A friendly Demonstration
Chapter 51
"That's about it. I remember the approach, because of the snow cover the instructor was at the controls. I remember seeing the other 'plane just… appearing through the snow, but I don't remember the crash. The next thing I knew was that I woke up in hospital, with Jen – that's Jennifer Coates, my best friend – sitting beside my bed." Mattie finished relating what she could remember of the crash to Granny Shephard
"Harm says it was typical of me to wait to wake up for the five minutes he'd taken for a bathroom break, and wasn't sat where Jen was!" she added with a wry grin. Then her expression sobered, "At that, I was lucky. I was pretty much paralysed from the neck down, but the instructor and the pilot of the other plane were killed in the crash. Sometimes I think it's all my fault, if I hadn't insisted on going for a lesson, then we wouldn't have flown into that bad weather and we wouldn't have crashed when we tried to land."
Anne Shephard nodded thoughtfully, "From my experience, that would be a common reaction. But surely your instructor called the tower for clearance to land?"
Mattie nodded, "Of course he did. I heard him and I heard the tower give us clearance."
"And the tower wouldn't have given you clearance if they have thought another plane was on the runway, would they?"
Mattie looked at the old lady a slightly startled expression on her face, "Of course not!"
"So the pilot of the other plane was where he shouldn't have been?"
"I guess," Mattie conceded the point.
"And what did the accident investigation have to say? There was an investigation wasn't there?"
"Of course there was," Mattie replied, "the best answer they came up with is that pilot of the other plane had become disoriented by the falling snow, and thought he was on the taxiway."
Granny Shephard nodded again, "Well, I may not know much about flying, but having a vicar – I think that's preacher to you – in the family has given me a long exposure to the idea that God works in mysterious ways. Even insurance companies, probably some of the most cynical concerns in the world of business, acknowledge that there are 'Acts of God' so really, my dear, you mustn't blame yourself in any way, shape or form whatsoever!"
"That's just about what the therapist said," Mattie grinned self-consciously, "and I do try to think like that, but sometimes…" She shrugged, "it's kinda hard."
Anne Shephard sat back in her chair regarded the teenager steadily for what, to Mattie, seemed like an age but in reality was no more than about five seconds. "How do you feel about flying again?"
Mattie looked at the old lady, "Okay, you got me. I was as nervous as hell… uh, sorry, I mean I was as nervous as all get out about flying to England, but it had to be done, so I did it. But if you mean how do I feel about getting into another light airplane, then, yeah, it's a scary thought. But statistically GA flying is safer than driving or going by train. So I just have to keep telling myself that, and that lightning doesn't hit the same place twice. My therapist back in DC says that positive mental attitude is essential to get me back on my feet and fully mobile again, and I guess that same applies to flying. And it's like Gill…uh… Captain Shephard says, when you fall off a horse, first thing you do is get right back on, and I reckon that applies to aeroplanes too."
"Your therapist, whoever he, or she, is or was has the right idea, and what is more, I'm confident that if you keep up a positive mental attitude, you will heal up here…" Granny tapped the side of her head with an immaculately manicured finger, "just as quickly as your body will heal. As for my granddaughter's words of wisdom, well, there are times when she does get it right!"
Granny's closing words surprised a giggle from the teenager and her eyes flew across the room, only to see to her surprise that neither Gill nor her mother were still present; only Harm and the Reverend, from who he was accepting a small glass of a dark liquor remained at the far end of the room.
"I know you're driving, m'boy, but you won't be leaving for several hours yet, so a glass of this rather good sherry and even a couple of glasses of wine with dinner will have plenty of time to be absorbed before ye leave us." The Reverend smiled and raised his own glass to his lips to take a sip.
Harm had drunk sherry before so he knew it was to be sipped and relished rather than just thrown down the neck, as was suggested by the small size of the schooner, as the glass was called, and obediently followed suit.
Granny followed Mattie's line of sight and as she saw what was happening a frown creased her forehead, "Jack!" she cried imperiously.
"Indeed, mother!" Jack Shephard replied totally unruffled by what looked like his mother's displeasure, "Just seeing to our guest first, dontcherknow!" he crossed the room, a schooner of sherry for Anne Shephard in his hand.
"Ah… thank you," his mother smiled, and then somewhat acerbically, "Well? What are you standing about for? This young lady and I are in the middle of a fascinating conversation!"
"Yes, mother; but I was about to ask Mattie what would she like to drink before luncheon?"
"Oh…" Mattie looked surprised, "I… uh… do you have any sodas? Like Pepsi? Or Coke?"
"I don't think so, but we do have lemonade… that's a bit like a cream soda, but not so sweet…" Jack suggested somewhat doubtfully.
Mattie smiled, "That would be great, thank you, sir."
"In that case you will excuse me while I go and investigate the depths of the fridge!" The Reverend Jack smiled in reply.
Granny Shephard fixed him with a steely-eyed glare, "Stop mithering and get going, fetch the girl her drink before she dehydrates!"
"I'm on my way!" a smiling Jack Shephard agreed, and as he turned he let Harm see the grin that was stretched across his face.
Ham shot a swift glance at Granny and Matte and decided that his presence too, was for the moment, unnecessary, "I'll come too, if you don't mind, Jack, just to check that it hasn't got too much sugar in it. You wouldn't believe how much junk these soda manufacturers put into their drinks!"
With a chuckle and an expansive arm gesture indicating the path Harm should take, Jack Shephard stood aside to let the tall Navy officer precede him down the hallway.
Granny grunted in satisfaction as her son left the room, hot on Harm's heels, "Good! Men! Hah! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em!" she said fiercely, eliciting another surprised giggle from Mattie.
Granny nodded approvingly and sat back in her chair, "And now we are alone, and while we are on the subject of men, my dear…"
Mattie was surprised into yet another giggle, "All sorted, ma'am. Harm tried to give me 'the talk' just after I first moved in with him."
Granny raised a surprised eyebrow, "And the results of that talk?"
Mattie's grin spread even wider, "Like I told Jen, when she asked, I think Harm learned a lot."
Granny let out a crack of laughter, "Oh, I do believe that I am going to like you! But, this Jen, Jennifer? This is the second time you've mentioned her, and you say she is your best friend. How old is this girl?"
"Well, she's not really a girl, I'd say she's about the same age as Gill, maybe a year or two younger. She shared the apartment with me, when we lived next door to Harm."
"So, Harmon knows her?"
"Oh, yes, she was the Admiral's Yeoman back in Falls Church, and now she's Harm's Legalman."
"Yeoman? So, she's in the Navy?"
"Yes, she's a petty officer."
Granny had a feeling that there was more about Jennifer Coates that she was being told, but contented herself with a non-committal "I see."
But as non-committal as she tried to make it, Mattie picked up what sounded like a hint of condemnation, or maybe just suspicion in the older woman's voice, and her temper flashed, "No, I don't think you do see. We were kind of family. Jen was like a big sister to me, Harm was my dad, but he was kind of like a big brother to Jen. Without Jen, the whole situation couldn't have worked. Harm was still being sent out of town on investigations and on court cases, and when he did then Jen stepped up to the plate and helped out. She even came to see the teacher I was having a problem with, and that teacher started dissing Harm for being a poor parent. She started on him without knowing any of the facts, and in a military town like DC, just showed to me that she was only half-smart!"
Granny's eyes twinkled with approval, "And I suppose you just stood there and said yes ma'am, no ma'am, three bags full ma'am?"
"Like hell I did! I told her she didn't know what the hell she was talking about…" And then as Mattie's ears caught up with her mouth she blushed crimson and gasped, "Oh! Ma'am, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cuss… It's just… Well, when people start dissing Harm and Jen, I get a bit mad, and I guess I've lost my temper a bit. I didn't mean to be rude, ma'am."
Granny chuckled and shook her head gently, "No need to apologise to me, child. I like it when a young girl has a bit of fire in her belly, especially when she uses it to stand up for her friends and family! So, this Jennifer, a paragon of all the virtues I take it?"
"A what?" Mattie asked before she cottoned on to the meaning of the question and then shook her head, "I wouldn't say that, ma'am. But she's a good sailor and has done the best she can, and that's a very good best. She's beautiful, smart, kind, supportive, got a great sense of humour and… and… she's got laughing eyes, and a dimple I would kill for!"
Granny chuckled, "Just as I said! A paragon of all the virtues!"
"And who would that be?" the Reverend Jack asked as he re-entered the room, carrying Mattie's glass of lemonade.
Granny's eyes sparkled with mischief, "Oh, Jennifer, and before you ask, she's Mattie's BFF!"
Jack shook his head slightly, "Mattie's what?"
"Best friend, for ever," and then seeing the look of astonishment on Mattie's face, Granny added, "What? Just because I'm a little older than everybody else here, it doesn't mean that I don't keep up with the latest expressions!"
"And you do it very well, ma'am," Mattie smiled.
The Reverend shook his head in mock disapproval, "Well, if you two ladies have finished with your mutual admiration society session, Alice is about ready to serve up, and Harm and Gillian are finishing getting the dining room ready. So, Mattie, if you would like to follow us… Mother?"
As he finished speaking Jack held out his arm Granny to use it as an assist to get to their feet, once upright she kept her hand resting lightly on her son's forearm, but as far as Mattie could see the old lady was steady enough to walk a much greater distance between the lounge and the dining without needing any support whatsoever.
On reaching the dining room, Mattie saw Harm was there alone, standing by the table with his hand resting lightly on the back of a chair. Granny Shephard smiled brightly at him, and with a murmur of thanks, she slipped easily onto the chair which Harm held for her before he walked around to the other side of the table..
Jack Shephard turned to Mattie, "Your father," his words bringing a blush of pleasure to the teenager's cheeks, "says that you prefer to sit on a dining chair? But if you prefer to stay in your wheels, no problem whatsoever, my dear."
"Given my druthers, I'd sit on a normal chair, if I may?"
"Of course you may. Do you need any help?"
"Just an arm to grab hold if I lose my balance," Mattie assured him as she leaned alternatively left and right to apply the brakes on her wheelchair, while the Reverend drew her chair, which was immediately to the right of his own chair at the head of the table, out from under the table. Mattie took a breath and carefully placing her feet on the floor used her hands on the wheel chair's arms lever herself upright before taking the two necessary, if wobbly, steps before she could lower herself onto the dining chair.
Harm, cut off from coming to Mattie's assistance on the other side of the table could only watch, his heart in his mouth, as Mattie carefully lowered herself onto the seat, and once seated turned and looked back up over her shoulder at the Reverend, treating him to one of her full strength, sunniest smiles, "Thank you," she beamed.
The Reverend merely nodded, and treated Mattie to a pat on the shoulder, before taking his own seat, which of course was at the head of the table. His wife, Alice sat, as was proper, at the foot of the table, with Harm to her right and her mother, next to Mattie to her left. Gillian sat at her father's left, next to Harm.
Taking in the array of cutlery and napery in front of her, Mattie gulped nervously, although silently, and hoped that she wouldn't make too big a mess of handling the various knives, forks and spoons laid out alongside her place mat. That was whenever the food was served, of course.
To that end in front of the Reverend, and to Mattie's surprise, was a large, covered, china bowl and a stack of shallow dishes. All was soon made clear as he lifted the lid of the bowl and picked up a silver soup ladle and began to ladle soup into the bowls passing them down the table until everybody was served.
The tomato and coriander soup - which received Mattie's verdict, when asked, "Yeah, great, thanks… though it's different to what I'm used to, a little sharper…" – was succeeded by a serving dish of roast beef, and tureens of vegetables, including crisply roasted potatoes, and a huge Yorkshire pudding. Harm's preferences were dealt with in the shape of a thumb-thick salmon steak with lemon butter and accompanied by a slightly anxious query from Alice Shephard, "Gillian told us that you eat fish, but if not, then I'm sure we can find something else for you…"
"No, no need for that. Yes, I do eat fish, and one of my weaknesses is for salmon, so this is more than just fine… honestly," he added as he saw a trace of doubt in remaining in Alice's face, and proceeded to lay that to rest by eating his dinner with evident enjoyment.
The awkward moment passed and the conversation became general, with Mattie directing the first question to the Reverend, "Gill says that the church is very old, and I should ask you about its history… she said something about it dating from the Conquest, but I didn't quite get that."
Jack shot a fondly reproving look at his daughter, who suddenly seemed to be very interested in the food on her plate, or was just having difficulty in meeting her father's eye. "My daughter is being mendaciously lazy. She knows just as much about the history of our church as I do, possibly even more. But she is right, the main part of the church does date from the Conquest. That is the Norman Conquest of England, which started in the year ten sixty-six, although it took a few years for the whole of the country to be occupied, although this region was one of the earliest areas to be…. Shall we say, pacified. With certain of the approximate age of the church because it is mentioned in Domesday Book which was completed in the year ten eighty-five, and that he notes the church was built on the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon church, and the baptismal font is a surviving relic of that Saxon church."
"Domesday Book?" Mattie asked.
The Reverend swallowed a mouthful of food and nodded. "King William, the Conqueror wanted to know just how much his newly gained kingdom was worth, so he sent out investigators to each of the shires to write down how much land each individual held, and many buildings on the land, how many horses, cows, sheep, goats, ducks, geese, chickens, how much land was under cultivation… in short, to list everyone and everything."
Mattie shook her head in incomprehension, "That must have been one heck of a job, why was he so interested? I mean I get that he wanted to know what he had, but down to the last chicken and ear of corn?"
The Reverend Jack smiled and shook his head, "the King, or government, need to know how much wealth individuals have, so they can be taxed. In its way, Domesday Book was the first tax roll. And we've been taxed ever since!"
"But that's not far off two thousand years!" Mattie exclaimed as she struggled to come to terms with the concept of a single country being that old.
"So, these investigators he sent out, were really just revenue agents," Harm remarked.
Mattie gave up on trying to fit the concept of British history into her world view and giggled, "I wonder did any of them run into the equivalent of the Hatfields and McCoys?" she wondered.
Jack Shephard chuckled, "Indeed, there was resistance. There was an uprising in the north-east that was put down very bloodily, and then William laid waste the entire North East and many hundreds died of starvation. And of course, there was the East Anglian hero of the anti-Norman resistance, Hereward the Wake, who took refuge in the East Anglian wetlands, and led a guerrilla campaign against the Normans for some years."
"Wow, pretty brutal, then?" Mattie commented.
"Yes, they weren't very nice people back then. There is a saying that for the majority of the population life was nasty, brutish and short. And that didn't change much until towards the end of the nineteenth century," the Reverend finished thoughtfully.
"That's enough of such morbid talk at the dinner table, Jack Shephard," his wife interrupted and then smiled at Mattie, "I'm sorry, Mattie, but I'm quite sure that if you want to know more, then Jack will tell you all you could wish for, but not at my dinner table please!"
Mattie blushed, "Sorry, ma'am," she mumbled.
"Oh, you have nothing to be sorry for!" Granny Shephard contributed. "Alice, the girl is quite properly interested, and her curiosity should be fed, so if recriminations there must be, then save them for Jack!"
"Oh, please, don't argue. I'm interested, but it can wait, honestly…" Mattie turned an appealing gaze on both Anne and Alice.
There was a moment's awkward silence before Jack Shephard cleared his throat and said, "It was a pretty morbid discussion for the dinner table, so you'll have to excuse my enthusiasm, but it's so rare to find a young person with an interest in history these days! And speaking of young people, Gillian… didn't you serve with young Timothy Walker in your last posting?"
"Timothy…?" Gill replied, her forehead wrinkling in a frown.
"Yes!" her father replied slightly impatiently, "Timothy Walker, from here in Dinton!"
"Tim… Oh!" Harm had to grin, he could almost see the light bulb glow into life above Gill's head, although he himself was none the wiser.
"Of course, Johnny Walker – Bombardier Walker!" Gill agreed, her smile now back in place, "Why?"
"Well, he came to see me yesterday, together with a delightful young woman – an American," he added looking at Harm and then Mattie, "And well… the upshot of it is it looks like it's going to be a busy year for weddings, I read out their bans for the first time after Communion this morning."
"Bans?" Gill asked in surprise.
"Weddings?" Harm asked at the same time, his mind having instantaneously connected Johnnie Walker with Julia Martinez as the 'delightful young woman – an American'.
"Yes, Weddings," Jack agreed, "What with your brother's engagement and now your Timothy… and why Johnnie?" he asked.
"Oh… a sort of traditional nickname for anyone called Walker," Gill replied.
For a moment her father looked blank and then his face creased into a grin, "Of course, for the whiskey!"
"Exactly!" Gill agreed and then another thought occurred to her, "Oh, Harm… his fiancée must be your driver!"
"Well, strictly speaking, she's my Yeoman, but yes, unless he's been two-timing her, then it must be Martinez!" Harm chuckled, "And I shall be at my mysterious best when I congratulate her tomorrow, before she tells me and applies for leave! Reinforcing my reputation for omniscience!"
"You know the young woman?" Alice spoke up in surprise.
"Yes, Mummy. She works for Harm and she and Bombardier Walker met while I was hosting Harm at the Larkhill Day Firepower Demonstration, and they've been dating ever since!"
"It took us a little while, but eventually we caught on and decided to follow their example," Harm grinned.
"All the way to the altar?" Granny Anne challenged.
"Granny!" Gill protested.
"Well, we are a little older than Walker and Martinez," Harm parried Granny's question, "So maybe once our reactions have caught up with current events, it might be something that we could start considering, at some time in the future, and at our own speed." Harm spoke pleasantly enough and sent a warm smile towards Gill, but there was enough underlying steel in his voice to convey the unspoken message, 'we'll deal with our relationship without interference, thank you,' to Granny Shephard, and indeed to Jack and Alice.
Granny Shephard was not at all put out by the rebuke in Harm's voice, "Hah! Well, that's told me!" she said cheerfully while her daughter in law and granddaughter glowered at her, the latter with the blood rising to her cheeks.
The Reverend Shephard gave himself a mental kick, he should have known, he told himself that his mother was capable of asking such an outspoken question, so in an effort to steer the conversation on to less contentious ground he turned back to Mattie, "We understand that you are being admitted to Stoke Mandeville on Tuesday. Gillian has co-opted us into the role of hospital visitors, so how would you like to give us a couple of hints as to what sort of reading you might enjoy?"
"Well… there is a magazine back in the States for the GA people, called 'Flight', I don't know whether you can get it over here, or whatever the British equivalent might be. But maybe if you could come up with a history book that would give me a skeleton to build on. A plain old-fashioned narrative history would be good…"
"Narrative history?" The Reverend Jack asked.
Mattie speared the last of her roast beef on her fork and nodded, "Yeah, the sort of book that just tells you what happened and when, without going too much into the whys…"
"But isn't that the important part of history?" Gill asked.
Mattie looked across the table, "Yeah, it is, but like I said to begin with I just need a skeleton, and then as I get more into it then I can start to put the muscles in place. Like when you build a house, you have to dig out the footings first."
Granny Shephard smiled, "When you put it like that, Mattie, then it does make sense. But you don't want girls' magazines? Fashion, music, boy bands, romances?
"Girls' magazines? No thanks! You can keep those for the princesses!" Mattie interjected, with every evidence of distaste.
"There speaks Peppermint Pattie, the eternal tomboy!" Harm said with a grin, but earning a reproving glare from Mattie.
"Or, maybe something to do with horses, most teenage girls seem to be mad keen on them; they were in my day and from what I gather they still are! Even Gillian had a love affair with horses when she was about your age."
"Oh, I still like horses, Granny, and living with the Troop, I get to ride out two or three mornings a week, but I've a sneaky feeling that Mattie's never been on horseback in her life."
"Dead straight!" Mattie agreed emphatically, "I think it was Sherlock Holmes who said that horses were dangerous at both ends, and uncomfortable in the middle."
"Not quite," Gillian's mother gently corrected Mattie, "He said that they were crafty in the middle, but in essence you got it right."
"So, you like Conan Doyle?" Granny Shephard asked.
Mattie nodded, "I've only read his Sherlock Holmes stories; I mean I know he wrote other stuff, but it just hasn't come my way and we had the Holmes books in the school library at Charlottesville."
"Well, in that case once you have read your history book, you should read 'Sir Nigel,' and 'The White Company'," the Reverend Jack added. "I think they are both on David's bookshelf still, and I'm sure he won't mind you borrowing them."
The conversation then temporarily halted while Gillian and her mother cleared the table, once again rebuffing Harm's offer of help, and after a very short interval returned to the dining room with Gillian carrying a stack of dishes on top of which was balanced a large jug, while Alice bore a tray on which was a large, raised pie.
"Deep dish apple pie!" Jack said with immense satisfaction, as he waited for the pie dish to find its way up the table to him, where he had a large knife and a serving spoon poised.
"No cloves in it, though, Jack," his wife gently reminded him, "I wasn't sure if Harm and Mattie would appreciate that, and I know Gillian isn't very keen on them."
"Their loss, but my sacrifice," the Reverend sighed theatrically, but then smiled as he passed a plate to Mattie, "Help yourself to cream, m'dear!" he encouraged her.
Mattie found the pie to be delicious, if slightly different to the American recipe to which she was used, and was immensely thankful that there were no cloves in it. She hated cloves, although she knew she would have had to make an effort to force them down had they been present, but Harm had no qualms at all as he ate his portion, nodding his appreciation to a slightly anxious-looking Alice.
Finally the meal was over, and as Alice and Gill started to clear the table, Harm stood once more, "We have a custom back to home," he smilingly told Alice, "That those that cook don't get KP at the end of the meal, so it's only fair that Gill and I clean up the kitchen after all your hard work preparing this wonderful meal!"
And this time, Harm would not take 'no' for an answer, so Alice and Granny Shephard were packed off to the lounge, while the Reverend invited Mattie, if she was still interested, to his study where he could pull some salient facts regarding the church from the parish records – an offer that Mattie couldn't refuse, so after carefully transferring herself back to her wheelchair, she happily followed Jack to his study. So when some twenty minutes later when Harm and Gill had finished clearing away the wreckage from the meal, and having indulged in a brief embrace and exchanged a kiss, they re-entered the living room to find Alice idly browsing the Sunday Newspaper while Granny Shephard dozed lightly in her armchair.
Gill stopped at the room's threshold, and smiled over her shoulder at Harm, "Looks like it's going to be a very quiet afternoon… what say we go for a stroll around the village for a while…?"
Harm nodded, "Good idea, it will help with digestion too… I'm not used to such a huge meal in the middle of the day…"
Gill's chuckle was almost a gurgle as she took her jacket from the row of pegs in the hallway, "Check your watch," she recommended him, "It's about the middle of the afternoon now. Those Sunday dinners do tend to stretch on a bit!"
Harm looked at his watch in mild surprise, "They most certainly do!" he agreed ruefully as Gill opened the door and the two of them stepped out into the cool, and to Harm at least, refreshing air.
Gill, quite unselfconsciously took Harm's hand in hers and as they ambled slowly around the village, her head, settled, by degrees, against his upper shoulder while she quietly pointed out the village's places of interest.
"So… the village green is interesting, is it?" Harm teased her lightly.
Gill chuckled, "Not so much at this time of year," she admitted, "But in the summer there'll be a cricket match every other Sunday."
"Every other Sunday?" a slightly puzzled Harm asked.
"M'mm… the team plays at home and away on alternate Sundays," Gill explained.
"And how does your father feel about his congregation playing cricket, instead of attending church?" Harm joked.
"Ah, the two don't clash. Traditionally the match doesn't start until after the service. Even professional matches don't start until eleven hundred hours. Of course, back in the middle ages, cricket was illegal, and so was football. Every householder below knightly rank was supposed to furnish himself with a bow, and the after-church activity on Sundays was mandatory archery practice at the Butts. That's that long grassy piece over there…" Gill indicated another expanse of greenery, "And it's still called the Butts today, although when I was a girl, there were roundabouts, swings and a slide there and we just called it the Rec… short for Recreation Ground."
"Where are they now, then?" Harm asked, intrigued by this glimpse into Gill's childhood.
"Oh, they were all taken down by the District Council. They were too afraid of being sued under Health and Safety laws if a child got injured."
"Please tell me you're joking!" Harm exclaimed.
"Sorry. That's the truth of the matter. I wonder sometimes if we aren't too protective these days. Everything must be made safe, no risk involved. Schools have even banned traditional playground activities like conkers or bulldog and everything is sanitised up to the hilt, and yet there are more allergies and health problems than I ever remember. Sometimes I wonder if we aren't overdoing the hygiene bit as well, and because children are kept to so sterile, their immune systems aren't developing. If you were to ask Granny," Gill chuckled in an attempt to lighten the mood which had suddenly become a little bleaker than she'd intended, "She would tell you that we must all eat a peck of dirt before we die!"
Harm chuckled too and slipped an arm around Gill's waist, "I still don't know your grandmother that well, but somehow I can just about hear her say that!"
"So can I! But I can also hear her complaining if we keep her waiting for her tea and sandwiches! So we'd best be heading on back!" Gill replied after a quick glance at her watch.
"If you say so," Harm agreed gravely.
"I do say so, and what's more, as the sun's going down, I'm beginning to feel a decided chill!"
