Swimming Pool Sunday

by Sophie Kinsella

  And Hugh had stared back at her, feeling an uncharacteristic frustration rising through him. Is that all you can say? he wanted to shout. Don’t you see what this means for us? But instead of shouting, he clenched his fists under the table and gazed out of the window, and tried to calm his pounding, angry, terrified heart.

  Ursula, meanwhile, sat in silence, consumed by difficult and rather perplexing thoughts. She leaned back in her chair and screwed up her face, and when Hugh got up to leave the table, she nodded absently at him as though he were a stranger on a train. She sat for another ten minutes or so after he had gone, then abruptly came to a conclusion. Leaving the dishes for Mrs Viney, who came in twice a week to clean the house, Ursula quickly went upstairs to the pretty satinwood dressing-table which she used as a desk. She sat down, took out a piece of rough paper and, with a missionary zeal, began to compose a letter.

  The next day, when everybody had gone out, Ursula left Devenish House clutching a large basket and a pale mauve envelope. She walked briskly through the village, deserted at that hour of the morning, until she reached Larch Tree Cottage.

  She was well aware that she was repeating the path which Meredith had taken just the day before; that Alexis would be furious if he discovered what she was doing; that she shouldn’t be there at all, but a firm belief in what she was doing kept her step from faltering. Her mission, she thought, was very different from poor Meredith’s outburst.

  Ursula had been astonished when Meredith confessed to her confrontation with Louise. Yelling in the street! What were they all coming to? It just showed, she thought, that nobody was quite themselves at the moment. Indeed, this was one of the very points she had put in her letter to Louise.

  Ursula had great hopes of her letter. She had toiled over it for almost three hours the previous day, then had written it out neatly before hurrying into Linningford to buy a selection of toys. Now she looked at the envelope, addressed to Mrs Barnaby Kember, and felt her heart give a flutter of hope. Alexis might insist, she thought, that they should avoid contact with the Kembers, but what harm could an honest letter do? Surely Louise would melt when she read Ursula’s heartfelt appeal – from one mother to another? Surely she would drop this silly case?

  She had intended simply to leave the basket in the porch and then go, but outside the cottage, playing on the grassy verge in a rather desultory way, was Amelia. She looked up as Ursula approached.

  ‘Hello, Mrs Delaney,’ she said.

  ‘Hello, Amelia,’ said Ursula, in surprise. ‘Shouldn’t you be at school?’

  ‘I’ve got an earache,’ said Amelia, ‘so I’m at home.’

  ‘And is Mummy at home, looking after you?’ said Ursula, looking, with sudden alarm, towards the cottage. She certainly didn’t want to bump into Louise.

  ‘No, she isn’t at home,’ said Amelia. Ursula relaxed slightly. ‘She’s at the hospital,’ added Amelia grumpily, giving the verge a little kick. ‘She’s always at the hospital.’

  ‘Well, dear, I expect she’s worried about Katie,’ said Ursula mildly.

  ‘I had an earache,’ continued Amelia doggedly, ‘and I told her, and all she said was, “Oh, buck up, Amelia.” And then it hurt so much I cried in the night, and she took me to the doctor, and all he said was “How’s Katie?” And now’, she added, with stony emphasis, ‘I’m ill too, but I’m being looked after by Mary, and Mummy’s gone to see Katie, like she always does.’

  Ursula gazed at Amelia in a sudden discomfiture. Poor child. Of course she must be feeling rather left out.

  ‘I hate Katie,’ said Amelia, and darted a quick defiant glance at Ursula. Ursula essayed a hesitant smile.

  ‘I’m sure you don’t really,’ she said. Amelia stared rigidly at Ursula for a few seconds, then flushed and looked away.

  ‘But look,’ said Ursula hurriedly. ‘Look what I’ve brought you.’ She put a hand into the basket and pulled out the first toy that her hand touched. It was a Barbie doll, dressed in a pink leotard and encased in a shiny wrapper. Amelia stared at it.

  ‘For me?’ she said suspiciously. ‘You brought this for me?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Ursula, hoping she sounded convincing. ‘Some of these toys are for Katie, and … some of them are for you.’ Amelia turned the doll round in her hands for a silent minute. Then, suddenly, she gave a sob.

  ‘I don’t want it,’ she wailed. ‘I want Katie to have it.’

  With that she began to cry properly, with splashy tears and a runny nose, and without stopping to think, Ursula sat down on the verge and took Amelia into her arms. Amelia buried her head in Ursula’s soft lavender-scented blouse.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ soothed Ursula, ‘everything will be all right.’

  Amelia looked up at Ursula, her face red and her eyes wet.

  ‘Katie’s all bald on her head, and she’s got a horrible tube in her arm,’ she said jerkily. Ursula felt an unpleasant twinge in her stomach, but she ignored it and continued stroking Amelia’s hair. ‘And she can’t speak properly,’ carried on Amelia, ‘and she didn’t know who I was.’ She gave a small shudder. ‘I said, “Hello, Katie, it’s me, Amelia,” but she just looked at me, as if she didn’t even recognize me, and then she went back to sleep. She didn’t even look at the cards we made for her in Art. Everybody made a card,’ she added, ‘even Mrs Jacob. And we made a tape.’

  Ursula clasped Amelia more tightly. Painful memories of Simon, which she thought she had firmly buried, were beginning to jump to the surface of her mind. To distract herself, she said to Amelia, trying to adopt a reassuring voice, ‘Well, now, I wouldn’t worry about any of that. Katie’s still half asleep, you know.’

  ‘That’s what Mummy said,’ said Amelia, looking suspiciously at Ursula. ‘But Sarah Wyatt, in my form, said she saw a film where the girl had a coma and she died. She said Katie was going to die.’ She broke into fresh sobs.

  ‘Nonsense,’ said Ursula briskly. ‘Katie will get much better. You’ll see. You’ll see.’

  There was a short pause. Ursula began to look around anxiously. It occurred to her that Mary must be wondering where Amelia had got to. She shifted slightly, as though to get up, but Amelia still clung to her. Suddenly she said, in a gasping voice, ‘It was all my fault.’ Ursula jumped, genuinely startled.

  ‘No!’ she exclaimed. ‘Amelia! You mustn’t think that! Whatever gave you that idea?’

  ‘It was my fault,’ repeated Amelia hopelessly. ‘Katie only tried to do a backward dive because I was doing them. She always copies me.’ She looked up at Ursula, entreatingly.

  ‘It was me that wanted to go swimming!’ she wailed, and gave a sudden desperate sob. ‘Daddy wanted to go f-fishing, but I wanted to go swimming instead, an-and Katie copied me. And then she copied me doing a back dive, too. If I hadn’t …’ She stopped and wiped her nose with her hand. ‘If I hadn’t done one, then Katie wouldn’t have either …’

  Ursula stared back at Amelia. For a panicked second she could think of nothing to say; her mind was blank and empty. But that wasn’t good enough, she told herself frantically. Here was a troubled child, relying on her for comfort and reassurance; she must say something. She must.

  ‘That’s utter nonsense,’ she said at last, trying to adopt an authoritative tone. ‘I’ve never heard anything so silly.’ Amelia gazed at her, silent but unconvinced. ‘Katie only copies you sometimes,’ continued Ursula, cautiously feeling her way, ‘but mostly she does exactly what she wants, whether you’ve been doing it or not. She only came swimming because she wanted to – and she was only doing a back dive because she felt like it.’ Ursula scanned Amelia’s face for a reaction. ‘It was nothing to do with you,’ she added for good measure.

  Amelia’s face was unmoved. Ursula cast round anxiously in her mind for something more persuasive to say.

  ‘I mean,’ she added suddenly, ‘I’m sure you’ve both seen professional divers on the television doing splendid back dives, but you’re not saying it’s their fault, are you?’ Slowly, relu
ctantly, Amelia shook her head. ‘Well, then,’ said Ursula, with an air of confidence she was far from feeling, ‘that proves my point.’ She gave Amelia a cheerful distracting smile. ‘Now, let’s have no more of these silly thoughts.’

  She glanced at the doll still in Amelia’s hand.

  ‘What are you going to call her? She really is yours to keep, you know.’ Amelia slowly looked down at the Barbie doll.

  ‘I’m going to call her Katie,’ she said in a low voice. She rubbed her face, took a breath, and began to tear off the packaging.

  ‘Good,’ said Ursula. ‘Now, why don’t you take in the rest of these toys and show Mary? And perhaps Mummy will let you take them to the hospital.’

  She picked up the pale mauve envelope sitting on top of the basket.

  ‘And, Amelia,’ she said, ‘be sure to give this envelope straight to Mary, or Mummy. Don’t drop it or forget about it.’ Amelia took the envelope and looked at it.

  ‘What is it?’ she said.

  ‘Well …’ said Ursula hesitantly. ‘It’s … it’s some money. For Katie. For all of you really. Just a little present from me, and a letter for Mummy.’ She got to her feet. ‘Now, in you go,’ she said.

  She watched as Amelia carried the basket in through the gate. Then, hurriedly, she began to walk away, back home, before anyone saw her.

  Later on that day, Alexis sat down with Hugh, Ursula and Meredith in the kitchen of Devenish House.

  ‘Until we actually see a writ and see what claims are being made,’ he said, ‘we can’t begin to prepare a defence.’ He looked at Hugh. ‘But the earlier we start thinking about it, the better. So I’m working on a few assumptions which I think are safe to make.’ He glanced down at a sheet of paper.

  ‘They’ll be suing you under the Occupier’s Liability Act.’ He read aloud. ‘“An occupier owes to a visitor a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable to see that the visitor will be reasonably safe in using the premises for the purposes for which he is invited or permitted by the occupier to be there, except insofar as the occupier has validly extended, restricted, modified or excluded that duty by agreement or otherwise.’”

  Alexis finished and looked up at his audience. Hugh’s face was downcast; Ursula’s was bewildered. Only Meredith looked back at him with animation in her face.

  ‘You mean’, she said, ‘that what we should have had is a notice up, saying, “We do not accept responsibility for your children’s safety”.’

  ‘Perhaps that would have helped,’ said Alexis slowly. ‘Although there are some duties you can’t simply opt out of by putting up a notice, especially if you’ve charged at the door.’ He sighed. ‘This business of taking money for charity confuses the matter.’

  ‘Or else we could have put up a notice saying, “Please do not use the swimming-pool”,’ said Meredith, in a voice suddenly scorched with sarcasm. ‘We could have charged people just to come in and look at the pool.’

  ‘Meredith,’ began Alexis. She ignored him.

  ‘Or perhaps even that’s too dangerous,’ she exclaimed. ‘Of course! We could have sent everybody a Polaroid of the pool and told them to stay at home. That would have been nice and safe, wouldn’t it?’ She looked at Alexis with scornful eyes. He sighed.

  ‘You know, you’re not being entirely helpful.’

  ‘Well, for Christ’s sake!’ she exclaimed. ‘It’s just so …’ She broke off, as the kettle came to a screeching boil behind her. ‘OK, OK,’ she said, and gave Alexis a quick grin. ‘I’ll be helpful. Who wants some coffee?’

  As she spooned coffee into the coffee-maker, Alexis turned back to his notes.

  ‘The Act states that an occupier must be prepared for children to be less careful than adults,’ he read. Hugh looked up.

  ‘Meaning what, exactly?’ Alexis sighed.

  ‘There’s nothing exact about it,’ he said. ‘You’re supposed to take into account that children find certain things alluring, and that they haven’t got the sense to see that they’re dangerous.’

  ‘Oh, come on,’ said Meredith impatiently, bringing a cup of coffee over and putting it in front of Alexis. ‘A diving-board isn’t alluring. It’s not some kind of gingerbread house. It’s a diving-board, period. Everyone knows what a diving-board is, for Christ’s sake.’ Alexis looked up at her.

  ‘I’m not giving you my own opinion,’ he said patiently. ‘I’m just trying to explain the law to you.’ Meredith paused and ran an exasperated hand through her hair.

  ‘I know,’ she said, exhaling slowly. ‘I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you. It just all seems such a load of bullshit.’

  ‘I know,’ said Alexis. He gave her a sudden smile. ‘Haven’t I always warned you, keep well away from lawyers?’

  To his surprise, Meredith didn’t smile back. She flushed slightly and turned away. But before Alexis could react to this, his attention was distracted by Ursula.

  ‘I did say to Louise, at the time, that the children really should calm down a bit,’ she was saying, thoughtfully. Her face crumpled slightly. ‘Next time, I don’t think we should allow children to go on the diving-board.’

  ‘Next time?’ Meredith’s voice rang harshly through the air. Ursula looked back at her benignly. ‘Ursula,’ Meredith said more gently, ‘I don’t honestly think there’ll be a next time. I don’t think we’ll be having any more Swimming Days. Not for a while.’

  ‘Oh!’ Ursula raised a distressed hand to her mouth. ‘I hadn’t even thought …’ But before she could finish, Alexis broke in thoughtfully.

  ‘Are you saying you actually gave Louise a warning, Ursula?’ Ursula looked at him, surprised.

  ‘Well,’ she said hesitantly, ‘I wouldn’t say it was exactly a warning, but I did say something to her. It was the children, you see,’ she explained. ‘They were getting rather overexcited. And I said …’ She stopped and looked at Alexis. He had picked up a pen and was staring at her, waiting for her to continue. ‘Is this important?’ she faltered.

  ‘It could be,’ said Alexis. ‘It could be crucial. If you actually warned Louise and she took no notice …’ He looked at Ursula. ‘Listen, Ursula,’ he said. ‘I want you to try to remember exactly what you said to Louise. Your exact words.’ Ursula stared back at him uncertainly.

  ‘Well,’ she said eventually, her voice quavering slightly. ‘I went up to Louise, and …’ She broke off. ‘Or did Louise come up to me?’ She looked at Alexis anxiously. Alexis put down his pen.

  ‘I tell you what,’ he said kindly, ‘you try to remember later on, when it’s a bit quieter, and write it all down. And try to remember exactly how you said it. For example, Louise couldn’t possibly have thought you were joking, could she?’

  ‘Oh,’ said Ursula. ‘No, I don’t think so. Although,’ she added doubtfully, ‘you never know. Sometimes I make a joke and nobody realizes … so it could well have been the other way around, couldn’t it?’ Alexis looked blank.

  ‘Yes,’ he said eventually. ‘I suppose so.’

  Meredith was looking at him. ‘So what are you getting at?’ she said slowly. ‘That Louise is some kind of irresponsible mother? That she was negligent? Is that what we’re going to say?’ Alexis met her eyes unflinchingly.

  ‘If we need to, then yes,’ he said steadily. ‘We’re going to need all the ammunition we can get. If we can somehow show that Louise was at fault …’

  ‘At fault?’ Ursula looked up, perturbed. ‘Louise wasn’t to blame, surely?’ She looked anxiously at Hugh, who was still staring downwards. ‘Hugh, are you listening to what they’re saying? That poor Louise was to blame for Katie’s accident.’

  ‘We don’t really think she was to blame, Ursula,’ said Meredith patiently. ‘But Alexis is right. We’ve got to use every defence we’ve got. I mean, look at Louise; she’s blaming us, isn’t she? We can’t just stand back and say nothing.’

  ‘Yes, well … you know, I think poor Louise is a little upset at the moment,’ said Ursula. ‘And
Barnaby. They probably don’t quite know what they’re saying, but that doesn’t mean we have to sink to the same level.’

  She looked at Meredith with suddenly severe blue eyes.

  ‘I think, dear, that it would be very wrong of us to tell anyone that we thought it was Louise’s fault that poor Katie got injured.’ She paused and added informatively, as though clinching the matter, ‘It was just an accident, you know.’

  ‘Of course it was an accident!’ cried Meredith impatiently. ‘And of course it’s wrong to blame Louise, but what else can we do? Ursula, you don’t seem to understand. These people are taking you to court. To court! They’re going to stand up and say the accident was all your fault, and unless you come up with some sort of defence, they’ll end up screwing you for every penny.’

  There was a short silence. For a moment Ursula stared at Meredith in distress. Then her brow cleared and a complacent expression appeared on her face.

  ‘You know, dear,’ she said, ‘I don’t believe Louise and Barnaby will go to court.’

  ‘What?’ Meredith gazed at Ursula, red with incredulous frustration. ‘But they’re doing it! This isn’t some hypothetical case we’re constructing here.’ She paused, took a breath, and added, in the clearest, plainest tones she could muster, ‘The Kembers have informed you, through their lawyer, that they’re taking you to court!’

  ‘I know they have,’ said Ursula mildly, ‘but I’m sure they’ll change their minds when they’ve calmed down a bit.’ She nodded at Meredith. ‘You’ll see, dear, this will all blow over. I’ve got a feeling about it.’ And she gave Meredith a comfortable, almost secretive smile.

  Meredith stared at Ursula as though she couldn’t believe her ears. Alexis tactfully intervened.

  ‘Let’s hope you’re right, Ursula,’ he said heartily. He smiled at her. ‘And I agree, it is a bit upsetting having to muster evidence against friends. But I’m afraid you can be quite sure that Louise and Barnaby and all their lawyer chums will be putting together as strong a case against you as they possibly can, so the sensible thing is for us to start thinking about a defence.’ He saw Ursula opening her mouth again and added quickly, ‘Just in case.’ Ursula gave a little shrug.