'Got everything?' asked Anna.
'I don't care if we haven't!' said Stephen. 'Let's go! You
drive.'
'OK. We've got to stop at Rebecca's to leave our keys
with her,' said Anna, shutting the front door quietly behind
her. 'She said she'd come in and make sure everything is
OK while we're away. Remember? Oh, and did you write
down our holiday address for her - she said she wanted it
in case of emergencies. Though I don't think I want to
know if there are any emergencies, do you? Now where did
I put the car keys?'
'You always think you've lost the keys, and you never
have,' said Stephen. 'I think you just say it to annoy me.
Get in and drive! I've got the address for Rebecca, I've got
the map, I've got the address of the cottage and you've got
enough bottles of suntan cream to protect an army. Now,
come on! We're wasting valuable holiday time!'
'Right. I'll drive first. Why don't you go to sleep? I'll
wake you when it's your turn to drive,' said Anna.
London looked a bit like a ghost town at seven o'clock
that Saturday morning. Either everybody had left it for
their own holidays or they were still in bed. It was good to
leave the city behind as Anna set off west along the M4 on
the 500 kilometre drive to Polreath. Polreath was a small,
quiet fishing village on the north-west coast of Cornwall
10with a few holiday cottages, two hotels, and the usual
shops, bars and restaurants. It was famous for its seafood
restaurants - lobsters, prawns, crabs - and relatively
unspoilt - a great place to relax.
It would take most of the day to get there but Anna was
happy to drive. It gave her time to think about last night
when Stephen had come home from work. He had looked
almost ill - he said it was only the heat and the traffic, and
he just needed some peace and quiet. He had gone into the
garden with a bottle of beer and walked around looking as
if he was interested in the flowers (which she knew he
wasn't). She had left him alone and after a while he came in
for dinner, seeming a bit more cheerful. They had had a
perfectly pleasant evening talking about arrangements for
the next day and had gone to bed without mentioning
work. But later, she had woken up and heard him in the
kitchen, talking to someone on the telephone. When he
had come back to bed, she had pretended to be asleep. In
the morning, neither of them had mentioned it. 'Oh well,
when we've both relaxed, perhaps he'll talk about it,'
thought Anna.
The sun was behind her and she could feel its warmth
on her shoulders. There wasn't much traffic about so she
put her foot down, and as the kilometres passed, she felt
her head begin to clear of all the worries, the questions. She
put a cassette on quietly - a little Mozart for company,
perfect - and started to enjoy the drive.
'Where are we?' asked Stephen sleepily.
'We've just passed Bristol, so I suppose we're doing well,'
said Anna. 'Your turn to drive.'
'OK. Let's stop and have a cup of coffee first.'
11Anna turned into the next service area where they had to
queue for a fairly awful cup of coffee. Half an hour later
they were back on the road, this time with Stephen driving.
He changed the music to an Ella Fitzgerald tape and Anna
attempted to sing along with her.
'I think I prefer Ella Fitzgerald to you, if you don't
mind,' joked Stephen.
'Sorry, this song always makes me want to sing,' replied
Anna. 'Don't worry, I'll go to sleep in a minute.'
Stephen turned off the motorway. He reckoned it would
take about another three hours to get to Polreath. Anna was
asleep. 'She wasn't last night, though, when I came back to
bed after that phone call, I know. She's not very good at
pretending.' Stephen looked at her lovingly. 'Perhaps it was
a mistake to ring Mark, but I wanted to tell him what
Charlie had said about making someone redundant. Now
all I've done is make Mark feel bad, too. I must be going
mad. Why did I tell him? He'll find out soon enough if he's
going to lose his job.'
Anna moved beside him.
'Not long now,' said Stephen, trying to forget about work.
'I'll be really happy to get out of this hot car, won't you?'
'Mmm.'
'First thing I'm going to do is have a swim,' he said.
'What about unpacking the car, and buying a few things
like milk and bread for tomorrow's breakfast?' said Anna.
'To hell with that. We're on holiday and we're going to
do what we want to do, not what we should. No more
planning, no more thinking ahead, no more worrying.'
'I'll remember you said that. This sounds as if it's going
to be an interesting three weeks.'