Winterbringers Read Free Page B

garden.
    This one was quite different from the one around the house. It was filled with straight rows of plants – vegetables, Josh supposed, though he had only a hazy idea of what most of them were.
    Callie rattled off a list as they went past, but he didn’t take much of it in. They came to a sort of tunnel made of metal hoops and thick polythene. “The interesting stuff’s in here,” Callie said, forgetting to sound bored.
    Inside, she pointed out sweetcorn, a lemon tree, a grape vine, peaches – even a fig tree.
    “I didn’t think you could grow any of that stuff in Britain,” said Josh, gently stroking a small, furry peach.
    “You couldn’t in most places, but we get better weather than most places. You still couldn’t do it without the polytunnel though. Come on, I’ll show you the rest.”
    The garden was packed with edible plants. Apple trees were trained against the walls. There was a walk-in cage of netting to protect the raspberries and strawberries that grew inside. Against one wall were two beehives, something that Josh had never seen in his life.
    He edged cautiously closer, watching the bees come and go. “This is where that jar of honey you gave us came from?”
    “Yes. A few people round here used to keep them, but these are the last hives in the village. The weather killed the rest of them, I suppose.”
    The farthest end of the garden was fenced off, and behind the fence a dozen black chickens wandered among another set of apple trees, pecking for insects.
    “And this is where the cider comes from,” said Callie, “and the eggs, obviously.”
    George was in there too, nailing a piece of wood onto the hen house.
    “Lunch is nearly ready, George. Rose said to bring you back.”
    “All right,” he called.
    “Do you always call them by their names?” Josh asked.
    “Of course. That’s what they’re called.”
    “I mean, you don’t call them grandma or …”
    “No, I never have. They’ve always been George and Rose.”
    Since she was being relatively friendly, he asked the question that had been puzzling him. “Do you live with them all the time?”
    Callie waited for him to step out of the garden onto the pavement, then pulled the door shut behind him. “No. My parents are doctors. They usually work in the hospital in Dundee, but they’re in Ghana for six months doing voluntary work on an immunization project, so I’m staying with George and Rose while they’re away. We live in the village anyway, so it’s not very different from usual, except that they aren’t here.” Her voice had gone a little bleak as she spoke.
    “What about you?” she asked
    He shrugged. “Nothing to tell. My mum and me live in Edinburgh. She writes books on architecture; churches, mostly.”
    “No dad?”
    He shook his head. “He’s never been around.”
    “Do you mind?”
    “Not really. I’m used to it being just mum and me.”
    They went back into the house, the ice between them thawing now.
    “I thought you were bringing George back with you?” said Rose accusingly.
    “He’s just coming.”
    Everything they ate for lunch seemed to be home made: crab tart, salad and bread – even the ice cream that went with the strawberries. Josh couldn’t remember eating a meal where everything tasted so good.
    When they’d finished, George said, “Do you think your mum’s in a hurry to get you back, or do you want to come for a walk down at Fife Ness with us?”
    “She won’t mind. What’s Fife Ness?”
    “Just a beach,” said Callie.
    “Not
just
a beach,” corrected George. “The easternmost point in Fife. You get some good birds there.”
    “He’s a birdwatcher,” explained Callie. “Never goes anywhere without his binoculars.”
    George smiled. “Well, you never know what you might miss if you don’t have them on you. Right, we’ll just clear up, then we’ll go.”
    ***
    They went in the car to Fife Ness, bouncing over the potholes for the last mile of unkempt road, past an