慖 suppose he抎 go to church,?says Ruth, making herself a second cup of instant coffee. She bought her father a cafeti鑢e once, but he had clearly been baffled by the gift and there抯 no sign of it in the cupboards. Gloria thinks caffeine is a poison.
慡hall we do that??asks Kate brightly.
慖 don抰 think so.?
慍an we visit Grandma抯 grave then??
Kate obviously wants some sort of Sunday activity, something wholesome and slightly boring. Well, maybe she抯 right. If Ruth packs up the car, they can leave as soon as they have paid their graveside respects.
Ruth and Kate walk to Eltham cemetery and buy flowers from the opportunistic stall at the gate. It抯 a bright, cold morning. Last week high winds, given the inappropriately cosy name of Storm Dennis, ravaged the country but today the trees that line the paths are almost completely still. Jean抯 grave looks very white amongst the older models. Ruth wonders whether her father, or maybe even Gloria, comes to clean it.
Jean Galloway Beloved wife and mother At rest with the angels 1938?015
There抯 a rose in a pot at the foot of the stone. Ruth places their carnations next to it.
慡hall we say a prayer??says Kate. Ruth gives her daughter a look, wondering where she抯 getting this religious stuff from. Kate抯 school is secular in a 憀et抯 all be nice to each other?way. Nelson抯 a lapsed Catholic but Ruth can抰 imagine him ever talking about prayer. Cathbad? His inclination is always to light a ceremonial fire rather than say an Our Father.
慜K,?she says. 慙et say a prayer quietly in our heads.?
She thinks Kate looks disappointed.
慔i, Mum,?says Ruth silently, 慖 miss you. I never thought I抎 miss you this much. There抯 so much we didn抰 talk about. Daniel Breakspeare抯 a successful businessman now. You were right about him. Kelly Sutherland has been married three times and I haven抰 even married once. I did give you a granddaughter though. I wish you could see her. And, Mum, why did you have a picture of my cottage dated 1963??
慚um??Kate is tugging at her arm. 慔ave you finished? Can we go and see the tiny pilot??
In the older, more overgrown, part of the graveyard there抯 a half-sized statue of an airman killed in 1938. The little figure is dressed in overalls that look oddly like a post-apocalyptic radioactivity suit. The inscription says that Ernest Francis Bennett was killed in a flying accident at Auchengilloch Hill, Scotland. He has a sweet, childlike face and Ruth had once imagined herself going back in time and falling in love with him. She remembers shedding sentimental tears at the vision of herself receiving a telegram containing the tragic news of her boyfriend抯 death. When she and Alison were sixteen they had drunk a bottle of Blue Nun in front of Ernest抯 grave and tried to talk to his spirit. Ruth wonders if Ali remembers it.
Kate picks daisies and puts them at Ernest抯 booted feet. Richmal Crompton, the author of the Just William books, also rests in Eltham Cemetery, although she doesn抰 have a gravestone because her ashes were scattered in the crematorium rose garden. Ruth wonders what Ms Crompton would have made of Kate and the children of the twenty-first century. She has a feeling that, excluding things like TikTok and Instagram, nothing much has really changed.
They reach Norfolk at two, having stopped on the way for a service station lunch. It抯 a beautiful afternoon, the yellow grasses brushing the bright blue sky, the seagulls calling from the shore. Flint is waiting by the gate, looking disapproving, but what catches Ruth抯 eye is a van by her next-door neighbour抯 house. She knew that Bob was renting out the place while he spent a year in his native Australia but she hadn抰 realised that the new tenant would be moving in so soon.
She tries not to stare at the objects being carried into the house but can抰 help making a few value-judgements: tea-chest marked 態ooks?（good）， birdcage （bad）， chaise longue （perplexing）。 Kate rushes upstairs to 慸o homework?which Ruth suspects consists of texting her friends. Nelson bought Kate a mobile phone two Christmases ago and, although Ruth had disapproved at the time, it has proved a lifeline for a pre-teen living miles from any of her classmates. Ruth feeds Flint ?who makes it clear that the food still in his bowl is no longer acceptable ?and sits down by the window to do her own work. Should she go next door to say hallo? What would Cathbad do?