The Country Escape. Jane Lovering

      4

      ‘Hate it.’ Poppy swirled inside, dropping her school bag on the floor just inside the door. ‘Hate it, hate it, hate it. Why couldn’t we have gone to live with Grandma Bryant?’

      The question took me aback a little. I followed her through, down the hallway and into the kitchen, which I’d tried to make smell homely and welcoming by baking some rock buns. ‘Because Grandma Bryant lives in a flat?’ And besides, my mother and I had a relationship that was uneasy at the best of times. Destructive at worst.

      Poppy trailed through, coat half off one shoulder. ‘Yeah, but we could have stayed there until we found somewhere near my school. My proper school, not this dump that they call a school round here, where there’s only four forms in Year Ten and most of the sixth form are dorks. Who the hell am I meant to have a crush on when there’s no lush sixth formers?’ She flung open the back door and went out into the orchard, where Patrick, now complete with water bucket, was standing dreaming under one of the apple trees, tail slowly swishing. ‘I could have riding lessons now.’

      ‘No,’ I said quickly. ‘Money is going to be tight, and this isn’t a riding pony. I doubt he’s even broken to ride. Besides, he’s not going to be here much longer.’ I started telling her about Gabriel and Granny Mary, and Patrick, but she clearly wasn’t listening.

      ‘You’ve moved the van.’

      ‘Yes, Gabriel and I pulled it in here to keep the road clear. No, don’t go inside…’

      ‘I’m not going to touch anything.’ I followed her up the steps and we stood in the tiny doorway, peering in. ‘Look, it’s got everything!’

      At the far end of the van was a built-in bed, half hidden behind curtains. Fitted cupboards lined the walls, a tiny stove jutted its chimney up through the roof and a sink and hotplate took up the rest of the space. There were photographs and ornaments on all the flat surfaces. I frowned, and poked a small china figurine of a dancing girl experimentally.

      ‘You’re not supposed to touch,’ Poppy said, gleefully.

      ‘Just wondering how it doesn’t all fall over every time the van moves.’

      ‘And?’ Clearly holding herself back from dashing around the van opening the cupboards and exclaiming, she stared out of the small window, as though our orchard were transformed into fairyland from being seen from inside this magical space. With all the drapings and decorations, the bunches of dried herbs and flowers that hung from the roof, the ornate soft furnishings and velvet curtains, the inside of the van had the feel of a faery bower. It seemed as if Titania had just popped out for a moment to gather some dew.

      ‘Blu-Tack.’

      ‘It’s gorgeous.’

      ‘And it smells of sausages. Maybe we should leave the window open for a bit to air it out.’ I pushed the glazed top half of the door and it swung, separate from the bottom half. ‘Come on, out. You wouldn’t want someone poking around in your bedroom, would you?’

      We backed slowly down the steps. Almost childlike in her wonder, Poppy traced the outline of one of the intricate designs painted on the door. ‘It’s beautiful.’ Then, with a glance at me, ‘I mean, completely shit to live in, obviously. But, maybe, you could, like, live out here and I could have the cottage.’

      ‘Nope.’

      ‘It would be great though! I could have my friends down to stay from school and it would be fantastic and cool and you’d be out here to… to keep an eye on us and cook and everything. But far away, obvs.’ She waved a hand. ‘It’s just all really old-fashioned. Perfect for you, Mum.’

      At the sight of all the activity around the van door, Patrick’s head came up and he whinnied a short, high sound. His neck arched like a destrier and he trotted across the orchard towards us, mane and tail flowing out behind him and his big, feathered legs swishing the grass. When there was no sign of his owner coming out of the van, he slowed to a walk and nudged the shafts with his pink nose.

      ‘Poor lad. He misses her.’ I gave the firm shoulder an absent-minded pat. The smell of warm horse, newly munched grass and the faint overlay of leather was horribly familiar in a way that made me feel a bit sick. ‘I hope Gabriel can find somewhere for him to go soon.’

      ‘Can I have my tea out here?’ Poppy sat on the steps. ‘It’s nice. I’ve had geeky little year eights trying to talk to me all day. I guess they don’t see many people round here that they aren’t all related to. They all want to know what London is like, poor bastards.’

      ‘Poppy…’

      ‘Sorry. But they are. Oh, and Dad rang, he’s down this way, said he’d pick me up from school tomorrow and take me out for dinner.’

      ‘That’s very nice of him.’

      She looked in my face, searching for a trace of sarcasm maybe, but losing interest with the typical attention span of the fourteen-year-old. ‘You haven’t done much painting.’

      ‘Well, no.’ Again, I began telling her about Gabriel and the possibility of the cottage being used as a location. I didn’t know why; she hadn’t listened the first time. But when I mentioned the word Spindrift, she turned away from her patting of Patrick, with a dramatic slowness that I was clearly meant to notice and remark upon.

      ‘Did you say they might want to film Spindrift here? Here?’ She pointed to the cottage, as though I might have thought she meant the county of Dorset in a less specific way. ‘Really?’

      ‘Well, I haven’t said yes yet, but it would be a way to get some money in before we need to start lighting fires and—’ I stopped talking because Poppy was currently giving me a stare that indicated that her entire face might fall off any moment now.

      ‘Oh. My. God,’ she enunciated. ‘Do you know what this means? No, cos you’re really old and you only watch programmes that have, like, antiques and stuff in. Oh. My. God. I have to go and tell Shawnia and Emily-Rose.’ She fumbled in the pocket of her half-worn coat for her phone. ‘This is big stuff, Mum. This means Davin might come here!’

      ‘Who the hell is Davin?’ I asked her retreating back, but was answered with nothing but the excited squeals of her reconnection with whichever of her London friends had answered first. Patrick looked at me. He had unsymmetrical black markings, so one eye had a rakish pirate patch while the rest of his face was almost completely white. This white head sat on a black neck, which devolved into a body with random large black continents spread over a grass-stained white sea. His mane and forelock were long and contained varied examples of local flora and his feet were the size of the blue plaques you get outside houses where interesting people have lived.

      ‘Please tell me you aren’t broken to ride,’ I whispered to him.

      He cocked a lazy black ear, and tipped a hind leg to rest on its hoof edge. He looked as though explosions could happen and he’d still stand here, resting, with