BREAKING POINT

When Jeremy left the following morning, Penny went back to the sofa, resting her head against the cushion where his head had been the evening before. She could still smell the faint aroma of cloves, and her mouth curved into a smile.

The dog placed his two fringed front paws on the edge of the sofa and gazed up at her reproachfully. Penny looked at him and laughed.

“I know, you want your morning walk” she said, gathering him into her arms and burying her face against his silky hair

“You are a big baby, Benjamin. And you won’t be able to have that walk because we are going on a trip. Your daddy lent us his car”

Benny produced a pink tongue and licked her face. Young as he was, he had that unerring canine instinct that warned him all was not well. There was a faint tinge of sadness in her voice, and if he could not understand he could still sympathize.

Penny hugged him closer and said. “You have a very sentimental, morbid mistress, Benny. She thinks the world is coming to an end just because he has gone away for three days ; because he did not seem to mind leaving her half as much as she minded loosing him. In fact, she thinks he had every intention of enjoying himself ”

Benny struggled out of her arms and rolled over on his back, asking to have his fat little tummy scratched. Penny laughed, and jumped up quickly.

” All right, Benjamin, we won’t mope” she said, picking him up and depositing him safely on the ground. “I will clean up and then we will go out”

Benny wagged his stumpy tail, sensitive again to her change of mood. He seemed enjoy the drive in the car, sitting perfectly still and dozing when he realized that Penny was too busy to have him on her lap.

Once she was out of the suburbs, Penny had time to think of other things than her driving. Against her will, her thoughts turned again to Jeremy and wondering if he had gotten to his destination.

She had even offered to come with him that morning, but Jeremy had said no. She must have shown her disappointment when he did because he said.

“Thanks for offering darling, but there’s no need. I will be back soon”Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Then he had taken his bag and coat and kissed her goodbye. Penny clung to him desperately, so tightly that he looked at her in surprise.

“Bear up, honey” he said with a grin. “I’m not going to the north pole. Let’s have a smile”

So she smiled… And a moment later he was gone.

———————

Penny turned off the main road towards Horsham. She put the thought of Jeremy firmly behind her… Except when she called him or he called her. She was not going to think of him again until it was time to drive back to town to meet him. He would be sure to miss her while he was away and would have a specially warm welcome for her when he came back. He would be so pleased to see her that he would fling his bag down and gather her into his arms.

Once again she resolved to put her lover out of her thoughts for the next three days. But he remained firmly in mind until she turned into the drive of her childhoods home. Here she had lived once her parents died and this was the home she loved.

The house had once been a fine example of a genuine manor house. Part of it was actually jacobean but Uncle Charles had rebuilt one wing and the result was not exactly prepossessing. And Penny’s old Aunt Ann, who was twenty years older than Penny’s mother, had a taste which had not improved the interior of the old house. But Penny loved it and loved the elderly couple.

Penny brought the car to a standstill and lifted Benny on to the gravel drive. Uncle Charles appeared in the doorway, waving a newspaper, smiling delightedly.

“Aha, so you are here, child” he said

Uncle Charles -one time barrister at law -and still vastly interested in legal matters, usually preceded every sentence with ‘Aha’ and always called Penny child. She felt a rush of affection for him, and went forward to receive his kiss. He had a large walrus moustache that always fascinated Penny.

“Aha, you are looking a bit pale, child” he said. “You should have let us know you were coming and we would have killed the fatted duck… Aha, not that we’ve got one”.

Penny smiled and said : “It’s fine. I wanted to surprise you both. Your moustache is even longer than when I last saw it”

He beamed at her over his spectacles and said :

“Your aunt will be pleased to see you child”

“Wait a moment” Penny told him. “I will collect Benny”

She found the spaniel playing with a large fir cone and gave a sigh of relief that it was not one of uncle Charles special lily bulbs.

“This is Benjamin, uncle Charles” she said. “Jeremy gave him to me”

“Aha. Liver and white spaniel” uncle Charles said “Good breed. Fine gun dog. Let’s have a look at him”

He set Benny down and studied the wriggling puppy from all angles, measuring his ears with great deliberation.

“Mmmm. Good specimen. Well bred” he pronounced at last, then he asked. “Who’s Jeremy?”

“I will tell you about him in a moment” Penny said smiling. “Let’s go inside, uncle. I’m frozen after that drive”

She followed him into the hall from where she could hear aunt Ann’s voice, issuing from the kitchen.

“If a thing is worth doing at all, it’s worth doing well” she was saying, using one of her well worn clichés.

Penny smiled and called out to her

“Aunt Ann, it’s me Penny”

A minute later Ann Geller’s rotund little figure came hurrying through the door. She embraced her niece affectionately.

“Well, how lovely to see you Penny” she said at last, her rosy face beaming with pleasure. “And I’m not really surprised, you know. I always say every cloud has a silver lining and so far today has been one big cloud of trouble. So here you are to make everything better.