth was looking at the car, puzzled. There was a distinct sound of clucking.
‘Are those chickens I can hear?’ she asked.
Nancy beamed and went to open the boot, revealing her new purchases.
The chickens seemed content enough once they’d been removed from the car and they’d been pecking happily at the grass in their run when Nancy and Beth had left to pick up Lara from school.
The two women stood in the playground as the crowds of parents grew, friendship groups clustering together.
Beth watched with interest. ‘It’s quite tribal, isn’t it? All these clans preparing for battle.’
Nancy laughed. ‘There’s no battle. Well, not usually on day one.’
‘I know I don’t have my own and I work in a secondary where the kids are older and get themselves to school but, trust me, as a receiver of dozens of parent emails, there’s always an issue of some sort.
’ Beth grimaced. ‘God, I’ve only been back a week.
You should have seen my inbox, groaning with complaints, pleas, passive-aggressive missives about how their darling child should be in receipt of a scholarship or a bursary.
’ Beth looked around. ‘Might even be from some of the mums here,’ she mused.
Nancy put on a polite smile as Lorna bounded up to them.
‘So lovely to have coffee with you today,’ Lorna said, linking arms with Nancy as if they were best friends. Her eyes slid to Beth and she raised an expectant eyebrow.
‘This is my friend, Beth,’ said Nancy.
‘Oh, are you a new mum too?’ asked Lorna.
‘Good God, no,’ said Beth. ‘I just enjoy the little darlings at work instead.’
‘Are you a teacher?’ asked Lorna.
‘Bursar. At Kingsgate School.’
You could practically see Lorna blossom.
‘Oh wow. Bursar.’ She quickly checked herself.
‘What a coincidence! We’ve applied to Kingsgate.
My son, Phoenix, is a sporting fiend. We’re hoping he’s lucky enough to get a scholarship?
’ She did a small, self-effacing laugh. ‘Don’t know if you remember our application? ’
Beth thought, a concentrated frown on her face. ‘Phoenix . . . Hmm, no, don’t think I do.’
Lorna’s face fell. She was about to say something else but the doors of the school had opened and Lara, newly released by the teacher, ran across the playground.
‘Auntie Beth!’ she cried, throwing her arms around her. ‘You came!’
‘Of course I did,’ said Beth, twirling Lara around. ‘And you’ve grown again. I know children do but it always seems to take me by surprise.’
‘How was your first day?’ asked Nancy, leaning in for a hug.
‘I met loads of new friends. This morning I sat next to Rosie and she invited me to her birthday party.’
‘Oh wow,’ said Nancy, pleased her daughter was already being included. ‘What else?’
‘This afternoon we had a vote,’ said Lara.
‘Ah, yes, Head of School,’ said Nancy. ‘Was Rosie the winner?’
Lara smiled shyly and pulled her cardigan aside to reveal a blue badge pinned to her polo shirt. ‘No. It was me.’
Nancy’s jaw dropped. Then she became aware of numerous gazes turned their way. She looked up to see Erin, Imogen and several of the other mothers staring at them with a mixture of disbelief and thinly veiled hostility.
Beth threw her arms up in delight. ‘Congratulations!’ she said. ‘They picked the best candidate.’
‘But,’ said Nancy, ‘you hadn’t even written a speech.’
‘Miss Young, she’s really nice by the way, Mum, she’s got pink hair and a pierced nose!’
Nancy looked over at Miss Young, who was making sure the rest of the children were being reunited with their parents. She immediately liked her, felt herself warm to her non-conformist attitude.
‘Anyway,’ continued Lara, ‘Miss Young said I could write something in class. Then we all had to stand at the front and tell the other kids what we stood for.’
‘And what do you stand for?’
‘Being kind and supportive and encouraging everyone not to drop litter but mostly campaigning for the teacher to give kids sweets if they get three smiley faces on their work in a row.’
Nancy was still a little stunned. ‘Smiley faces?’
‘Yeah, you get one for good effort. And when I read my speech out, one of the other kids, Jakob, he asked Miss Young if she would actually do it, give out the sweets, and she said yes and I got voted in.’
Beth laughed. ‘Nice work, kid.’
‘You need to speak to Rosie’s mum about the party,’ Lara said to Nancy.
Nancy looked up at Imogen and saw her resting her arm around Rosie’s shoulders, quietly talking in her ear, no doubt commiserating with her about her failure to be voted Head of School.
‘Sure. No rush though.’
‘No, there is. It’s tomorrow,’ said Lara.
‘Oh right.’
‘I’m your wing woman,’ whispered Beth in Nancy’s ear.
Nancy put on what she hoped was a warm smile and walked over to where Imogen was surrounded by Erin and several other friends. The conversation died as she approached.
‘Lara says she’s been invited to Rosie’s party.’
‘Yes,’ said Imogen.
‘She thought it was tomorrow?’ prompted Nancy.
‘That’s right. Heron Water. Two o’clock at the activity centre.’
‘OK, great.’ Nancy looked at Rosie, saw her red eyes. Felt she should say something. ‘Sorry it didn’t work out, Rosie.’
‘It was a close call,’ said Imogen. ‘Only one vote in it.’
‘Oh right,’ said Nancy, taken aback at her quietly aggressive tone.