Kite Spirit (19 page)

Jack took hold of Ruby’s hand and ran his fingers over her skin and down to her fingers and smiled. Her decorated nails seemed to amuse him.

Ellie came over from the bar. She had dressed up for the occasion too, wearing a pretty sky-blue print dress gathered in at the waist. Her hair tumbled in ringlets down her back.

‘And Ellie!’ Seth smiled.

‘You’re very welcome!’ Ellie touched Ruby on the arm and invited her to sit down. ‘Now what can I get you to drink? I’ve invited a fair few people, but I’m
not sure who’ll turn up.’

‘I don’t mind if no one else comes,’ Seth declared. ‘As long as I’ve got an audience!’

He took his guitar out of its case and started playing along to the new arrangement of ‘Bonny Lass’ he’d been working on the night before. Jack’s right hand and foot
began tapping along as he hit upon the words and joined in.

Seth had moved on to one of his own songs and Ruby was chatting away to Jack when Dr Sherpa and his wife arrived. Dr Sherpa inclined his head subtly towards Kite, as if to ask her how she felt
now. She wished she was invisible. Before . . . she had always been the one to bowl straight into a situation, to chatter away and take everything at face value, happy to be the centre of
attention. Now she supposed that she was getting to see the world more as Dawn had done, sitting quietly on the edges and watching everything unfold in front of her.

‘How come you always manage to analyse everything that goes on?’ Kite asked her when they’d been out late to a party one night and Dawn had started on her usual morning-after
autopsy.

‘I can’t help it!’ Dawn sighed.

‘That’s why you can never enjoy the party properly!’ Kite told her.

Dr Sherpa waved at Seth, who continued strumming away as the doctor strolled over to Ruby and Kite and introduced them to Priti, his wife. She
is
pretty thought Kite. She was dressed in
a silken sea-green salwar-kameez top, jeans and sparkly sandals. Her hair was drawn into a long loose plait. Within a few minutes the two women were deep in conversation. Once Ruby got going about
her passion there was no stopping her, especially when Priti told her how much she loved dance, especially contemporary.

‘It’s been a while since we’ve had a “do” in here,’ Ellie commented as a stout middle-aged couple walked through the door and greeted them. Kite thought she
saw an amused look cross their faces at the eclectic gathering of people.

Seth was halfway through singing an old Calypso song he’d learned in St Kitts when Jack pushed back his chair and stood up slowly without the use of his walking stick. He held out his hand
to Ruby. She stood up, taking his good arm, and guided him gracefully around the room. Jack raised his head and his right hand proudly in the air as they danced across the tiny square of stone
floor. For a moment it was as if he had forgotten about his numb leg. Everyone else clapped along to the music as Ruby manoeuvred Jack safely once more around the room. Kite loved to see her mother
dance. Her whole body lit up and she seemed to draw people to her through the sheer force of her energy. Old Jack and Ruby made good dancing partners. They both had such a passion for life. Where
did that sense of joy come from? Could you make someone feel it, or was it just inside you or not? Kite wondered if she would ever get that feeling back.

Jack was laughing breathlessly as Ruby and he bowed to each other formally at the end of the dance. But instead of returning to his seat he walked slowly over to the stairs . . . leaning heavily
on his stick now.

‘Have you had enough, Grandad? Do you want to rest now?’

Jack reached up to Ellie’s face and stroked her cheek.

‘I’ll take you up.’ Dr Sherpa offered Jack his arm for support. Halfway up the ancient oak steps Jack turned and looked down on the scene below as if he was drinking it in.

‘Good night, Grandad!’ Ellie called up to him.

It seemed to take forever for Ruby and Seth to say their goodbyes so Kite wandered out of the pub ahead of them. She regretted it straight away. A gathering of people about her
age were hanging out by the wall outside, a collection of spent cans strewn around their feet.

‘Hi!’ said the girl with bright pink hair who’d smiled at Kite at the clock tower on their first day. The boy with the leather jacket had his arm swung over her shoulder as
they leaned back against the motorbike seat.

‘This is Kite!’ She recognized Garth’s voice straight away as he stood up and stepped forward into the light. He was wearing army trousers and a plain white T-shirt, and the
slate necklace she’d seen him in before. He played with it nervously as he drew close enough to her so that the others wouldn’t hear him speaking. She pulled out one of her plaits and
twisted it around her fingers.

‘What happen to your head?’ Garth whispered.

Kite raised her hand back up to her scar-brow.

‘Not your scar . . . here,’ Garth pointed to the raised, bruised skin above her brow and his hand brushed her hair as he did so. Kite’s heart fluttered. So he had already
looked at her closely enough to notice the scar.

‘Oh that, it’s nothing, just a bruise! I fell.’

‘So this is
the
Kite of Kite Carrec!’ The girl with pink hair came over.

‘Hi, I’m Cassie,’ she said. ‘No point waiting for Garth to introduce us.’ She nudged Garth’s arm playfully. ‘Think he wants to keep you to
himself.’ Garth kicked at the ground and Kite couldn’t read the expression on his face.

‘Sorry we didn’t get here earlier,’ Cassie continued. ‘We only caught the end. Your dad’s really good though.’

‘Thanks!’ Kite mumbled as Seth and Ruby came bowling out of the pub laughing.

‘How’s it going, Garth?’ Seth called over.

‘I’ve gotta go!’ Kite said. She and Ruby dreaded Seth striking up a conversation when they couldn’t think of what to say to Garth or the others.

‘Maybe see you around?’ Cassie called after her. ‘Love the nails!’

Kite didn’t turn back, but waved as the motorbike revved up behind her. Her face was flushed with embarrassment as she walked away, feeling curious eyes boring into her back.

The station was surprisingly busy, considering it was only seven o’clock in the morning. The travellers were an eclectic combination of smartly dressed executives setting
off to work in one of the neighbouring cities, students on their way to school or college, serious-looking backpackers carrying ridiculously heavy loads . . . and Ruby. She stepped on to the train
and paused in the doorway, facing the platform.

‘Sure you don’t want to decamp to Manchester?’

Kite shook her head. It had been good to see Ruby, but now she knew she needed to stay and wait for the rain. She could tell by the way Seth had supported her decision that he was desperate to
stay here himself. Despite her initial resistance, the landscape and its people seemed to have ignited something in them both.

Ruby winked at Kite as she settled down in her window seat, pressing her hand against the glass and wiggling her elegant fingers in a wave. Seth wrapped an arm around Kite’s shoulders as
the train pulled away and Ruby mouthed the words, ‘Bye, my darlin’, love you.’

‘Love you too,’ Kite mouthed back.

She was used to either Seth or Ruby being away on tour so the raw emotion that threatened to rise up from somewhere deep in her stomach surprised her. It felt as if the tight little knot that
she had held inside her for so long was beginning to unravel and with it she was losing control. The tears rose to her eyes. What was wrong with her? She couldn’t cry for Dawn, at least not
in her waking hours, but she was crying about saying goodbye to Ruby when she would be seeing her again in a few days. Kite rubbed the tears roughly from her eyes.

If only she had been able to say goodbye to Dawn.

‘Let’s take a drive around the Lakes,’ suggested Seth.

On a whim he hired a little boat and fishing rods on the shore of Lake Crummock Water. He’d got it into his head that he wanted to catch a brown trout for Jack. Kite was worried that Seth
would try to use the time to talk, but as it turned out, he was so focused on learning how to cast the line without getting it tangled that there wasn’t much chance for conversation. Kite
stared up at the familiar uninterrupted blue sky and wished for a great wind to scud across, bringing racing clouds of grey and charcoal. She closed her eyes and opened her senses and hoped that
Dawn would visit her again in her dreams:

gentle lapping of water against the boat side

reeling in and out of fly rod

zip noise as the line runs

bird call far off

splash

water lapping

lapping

boat rocking from side to side

‘Get the net, quick!’

She opened her eyes at the urgency of Seth’s voice. A golden brown fish leaped from the water and plummeted back down again, leaving ever-decreasing circles rippling over the surface. Seth
let the line run, allowing the fish its freedom, and then slowly he began to tighten his hold and reel it in. Again and again it leaped out of the water, arching upward and swishing its tail this
way and that.

‘It’s putting up a good fight!’ panted Seth as he reeled it in closer, his eyes bright with excitement. Kite found herself willing the trout to unhook itself. Then, as Seth
leaned over the side of the boat with the net, the fish within touching distance, it made one last attempt to escape, this time diving deep into the dark water below the boat. After a few seconds
it floated to the surface on its side, the hook embedded in its mouth as it flicked its tail weakly. Seth scooped the net under the fish, and lifted it in over the side of the boat.

‘Look away!’ he ordered, but Kite was transfixed as Seth laid the trout out in the deck. She stood, as the boat rocked from side to side, and watched in horror as the fish opened its
mouth and gills, gulping air where water should have been. She held her breath as Seth picked up something that resembled a small hammer. He raised his arm in the air and brought it down hard on
the trout’s head. A tiny trickle of blood oozed from its mouth and it stilled. Seth took some tweezers from the tool box under the seat and carefully removed the hook.

Kite stared.

‘
Please
can we just go back?’ she whispered. She felt as if someone had hit
her
hard on the back of the head.

Seth reached a hand towards her but she snatched hers away. Her stomach lurched with the horror of seeing life turn to death before her eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen anything
die.

The girl at the boat hut provided some newspaper and string and packed the fish with ice from her freezer box to keep it fresh.

‘It won’t have felt any pain,’ Seth assured her as they drove away.

‘How do you
know
?’

She had tried not to think about the way Dawn had died. She hoped more than anything it would have been as Ruby said, without pain, but there was no way of really knowing.

Seth ran into the Carrec Arms brandishing his parcel.

‘You’ll never guess what I’ve got for you, Jack!’

Dr Sherpa and Ellie were sitting at the table. Dr Sherpa had a protective arm wrapped around her shoulders. Ellie’s eyes were red and swollen. Kite looked over to Jack’s empty chair
and Dr Sherpa shook his head.

‘But I caught him a trout for his supper,’ Seth said, sounding like a disappointed child as he placed the fish on the table.

Ellie looked at it blankly.

‘What a shame! Jack loved nothing better than a fresh buttered trout for his breakfast,’ Dr Sherpa said. The words choked in his throat as he spoke them.

Kite felt the tears sting her eyes and roll down her cheeks. Seth hugged her to him and she looked up to see that he was crying too.

Ellie was telling the story again of how she found Jack, as if she was trying to believe it herself.

‘I popped up with a cup of tea this morning and he was gone. The odd thing is, he had a photo of Mirror Falls in his hands. Well, I suppose it was his land and he always loved to go up to
that spot on the hill. He was such a fit man, running up there till way after his seventieth birthday.’

It was early afternoon when they left. Seth had gone up to see old Jack and sat with him for what seemed like hours while Ellie talked downstairs. Kite had no desire to see his body. She wanted
to remember him as he had been the night before, dancing around the pub with Ruby. At least he’d left everyone with happy memories.

‘I’m sorry, Kite’ Seth sighed as they got into the car. ‘You should have gone back to Manchester with Ruby.’

Kite shook her head.

‘So what am I going to do with Jack’s fish now?’

‘I don’t know. Let’s just go back,’ Kite pleaded.

‘It’s been a long, sad day,’ Seth said. ‘I feel shattered myself, and I can’t believe it’s still only three o’clock.’ He checked his watch as he
drove across the common to the bottom of the track.

‘I’ll walk the rest of the way,’ Kite said.

‘I know how you feel, I’m not ready to go back yet either. Do you mind if I drop you off? I’ll only be an hour or so.’ Seth handed her the key. ‘It’s probably
a whim, but I caught that trout for Jack and if he can’t have it I think I know the perfect place for it.’

Kite walked up the track and there at the sandstone entrance, weighted down by a pebble, was another note. She winced. The same envelope, the same paper, the same scored-out
address.

Kite took the note and placed it on the table with the others. This one was definitely friendlier, but something about that woman still made her feel uncomfortable. What could
she possibly want to show her? Kite walked over to the window, where the owl print shone silver in the afternoon sunshine. Now she was alone, the place felt unbelievably empty, as if it had no
warmth or heart.