Flights of Angels

by Victoria Connelly

  But what would it be like, he wondered, if he were meeting a girl during his lunch hour? It seemed like an age since Felicity had walked out on him. He hadn’t even so much as chatted anyone else up. The only women he’d talked to for more than five minutes had been his mother and Kristen, and they didn’t count.

  As he walked with no real direction in mind, a sudden image of the moonshine woman in the bookshop assaulted him: her creamy complexion and glossy brown hair, her eyes like great gleaming chestnuts. He tried to remember what she’d been wearing, but he couldn’t. But it hadn’t been a thigh hugging skirt or a cleavage pushing top, that was for certain. And she’d looked so incredibly fragile. Simon had never seen anyone who looked so fragile: not anorexically fragile but the kind that’s passed down through the genes. Then there’d been that French accent. Why was that always so sexy?

  Above all, there had been a gentleness about her. She’d had a grace, which seemed sadly lacking in most of the women he met.

  Just imagine, he thought, his pace slowing down to normal now that Mandy had retreated, just imagine if he was going to meet the moonshine woman. He wondered what her name was, and where he would meet her. Not in a pub, that wouldn’t be her style. But hey! Hadn’t he seen her walk into the pub a few nights ago? Well, she nearly had. He wondered what had stopped her. Perhaps she hadn’t liked the look of the pub, or maybe she hadn’t liked the look of him. Could he have possibly scared her off? He wondered if she lived in Whitby, and, if she did, why he hadn’t seen her before. But maybe she was a tourist? A French tourist shopping for second-hand books and seeing what English pubs were like.

  But he wasn’t meeting up with her, was he? He was meant to be shopping for Pumpkin. Hadn’t he promised him a companion?

  Simon turned and headed towards the pet shop, wondering if goldfish came in a moonshiny-silver colour, because he was going to buy Pumpkin one hot-babe of a fish.

  After getting back from Staithes and virtually eating all the food they’d bought that morning, Claudie and Daniel had settled down in front of the television again. He’d only been there two days but they’d already developed a rather cosy routine together.

  It was, Claudie consoled, all about being a family. That’s what they were, wasn’t it? Brother and sister-in-law enjoying some time together. As an only child, she felt exceptionally lucky in having Daniel now; after all, it wasn’t every man who would want to travel so far north to a windy old fishing port to see his sister-in-law.

  She looked across at him as he stretched his huge legs out into the middle of the living room. His toes were practically tickling the video player from where he was sitting. The cottage just wasn’t big enough for a man of his size. It had been fine for her when she’d been on her own, and Luke had never complained about the lack of space. He’d been a lighter build than his brother and a few inches shorter, and he had never dwarfed the place in quite the way that Daniel was now.

  ‘Are you comfy?’ Claudie asked.

  ‘I’m fine,’ he said.

  ‘Can I get you anything?’ Claudie asked, feeling stuffed after the amount of food they’d eaten.

  ‘A can of lager would be great,’ he said. ‘And have you got any crisps?’

  Later that evening, when Claudie believed that no more food could possibly be consumed, she said goodnight to Daniel. She let him use the shower before her and got undressed, waiting in her bedroom until the coast was clear.

  She wondered what Daniel would make of her Gene Kelly poster, and remembered how Luke had objected to her putting it up.

  ‘I don’t want to be ogled at coming out of the shower!’ he’d grimaced.

  Claudie had merely laughed. ‘Don’t be so vain. He won’t be ogling you!’

  ‘Well I don’t want him ogling my wife either.’

  It was nice that he got a little bit jealous, even if it was over a dead movie star, and he’d let her get away with it on the condition that he could put up his relief map of Britain on the back of the kitchen door.

  It was still hanging there.

  Turning on the lamp on her dressing table, Claudie sat down to comb her hair. The coastal wind had played havoc with it today. It was only chin length, but it had managed to tie itself into fierce knots, causing her to wince as she attacked them.

  She remembered the delicate way Luke had had of brushing her hair, starting with his fingers, massaging her head, then working down towards her neck.

  ‘You have the most beautiful hair in the world,’ he’d say, breathing it in like perfume. Claudie had never believed him. It was just what husbands said, wasn’t it?

  She placed her brush down and almost screamed out loud as she nearly squashed an angel.

  ‘Lily? What on earth are you doing here?’ Claudie was so surprised that she forgot that Daniel was in the house and might hear her.

  ‘Ssshussh! Look, I’m not meant to be here at all. I sneaked out and, if I get caught, they’ll probably fire me and I’ll end up in that bloody office filing death warrants again.’

  ‘You gave me such a shock! I nearly flattened you with my hairbrush!’

  ‘Occupational hazard, being so small.’

  Claudie sighed, her heartbeat returning to something approaching normality. ‘So what are you doing here?’

  ‘I wanted to see how you were. I feel just awful about you being sent home by your boss like that. We all feel terrible about it. And I think it was my fault.’

  ‘Don’t be silly.’

  ‘No! I’m always arguing. It’s a terrible fault in me. I’m a dreadful angel.’

  ‘No you’re not,’ Claudie said, resting her head in her hands and looking at Lily standing in the lamp light like an actress on a stage. ‘You can’t be all that bad for you to risk being fired just to see me.’

  Lily looked up at her. ‘You think?’

  ‘I know. And I really appreciate it. I was just beginning to miss you guys.’

  ‘You were?’

  ‘Yes. It’s odd but I’ve really got used to having you around.’

  ‘But we do nothing but cause you trouble.’

  ‘That’s not true. You’ve all been so kind. I can’t quite imagine a time when I didn’t have you all to look after me. I don’t know how I coped without you all. You make me feel so-’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Looked after!’ Claudie said. ‘And it’s not just that. I find myself thinking of all these things that I must tell you. Like, I’ll be flicking through a magazine and see a picture of a beautiful dress and think, I must show Lily this. Or, I’ll hear a joke on TV and be dying to tell Bert the next day. You’re all like a family, but not like any family I’ve ever belonged to. I feel so very proud to be a part of this one,’ Claudie said, smiling down at Lily.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes! Really! You don’t realise how much joy you bring me. I only wish I could have you all at home with me as well as at work.’

  ‘Wow!’ Lily said. ‘Would you put that in writing for me? For my file? This is the best feedback I’ve ever had. They’ve only let me out two times before this, and they were both complete disasters,’ Lily confessed, giving a little snigger. ‘I thought they’d never give me another chance, but this is brilliant.’

  Claudie smiled. ‘So what did you get up to the other two times?’

  Lily looked sheepish. ‘You know we’re not meant to talk about our assignments but,’ she looked around her in case someone might be listening in, ‘I mucked up big time. There was one client - a little boy who’d just lost his pet dog.’

  ‘Poor boy.’

  ‘That’s what I thought. Until I met him. He was horrible! Just so mean to everyone. I think his dog had a lucky escape.’

  Claudie stifled an urge to giggle.

  ‘Anyway, one day, when he was in a particularly gross mood, I hid in his school bag. I wasn’t meant to leave his bedroom, but I just couldn’t stand him any more. He had to be taught a lesson.’ Lily paused.

  ‘And then what?’


  ‘I kept well hidden all day and, believe me, that was hard with what I found in the bottom of his school bag - but that’s another story. So I kept hidden, but I kept on biting him and pinching him so that he’d yell out in lessons. It was so funny, the teachers got really annoyed and he ended up with two hundred lines and three lunchtime detentions.’

  ‘Lily!’

  ‘It wasn’t the half of what he deserved, but I got found out all the same and put in the Death Warrant department, where some evil woman gave me all the filing. Still, you got to find out who was about to expire.’

  ‘It all sounds so fascinating,’ Claudie said.

  ‘Don’t you believe it! You enjoy life while you’re here.’

  Claudie nodded, waiting for her next divulgence.

  ‘Can I have a look in your wardrobe?’ Lily asked, breaking the spell.

  Claudie nodded. ‘Yes, of course, but I don’t think you’ll find anything in your size.’

  ‘Elizabeth Chandler! What do you think you’re doing?’ a little voice suddenly bellowed, and Mary appeared on Claudie’s dressing table, hands on hips, and nostrils flaring like a mad horse.

  ‘Mary! What are you doing here?’

  ‘What do you mean - what are you doing here?’ Mary shouted back.

  ‘This was my idea, and you know it!’

  ‘Ah! What a liar. You promised me that you wouldn’t follow when I said I was coming here.’

  ‘I did not!’ Lily protested, looking deeply offended.

  ‘You know you did! You’re always breaking promises. Remember that time we went to market and you promised you’d introduce me to Robert Samuels?’

  Lily sighed. ‘I can’t believe you’re still holding that grudge after nearly five hundred years!’

  Mary shook her head. ‘Goodness, how I hate being a twin sometimes.’

  ‘Look!’ Claudie said, not wanting Daniel to become suspicious with the level of noise in the room. But it was too late. A light rap on her bedroom door told her that he’d already heard too much.

  ‘Claudie?’ he said, pushing the door a little and peeping in.

  She turned round and, even though she knew it was Daniel, in the half-light she could have sworn it was Luke. Her heart banged against her chest and her eyes widened in shock.

  ‘Claudie? Who were you talking to? Are you okay?’

  Claudie could only nod as she looked at Daniel. God, he looked so like Luke at times that it quite took her breath away. ‘I’m fine,’ she whispered, her voice barely there. ‘Really,’ she insisted when his eyebrows rose in disbelief.

  She watched him nod and turn away, walking down the hall to the living room.

  ‘Who was that?’ Lily sighed, her eyes agog. ‘They didn’t make them like that where we come from.’

  ‘Elizabeth!’ Mary admonished.

  ‘Doesn’t he wear clothes?’ Lily asked.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Claudie said.

  ‘Well he was all bare - he was only wearing shorts.’

  ‘Was he?’ Claudie sounded surprised.

  ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t notice?’

  ‘I didn’t!’ Claudie said. ‘I was looking at his face.’

  ‘A likely story!’ Lily sniggered.

  ‘Elizabeth,’ Mary began, ‘I don’t think this is at all appropriate.’

  Lily suddenly looked bashful. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you, Claudie. It’s just that - well - he’s gorgeous!’

  Claudie looked down at Lily who was ankle deep in her jewellery box. ‘It’s all right,’ she assured her. ‘It’s actually a compliment, because he looks exactly like Luke.’

  Chapter 16

  Claudie had no idea what it was that woke her up but, once awake, she was sure of one thing: there was something in her room. It wasn’t quite the same experience she’d felt just before the angels had descended: that of being watched, but it was a definite presence.

  ‘Lily?’ she whispered, wondering if she’d dared to come back. But there was no answer. Anyway, after the Daniel incident, they’d left pretty sharpish for fear of being missed. Something about an angel refresher course they were meant to be attending.

  Claudie swung her legs out of bed and fumbled around for the lamp switch; flicking it on and letting her eyes adjust.

  It was through the mirror that she saw it. There on the wall, just above her bed, was a spider the size of a saucer. There weren’t many things that could awaken Claudie with such surety, but spiders were one of them.

  How on earth did these things get into the house? She never saw them sneaking in through the windows, and they certainly never came through the front door. Maybe it was that little one that had given her such a shock when it had descended over her Gene Kelly poster in the bathroom. Poor Gene. He’d smiled through the whole horrible incident, but she bet he was fuming inside.

  Claudie bit her lip as she looked at the monstrous-legged one. She should have got when it had been small enough to cope with instead of letting it grow into a Goliath.

  She watched the cheeky way it clung on to the wall, as if it were a permanent fixture, but Claudie knew that, if she hadn’t woken when she had, it would more than likely have dropped right in the middle of her face or crawled into her ear.

  She shook her head, trying to expel the images. It was like a horror movie right in the middle of her bedroom, which wasn’t at all fair because everybody knew she loved musicals.

  She had to take action, and that meant one thing.

  ‘Daniel?’

  What else could she do? It was a potentially embarrassing situation, but there was no way that she could go back to sleep until the offending creature was got rid of.

  ‘Daniel?’ she called softly, grabbing her dressing gown and tying the cord as she ventured into the living room.

  ‘Are you asleep?’ she said, rolling her eyes at her own stupid question. It was three o’clock in the morning, what else would he be doing?

  ‘Daniel?’

  He murmured something as he floated up from subconsciousness. ‘Hayley?’

  ‘No. It’s Claudie.’

  ‘Claudie?’

  ‘Yes. I’ve got a problem.’

  He sat up immediately, and scratched his head. ‘What is it?’ he asked, coming round and focusing on her.

  ‘There’s a spider in my bedroom.’

  He chuckled.

  ‘It’s not funny. It’s enormous, and I can’t go back to sleep until it’s got rid of.’

  ‘You want me to deal with it?’

  ‘Yes please.’

  ‘Okay.’ Daniel yawned and pushed his blanket down, swinging his enormous legs off the sofa bed and revealing a pair of navy boxer shorts.

  Claudie tried not to gasp. So that’s what Lily had been looking at with the most unangelic expression. Daniel caught her eye and she turned her gaze away quickly. He seemed to sense her discomfort because he reached for his jumper and pulled it on before standing up.

  ‘Come on then. Where is it?’

  Claudie led the way back down the hall but stopped outside her bedroom door, pointing at the offending creature like a frightened child.

  ‘Jesus! It’s enormous. What do you expect me to do with that?’

  ‘Well I don’t know! Just get rid of it!’ Claudie screamed back at him.

  ‘Okay. Okay,’ he said, restoring a little calm to his voice.

  Claudie dared to venture a little way into the room, her face crumpled in a mixture of horror and disgust. She didn’t dare watch, but felt compelled to all the same.

  Before Claudie had time to wonder what Daniel was going to do, his fist had flattened it in one quick movement.

  She screamed.

  ‘It’s dead!’ Daniel said. ‘What are you screaming for?’

  ‘That was horrible!’

  ‘Well what did you expect me to do?’

  ‘I don’t know. Not that! Merde!’

  ‘It wouldn’t have felt a thing, Claudie. It was so quick.’ He grabbed a
tissue from the box by her bed and dealt with the mess quickly. But Claudie wasn’t watching. His words had triggered something inside her.

  He moved through to the bathroom, placed the spider’s Kleenex shroud into the toilet and flushed. Then he watched his hands. All the time, Claudie was stood on the threshold of her room, as if she couldn’t quite bring herself to go back inside.

  ‘Claudie? What is it?’ he said, his voice low.

  ‘I -’ but the words were stuck in her throat. She felt utterly helpless. Her words wouldn’t start and her tears wouldn’t stop.

  ‘Hey!’ Daniel stepped closer and she was immediately wrapped in his great thick arms. ‘I know,’ he said, ‘I know.’ Over and over, stroking her hair, just like Luke had used to, but that just made matters worse. She couldn’t stop crying. She was spilling out all over the place.

  And Daniel just let her. His hands stroking, his voice soothing. They seemed to stand there for ages, the semi-darkness and Daniel’s calmness having a hypnotic effect of her. But, somewhere amongst the brotherly hugging, a kiss occurred. Claudie wasn’t quite aware of it at first. A kiss on the crown of the head seemed harmless enough in the scheme of things. It was one of those cosy, comforting things that you did to children or pets. The trouble was, Daniel’s was beginning to travel. She could feel him kissing her ear, her neck, and then her mouth. And it had felt wonderfully strange at first because it felt so like Luke.

  But it wasn’t Luke. It was Daniel.

  She tried to push Daniel away but it was like attempting to move a wall with a knitting needle, so she tried to shout but her throat was still thick with tears.

  There was only one option left. Her knee. His groin.

  ‘SHIT!’

  Without a moment’s hesitation, Claudie ran into the living room and began picking up all his things. His shirts, his shoes, his bag. It didn’t take long.

  Opening the front door, she threw the lot out into the damp night. How could he? How could he have crossed the line and taken advantage of her like that? He’d spoilt everything.