Scarlet Feather

by Maeve Binchy

  'Stretching ourselves,' he corrected.

  They looked at each other long and hard.

  'It's easy money, it's a good contact,' said Tom. In his heart he was thinking that if he cleared a few pounds profit on this he'd take Marcella to one of those fancy hotels for a weekend, a place with a swimming pool and a health centre, a place she could dress up at night.

  'We've always said people go under if they take on too much, their standards fall,' Cathy said. She was thinking that she truthfully could barely manage as things were, the nausea was still there, she didn't sleep properly and she still hadn't found or made the time to tell Neil. The Predictor from the chemist had said yes, but people knew they were often wrong, she had an appointment with the doctor next week. It might all be nothing, surely it was too soon to have morning sickness anyway, supposing it were true.

  'Let's go to arbitration,' Tom said.

  They took out of the drawer in the kitchen table the coin that they always used when they were at an impasse. Solemnly they watched as the coin spun round, and waited until it fell. Tom picked it up.

  'So I won, but I promise you'll be glad.'

  'Sure I will.' Cathy nailed the smile onto her face.

  'Can we come to England with you on a holiday?' Simon stood at the door of Walter's bedroom.

  'Of course you can't,' Walter said impatiently.

  'But we'll have no holiday then,' Maud said.

  'Aren't you back home… and you'll have no school, that's meant to be a holiday, surely?'

  'Muttie was going to take us to the country when we were living in St Jarlath's Crescent,' Simon said mutinously.

  'You weren't living there, you were only staying there,' Walter complained.

  'It felt like living there,' Maud said.

  Walter went on packing his case. The twins didn't move.

  'Muttie has been to the country a few times, he said you wouldn't want to spend too long there, though,' Maud explained.

  'He found it was desperately quiet, and that you could hear birds roaring at you from trees,' Sirnon said wistfully.

  'Kids, I'm sorry, I have to get on.'

  'Are you going today?' Maud asked, disappointed. It was marginally more lively here when Walter was around.

  'Tonight or tomorrow. I have some work to do with Father and Barty.'

  'But Father doesn't have any work.' Simon was remorseless about getting things straight.

  'Of course he does, Simon,' Walter was annoyed. 'He has meetings and responsibilities.'

  'With Barty?' Maud wanted to know.

  'Not always, but today, yes.'

  'So if Father's out and Mother's going to stay in bed… what will we do?' Simon and Maud looked at each other blankly. There had been so many things to do in St Jarlath's Crescent. And so many people, including Hooves, to do them with.

  'You could get a job,' Walter suggested.

  'I don't think we're old enough,' Maud said.

  'No, doing kids' jobs: stacking shelves, collecting trolleys in a supermarket, tidying someone's garden… those kind of things…' said Walter vaguely, having never attempted any of them.

  'We might be able to wash up for Cathy and Tom,' Simon said cheerfully.

  'Hard taskmaster, that one,' Walter said.

  'Still, it's worth a try,' said Maud.

  'Imagine, no more school until September,' Cathy said when she saw the two faces arrive at the premises.

  'I don't mind school too much,' Maud said. 'You wouldn't want to say it there, but I don't.'

  'No, I didn't either,' Cathy said. I felt I owed it to Geraldine to do well, and I got great pleasure out of getting good resulIs.'

  'Why Geraldine?' they asked, and Cathy remembered that the twins produced every single piece of unwanted information at the wrong time. She was meant to have won scholarships, all through. Geraldine's generosity was never mentioned nor even known in Lizzie and Muttie's home.

  'I meant she always encouraged me to study for the scholarships, you see.'

  'Were you brilliant to have won them?'

  'Not bad,' Cathy said modestly, feeling slightly ashamed. She racked her brains to think of something that the twins could do to help, where they wouldn't be in the way and they couldn't do too much harm.

  'Polish glasses?' Con suggested.

  'No, they'd smear them,' she whispered.

  'Chopping anything… ?'

  'They're worse than I am, the place would be running with blood. I know, they can shine up the silver and count the forks.'

  Maud and Simon were installed in what was eventually going to be called the second kitchen but for now was the storeroom. They chattered on happily; sometimes Cathy leaned against the door and listened. There were bits about Father's business with Barty, and how good Sara was at getting Mrs Barry to do the shopping from a list. Sara knew a place where they could learn tennis, but Father said it cost too much. Whether Muttie would ever come to visit them at their home again after what Father had done. Cathy sighed. She had resented them so much a few short months ago, mainly because she knew they were being passed on by Hannah and Jock. But everything had changed so much. Who could have thought it? Again and again she went over when exactly it must have happened. Neil would be furious. Why did it feel different now? Once it would have been unthinkable to keep something this important from Neil. It was still unthinkable. She would tell him tonight.

  Tom and June came back from the sales luncheon in high spirits. Fifty people, all of them as obedient as mice, start eating, continue eating, finish eating, if only the whole world was run like this.

  'But how awful to be part of it,' Cathy said, shuddering.

  'Ah, but it was so easy, Cath, you've no idea, they'd have eaten a paper plate smeared with jam, believe me.'

  'They must have been very hungry,' Maud said, shocked.

  'Well hallo, we have help.' Tom was surprised and pleased.

  'And great help they are. Tell them you were joking about the paper plates and jam Tom, otherwise they'll tell everyone it's our signature dish.'

  'You don't give them enough credit, you know that was a joke, Maud, didn't you?' Tom said.

  'I wasn't totally sure,' she admitted.

  'Well it was, they'd never eat a paper plate, and what's more they wouldn't have a chance to. Why? Because we'd never serve anything on a paper plate, is that very clear?' He had a mock-ferocious face on. The children nodded furiously. It was clear, they said.

  'We've been polishing your good silver,' Simon said.

  'You could see your face in the punchbowl,' Maud said proudly.

  'Well that's great, because everything we own, all the things we have been saving for are tied up in these four walls.'

  'What, everything here is all you have?'

  'Yes, our treasures are here, certainly,' Tom agreed.

  'Is it all very valuable?' they asked.

  June was stacking the dishwasher, and raised her eyes to heaven.

  'Well, some of it is irreplaceable, like that punchbowl you just cleaned so beautifully,' Cathy said. I won that at a competition at college, it was first prize for a summer fruit punch, we use it everywhere now.'

  'The Flynns don't want it tonight apparently,' Tom said thoughtlessly, after all Maud's hard work. 'Which means we have it ready shining and waiting for the next job, which is just great.'

  Maud beamed with pleasure.

  'And what's the next most valuable thing?' Simon wondered.

  Tom, Cathy and June joked about whether it was the disk on the computer with all the recipes, the book of contacts, the double oven, or the chest freezer… They laughed as they listed all the things they had.

  'We never thought we'd own such a huge amount of stuff,' Cathy said.

  'Like Muttie thinks he'll never win an accumulator,' Simon said, eager to show he was on her wavelength.

  'But he never will, Simon,' Cathy implored.

  'People may well have said to you and Tom… that you'd never have any treasures,
' Simon was fierce in his defence of Muttie's dreams.

  'We worked for it, night after long night…' Cathy said.

  'Muttie works at the bookmakers', he studies it, he learns about form and he lets the sound of hooves get in on his brain.'

  'Of course he does,' Tom said gently.

  'Are you insured, in case anyone came in and took all your treasures?' Maud worried.

  Cathy made yet another resolution not to go down any road like this again with the children. 'Very well insured. James Byrne is like a clucking hen,' Cathy reassured her.

  'What Cathy means is that James isn't remotely like a clucking hen: he is a marvellous man who made us take out a very big insurance policy.'

  The twins seemed reasonably pleased with this, but Simon had one more worry. 'Do you lock up properly when you leave?' he wanted to know.

  'Yes Simon, two locks, an alarm with a code and all.'

  'And do you remember the code?'

  'We had to make it simple for Tom,' Cathy said.

  'Men find it hard to take complicated things on board,' June agreed.

  'Do you have your birthday?' Simon asked. 'Or your lucky number?'

  'No, they told us not to,' Tom said.

  'So we have the two initials of Scarlet Feather instead.'

  'Are you allowed to have letters?'

  'No, the numbers, S is nineteen and F is six. If we forget, all we have to do is go through the alphabet. Even men can understand that, Simon.'

  'I don't think that men are any more stupid than the rest of people, really,' Simon said thoughtfully.

  'No, Simon,' Tom was contrite.

  They agreed to drive the children back to The Beeches, since it was on the way to Freddie Flynn's house. Solemnly Simon and Maud watched as the alarm code was set.

  'Brilliant idea,' Simon said.

  'No one would ever think of that,' Maud agreed.

  'Imagine, we're travelling with all the food for a posh party.' Simon was pleased.

  'Yes, and all those nice shiny forks you polished as well.'

  'Why do they not have knives?'

  'Good question. They claim to have all the cutlery we need, but people never have enough forks. I went and checked; they don't have nearly enough forks.'

  'You need to be quite intelligent for this work, don't you,' Simon said.

  'You do,' said Tom as he counted and completed a checklist. 'It's all there, Cathy, ready to roll.'

  'Okay Tom, okay June, ceremony of the keys.'

  Simon and Maud watched fascinated as they hung the keys to the premises carefully on a hidden hook at the back of the van. 'Why do you put them there?' they asked.

  'Whichever of us takes the van back needs to be able to open the place up, so we always have the ceremony of the keys…' Cathy explained.

  They had arrived at the Beeches. The two children ran into the big house with the huge overgrown garden.

  'Looks like a posh place,' June said.

  'Yeah,' Cathy said, 'posh, dead sort of place.'

  'They have to be with their own parents, their natural parents. Don't they?' Tom asked.

  'To be honest, I've never exactly seen why,' Cathy said, and put the van into gear with a crash as they drove off.

  Freddie Flynn was most welcoming when they got there. 'Now I know the drill, your aunt says you hate people saying to you this is the kitchen, this is the hot tap, this is the cold tap…'

  'You wouldn't ever do that, Mr Flynn,' Cathy smiled up at him from under her eyelashes.

  Tom let out a low whistle between his teeth when he'd gone. 'And you say that I put on the charm for the ladies… I never saw anything like that performance,' he teased her.

  'I promised Auntie Geraldine he'd get the full treatment,' she whispered.

  'Yeah, well.'

  At that moment Freddie's small, plump wife Pauline came in. 'Freddie says I'm not to fuss, and I promise I won't, but somehow it seems like cheating to let you do it all,' she said.

  Cathy felt a lump in her throat. This woman was being deceived by Frederick Flynn, important Dublin businessman, purchaser of diamond watches for Cathy's aunt. 'Not a bit of it, Mrs Flynn, you and people like you are providing Tom and myself with a generous living, we want to make it a huge success. Now your husband tells me you don't want anyone to take the coats. Have I got that right?'

  'Yes, after all it is the summer, so they won't have that many coats… But you see, we got the upstairs all decorated, and I sort of hoped they might go up and see it so that I could show it off.'

  'You are so right, let me see where I'm to direct them.' Cathy ran lightly up the stairs ahead of Pauline Flynn, and saw the magnificent bedroom which had been spoken of. It was in beautiful shades of pale green and blue, and there was an elegant white dressing table. It wasn't exactly a four-poster bed, but there was a ring with cascading curtains over the top; a white crochet bedspread and lace-trimmed pillowcases; doors opened on to a huge, luxurious bathroom with white fluffy towels alternating with others in baby blue. This place had all the appearance of an altar built to the god of pleasure. Cathy held her hand to her throat. Geraldine could not possibly know that Freddie's dead marriage involved this kind of decoration.

  'Lovely room,' she said in a slightly strangled voice to Pauline Flynn.

  'I'm glad you like it; I'm old and silly I know, but it's what I always wanted and Freddie seems to think it's nice too, and that's what pleases me most of all.'

  Cathy ran downstairs quickly.

  'Hallo Walter,' the twins were surprised. They thought he would have gone to England by now.

  'Hallo,' Walter grunted.

  'How was the business?'

  'What business?'

  'You said you were having a business meeting with Father and Barty.'

  'Oh yes, I bloody was.'

  'So it didn't work?' Simon was philosophical. 'Muttie always says that you win some, you lose some.'

  'What does Muttie know about anything?' Walter asked.

  'A fair bit,' Maud said. 'I think,' she added doubtfully.

  There was a silence. 'We got a job like you said,' Simon said eventually.

  'Good for you. Where?'

  'With Cathy and Tom… They have a fortune in their premises, it's full of their treasures.' Simon wanted to impress his older brother.

  I'm sure,' Walter laughed.

  'No, they do, all their worldly goods are there, they have two keys and a code lock in case anyone gets in.'

  'Oh yeah, I bet the whole world is trying to get in there and steal catering plates and paper napkins,' Walter laughed.

  'They have a solid-silver punchbowl, it's beyond price. They have loads of things,' Maud said.

  I'm sure it's very impressive, but do you mind moving off for a bit, I've a lot to think about now.'

  'Okay,' Simon and Maud were good-tempered.

  'And you're not whining for food or anything.'

  'No. Cathy gave us something for the microwave.'

  'What is it?' Walter asked with interest.

  'Pasta. It will take four minutes on high,' said Maud. 'Do you want some? There's plenty for the three of us.'

  'Thanks.' Walter was gruff.

  They sat at the table, the three of them, Walter's mind a million miles away as the twins talked on happily about the party that Tom and Cathy were doing that night.

  'They have money to burn, the Flynns do,' Maud said.

  'I don't think they really are going to burn it though, I think it's only an expression that people use,' Simon explained.

  'Yes, whatever.' She brought Walter into the conversation. 'Do you think we should get a burglar alarm here, Walter?'

  'Nothing for a burglar to break in here for,' he said glumly.

  'We could set it before we went out and disarm it when we got back.' Maud didn't want to let the notion go entirely.

  'Yeah, can you see Mother and Father doing that? Can you see Barty coming to terms with disarming an alarm? It would be like a cops and robber
s movie. We'd have the guards living here all the time.'

  'But it's so simple,' Simon said. 'We know how to get into Cathy and Tom's premises just after seeing it once.'

  'Sure, but do you have the keys?' Walter took his plate across the kitchen to the sink.

  'No, but we know where they are,' Maud said.

  Walter came back and sat down with them again.

  The party up at the Flynns' was going very well. Twice Freddie put his head around the kitchen door to congratulate them.

  'They're just loving it all,' he said. 'Well done.'

  'Why is a nice man like that unable to look me in the eye and tell me he needs me to be a significant part of his life?' June wondered.

  'Hard to know all right,' said Cathy as she piped out more creme fraiche on the little buckwheat pancakes that were disappearing with alarming speed from the platters.

  'You'd never think that a woman like Mrs Flynn would be enough for him,' June said as she swept off with the new tray.

  Tom and Cathy's eyes met. 'Funny old life, Tom, that's what I always say,' she grinned at him.

  'Women are just riddled with intuition, Cathy, that's what always say,' Tom replied.

  Walter looked up the Flynns' address in the phonebook. It wasn't far away. He had been able to get the loan of a car from a night-owl friend for a few hours. He parked it beside the van and found the keys exactly where the twins had said. Through the windows he saw them all, Tom, Cathy, June and that creep Con moving about inside.

  Geraldine moved restlessly around her apartment in Glenstar. Normally she never felt like this. She had been truthful in saying that she believed Freddie's private life was just that… private, and no concern of hers. It was just that… well, she hadn't planned to do anything tonight. She had taken work back to the apartment but she didn't feel like doing it, and there was nothing she wanted to see on television. In a million years she would not admit it, not even to herself. Geraldine was lonely. Then her telephone rang.

  'I miss you,' he said.

  She forced her voice to be bright. 'And I you. How's it going?'

  'Fantastic. They're very talented, those kids, it's running like clockwork.'