Page 42 of Summer at Harbour View House
‘You know,’ Hannah said in a low voice, ‘We could work this to our advantage.’
‘How’s that?’
‘We could make him promise to keep the noise down in return for us not telling the whole world where he is.’
16
Rainy Days and a Board Game Challenge
Perhaps catchingwind of their plan, for the next few days their erstwhile famous neighbour kept his CD player and his mini-stage locked away. However, that it rained relentlessly day and night might have had something to do with it. With little else to do, the girls took shelter in the house behind their newly finished front door, playing cards and watching DVDs in between Hannah’s dates with Davey, while Charlie bobbed around in the indoor coop they had made him on the shed floor, laying the occasional egg.
‘If you looked at the brochures, you’d think it never rained in Cornwall,’ Hannah said one evening after July had rolled on in to August, holding up a tourist leaflet she had picked up in the post office that displayed a smiling family sitting on a pristine curve of sand while the sun beamed overhead. ‘I don’t think we’ve had one fully clear day yet.’
‘That’s half the problem with the second homers, Lizzie was telling me,’ Natasha said. ‘They come down for a week in August when it’s really sunny, and think it’s like that all the time. So they buy up a house then never come down because the weather’s all grotty. The house is empty most of the year, so there’s no one about to support local businesses.’
‘Do you really think it’s that bad?’
‘I was down there a couple of nights ago, you know, when Davey took you to the cinema in St. Austell. There were only about ten people there, and she was telling me it should be high season by now. Even the campsite is three-quarters empty because parents can’t drag their kids away from their computer games long enough to go on holiday anymore. And all the second-homers sit at home drinking posh wine they’ve had delivered by the trucks that are constantly blocking the road.’
Hannah sighed. ‘I guess that’s progress.’
‘But which way, up or down?’
‘We’ll go down there for lunch tomorrow,’ Hannah said cheerfully. ‘We’ll do our bit. Right. What shall we play next? Shall we have another game of Monopoly or do you want to have a quick game of Cluedo?’
Natasha shrugged. ‘Chess again? We need more players for those really.’
‘I can call Davey, see if I can get him to bring Ben round—’ Her smile dropped. ‘Ah, no, I can’t. No reception, ha! Plus, he said they both had to go up to Jago’s to help install a new pipe for the campsite’s portable toilet.’
‘Oh, how nice. I suppose it’s just us two, then.’
‘We could take the games down the pub.’
‘Maybe if it stopped raining. Davey was kind enough to lend them to us, and I wouldn’t want to get them wet. What? Why are you staring at me?’
‘What about him next door?’
‘The pig? Eddie? You’re joking, right?’
Hannah shook her head. ‘Perhaps he’s lonely.’
‘But he’s extremely unpleasant. He said you were a stripper, and by saying I wasn’t a stripper, he basically said I was an old dog.’
‘He’s probably spent his whole life surrounded by yes men, and doesn’t have any real grip on how you should behave around people. We could … educate him.’
Natasha frowned. ‘You’re so … pure.’
‘Brad used to say that like it’s a bad thing.’
‘It’s not a bad thing, it’s just … you have to be careful. I mean, do you really want to invite over a guy who called you a stripper?’
‘I think everyone should get a second chance.’
Natasha nodded. ‘Alright, but I’m going to put a frying pan out next to my chair and if he causes any trouble I’ll whack him with it.’
Hannah giggled. ‘You’re so funny. But you’re also so, like, hard.’
Five minutes later, they found themselves standing outside the front door of 14A, shivering beneath their umbrellas. Natasha had insisted on wearing jeans and a sweater, and had tried to get Hannah to do the same, but Hannah was sticking by her summer wardrobe in a flowery knee-length dress, but had at least put a cardigan over the top.
