Draca. Geoffrey Gudgion
Colin Blackwell
Cornelis Bonnet
Simon Bowden
Shirley Bradbury
Nick Breeze
Tom Brown
Jenny Bruce-Mitford
John Bryant
Diana Bunyan
Peter Burke
Catherine Calow
Sue Catling
Alex Chiltern
Sue Clark
Jo Coles
Stevyn Colgan
Carolynn Croisdale-Appleby
Justine Cross
Elwin Cummings-Palmer
Ivana Ćurković
Steve Cuthbert
Susan Cuthbert
Kari Dorme
Barry Dudley
Alex Dunlop
Sarah Ellis
Steve & Helene Elting
Sophie Falcon-Lang
Rachel Ferguson
Claudia Fey
Shona Fraser
Mike Gage
Gill Garside
Alison Gibbs
Keith Gilham
Emma Grae
Rupert Griffiths
Deborah Gudgion
James Gudgion
John Gudgion
Jill Hackett
Nigel Hacking
Debbie Hayman
Carole Hazlehurst
Ann Heath
Frances Hodson
Andrew Hounsell
D K Ivens
Brian Jackson
Ruth Jenner
Gareth John
Sylvia Johnstone
Andrew Jones
Janis and John Keast
Alison Lester
Michael Lischer
John MacFarlane
Rosalind Maclean
Adrian Martin
Nigel Masters
Tony Mattin
Ann Mayor
Bill Mayor
Sophie Mayor
Andrew McFarlane
Katy Miklausic
Rhiannon Mitchell
Richard Model
James Moorcroft
Bob Moyse
Barbara Northcote
John O’Brien
Håkan Olsson
Kate Orson
P.D. Pabst
Gill Pearce
in memoriam Jonathan Pearce
Jonathan Pinnock
Rhian Radice
Griet Randolph
Steven Ridlington-White
John Robinson
Clive Rogers
Tim Rogers
Diane Ruskell
Carol Rutherford
Richard Scothorne
Katy Senn
Sue Sexton
Christopher Sharp
Kerry Slade
Gary Smart
Stephen Snaith
Andrea Stephenson
Jonathan Sulenski
Christopher Swinhoe-Standen
Lisa Telford
Gill Thomas
Sally Thompson
Jonathon Tully
Bertrand Vivier
Alun Walters
Sandra Walters
William Walters
Jane Warland
Sandra Webb
Brian Wedge
Edward Weiss
Alison Wheelhouse
Suzie Wilde
Bernie Wilson
Helen Wilson
John Wilson
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James Wrigley
5
Figurehead Patron
Mike Cribb
6
Chapter One: Arfræningr
(Old Norse: one stripped of his inheritance)
I: JACK
Jack ’ s father didn ’ t recognise him. Not at first.
Jack saw him coming, and waited at the hospice ’ s entrance. Harry Ahlquist strode through the car park, tight-jawed, rolling his shoulders as he came as if bracing himself for a fight. The sun could have been in his eyes. It was warm on Jack ’ s neck, warm enough for the sweat to stick his shirt to his back and to taint the porch with smells of tar and hot metal. And as Harry came closer he glared at his son in the what-are-you-looking-at way in which he might outstare a stranger.
He finally did a double take and stopped.
‘ Good grief, what brings you here? ’ Harry ’ s eyebrows folded until vertical and parallel creases appear ed in his forehead above the bridge of his nose. The eyebrows were thicker than Jack remembered, still sandy despite the silver over the temples, and they bristled in the old danger signal.
Jack swallowed, dry-mouthed, ridiculously nervous , like a boy caught playing truant. ‘ Hello, Dad. Same as you, I expect. ’
They stared at each other. Neither tried to shake hands.
‘ How ’ s Mum? ’ Jack had a twinge of guilt about staying away, even though he was staring at the reason.
‘ Well enough. She misses you. How long have you been back? ’
‘ A while. ’ As he knew. That was Harry ’ s way of reminding Jack of his failings. Jack turned away, refusing to take the bait, and walked into the building.
‘ You ’ re limping. ’
‘ Fell out of a truck and broke my leg. It ’ s mending. ’ Jack kept it simple. At least he didn ’ t need a stick any more. They stood at the door to a lounge room large enough to hold perhaps twenty ill-matched armchairs, some pushed back against the walls, others clustered around a blaring television. About half were occupied by sick, elderly people who looked as if they ’ d been waiting for something for so long that they