慡he抯 so bright. She抣l catch up.?
慖抦 not worried about her falling behind. I抦 worried about her getting bored. I抦 worried about me getting bored.?
慦hat about your new next-door neighbour? The woman I saw the other week??
慫oe? What about her??
慖s she company for you??
慪es, she is but she抯 a nurse. She works three days a week.?Ruth has already seen Zoe come home, looking tired. Ruth had waved from the window, embracing her Mrs Grantham persona.
慖 wish . . .?says Nelson and then he stops. What was he going to say? That he wishes that he was with her? Or that Michelle was back?
慖 wish none of this had happened,?says Nelson.
慦e all think that, Nelson,?says Ruth.
She knows this isn抰 what he was going to say.
Chapter 18
Ruth抯 days acquire a new routine. After breakfast, she FaceTimes Cathbad and Ruth and Kate join in with the garden yoga. She tried watching the YouTube PE recommended by the school WhatsApp Group but it抯 far too energetic for Ruth. This way, they can see their friends and practise gentle breathing in the sun. The one bonus of lockdown has been a burst of glorious spring weather, as if nature is enjoying its break from carbon emissions and vapour trails in the sky. After yoga, in theory, Ruth and Kate both get down to work. Ruth has heard, on the mother network, about private schools that are offering a complete online curriculum. Children sit down, often in full uniform, and are entertained and educated all day. Kate抯 school is rather more haphazard although Ruth appreciates that they are trying their best with limited resources. They offer some online lessons and these are a godsend. Otherwise they send worksheets which Kate invariably finishes in ten minutes. Ruth is left to set Kate a vague reading task or to encourage her to finish writing her continuing saga about a time-travelling cat. It抯 called Whittaker, after Jodie Whittaker, the star of Doctor Who.
Then it抯 lunchtime. Ruth finds preparing a midday meal rather a strain. She抯 running out of acceptable variants of beans on toast. Cathbad makes home-made soup every day but he抯 a shaman in touch with earth magic and she . . . isn抰。 After lunch Ruth and Kate have a walk across the marshes, collecting more items for their 憂ature table? Then Ruth works while Kate reads or entertains herself. Ruth抯 憂o screens until six?rule has already been abandoned. Suppertime happens rather earlier than usual. And, every day this week, Ruth has had a large glass of wine at six p.m.
On Thursday, after supper, there抯 a variant. Ever since the Prime Minster抯 announcement on Monday, Ruth has been obsessively scrolling for Covid news. She tries to stop herself but, late at night, she finds herself on news sites reading about death rates in Italy and China. Thank goodness she抯 not on Facebook or Twitter because she抯 sure that other people抯 anxieties would finish her off altogether. Not to mention the Simon types saying that it抯 all a conspiracy to kill off the elderly population. In one of her doom-scrolling sessions Ruth reads about 慶lapping for carers? the idea that everyone should go outside at eight p.m. on Thursdays to clap the NHS heroes. There have been heart-rending stories in the news about doctors and nurses, clad in their inadequate protective clothing, struggling to cope with the rising tide of Covid cases, risking their lives to fight a virus that no one really understands, weeping over elderly patients dying alone because visitors are no longer allowed in hospitals, stopping at the supermarket after a twenty-four-hour shift to find that greedy shoppers have stripped the shelves of food.
慙et抯 clap too,?says Ruth.
慛o one will hear us,?says Kate.
This is true and the words give Ruth an unaccustomed shiver. Somehow, in the last three days, she has felt their isolation in a way that she never has before. Which is why, when Ruth and Kate step out into their front garden, Ruth is disproportionately pleased to see Zoe in hers, holding a saucepan and spoon. The marshes are dark, but Ruth can hear the sea in the distance, the waves breaking on the far-off sandbank.
慖 thought I抎 make some noise,?Zoe says. 慒righten the foxes a bit. Derek is terrified of them. He抯 still scared to go outside.?Ruth has only seen the beautiful Maine Coon cat in Zoe抯 window.