Then I thought of Andy – suppose he left on this surge of household movement? Only marriage would be the ultimate end of such an affair.
Suddenly I could bear it no longer: I was to be left with a carcass, an empty house to be filled once again with strangers; left with a dog that cocked its leg at inconvenient times and two children to lead to the paths of righteousness; a hovering family convinced of my incapability and lack of talent in the art of discerning character.
How could I tell whether the menacing face with the stance of a criminal was as gentle as a newborn babe and would pay his rent diligently; the sallow-faced boy an epileptic; the white-haired lady who could be anybody’s grandmother was bordering on lunacy; an old school tie and Oxford accent covered a self-made bigamist with other criminal tendencies; that a perfectly sane girl would end up in a straitjacket? How could one turn aside, in the sobering light of dawn, the Mrs Buddens of this world, with their everlasting bulges and washing lines of perpetual nappies, or Nelson, a bulky satyr?
There would be another spring, another summer. Christmas, a new year, and the rigmarole would repeat itself with painful precision. Lodgers would mark my life like milestones.
THE BEGINNING
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PENGUIN BOOKS
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published by André Deutsch Limited 1995
This edition published by Warner Books 1996
Published in Penguin Books 2018
Copyright © Margaret Durrell, 1995
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover illustration © David Doran
ISBN: 978-0-241-98322-5
CHAPTER TWO
fn1 The Durrell ménage had fled Bournemouth in the thirties to bask in the magic of a Greek island – sun, warm seas and a life of idle bliss had left their mark on each family member. The appealing account by my brother Gerald in My Family and Other Animals will surely entice any reader to do likewise.
Whatever Happened to Margo? Page 27
