Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

Gareth finished his coffee and returned to the studio. Ruth and Flossie were the only ones left in the kitchen. For a while, the kitchen seemed a little empty.Ruth turned on the radio, and while she packed up the leftovers of her breakfast and coffee, she listened to the Women's Hour discussion on the radio, this time about whether modern women can do it all. At this time, the cat came in and wiped it with its legs. "Oh, Manche," she said, "Polly didn't even recognize you, did she? You're shocked!" Later, Ruth took Flossie to Tesco and bought toothbrushes, pajamas, woolen coats and wellies for the two boys.She also bought a bunch of magazines for them to read, a football net and a couple of giant water guns and the like.

Before Ruth unloaded her things, she knocked on the annexe door to see if Polly was in.No one opened the door.She looked for her in the house below, but she was not there.Ruth was a little worried, and wanted to ask Polly's opinion before moving the boys out of the annexe.She felt that this was actually a good thing she was doing them, so she went ahead and cleared out the spare bedroom, made the bed, cleared out a bookcase, and painted it in the colors of Christos. The brighter ones replaced one or two of Gareth's more rational ones. After she picked up the children from school, she asked them to go to the annexe to pack their things.

"Is your mother there?" she asked Nico as the three of them returned with their heavy loads of toys and books.Ruth had brought these things there only a few days ago. "Yes, but she is resting." "sleeping?" "No, lie down. Say hello to us." "Ah." Ruth helped them put things out.Soon, the bare guest room was transformed into an actual boy's bedroom. "Wonderful!" Yannis said. Ruth showed them wellies and clothes from Tesco to try on, and they all fitted, although Nico said he didn't like his woolen coat, saying it was out of date.He ran off to a corner of the kitchen alone, sulking half-heartedly.

"Do you guys want to come over and feed the chickens?" Anna asked.Feeding the chickens is Anna's job and she does it every day.Anna loves chickens and treats them like her own children. "We can see if they're laying eggs," she continued, "although the one named Pike probably won't let us get close, he's in the nest right now." "Okay." Yannis jumped up.Nico followed closely behind them.He was calm and appeared unconcerned, yet reluctant to leave. While the children were feeding the chickens, Ruth took out her trowel and went to the herb garden in front of the house.So she could keep an eye on the annexe a little, she thought, to see what Polly was doing.

For this garden, Ruth faced many challenges.It was a steep slope until the house was renovated.Later, Ruth, Gareth and Andy spent a weekend turning the steep slope into tiers of terraces, aided by stone steps, all the way to the front door of the main house.When you come by car - and you have to drive, as you do most places outside of school - you park in the annexe and go down the stone steps to the "Country Cottage". Gareth was not sure about this design at first, but Andy was very supportive, and said that it was too painful to carry so many things down so many steps every time he went shopping.So, over beers one night, the two of them came up with a plan: remove tons of dirt to create a driveway to the main building.One of Gareth's sketchbooks is full of drawings and lists of titles.

As they worked together like that, Ruth seemed to see two inseparable boys living in secluded places.It's amazing how much they resemble each other.They were raised in a self-sufficient environment and have very practical answers to whatever questions life throws at them.Andy once told her that he and Gareth once built a shed, a two-room log cabin, on the edge of Pam and John's field.They cut down a forest and used the felled trees to build the frame of the wooden house.This job took them all summer.How different their teenage years were from those lazy days Ruth and Polly had spent in Brighton.They drink, do drugs on the beach, hang out with boys on the couch.

As much as Ruth admired the way the two of them worked, she strongly disapproved of the pragmatic idea of ​​building roads.She said they just wanted to separate the house from the car.What she wanted to see from the sink was a garden, not a driveway.The background of the garden is the auxiliary building, and the car can be hidden behind this background.If they had a nice Saab, or a Maserati or something, that might be a different story.But seeing that old, ugly, big Ford Galaxy parked there is nothing but depressing. The two men didn't hold Ruth back, but she had to be very careful. Although the final decision was in her favor, she must not complain or ask others to help when she had to carry a week's supplies down those steps by herself.

Where there should be a driveway is a garden, she likes it.She was excited about the size of the place and the variety of thyme and lavender that could be grown there.She was glad to be here while the children were feeding the chickens, digging up the soil and pulling up the weeds that had come up so early.Flossie sat in the pram, giggling happily in the sun. Ruth heard the children pattering from the back garden to the side of the house, toward the stone table and benches by the pizza oven.Anna sits here every day and counts eggs. "Well, my dad died," Nico said. "Yes, yes, I know," said Anna. "You made me forget how many."

"But he will come back," Yannis cried.Ruth's heart tugged. "No, he won't," Nico said. "possible." "My mom is famous. She's very thin and beautiful," Nico continued. "Well, my mother is beautiful too," said Anna, Ruth's faithful youngest daughter. "And my mom was brave. She cut here and there. Sometimes she bleeds," Yannis boasted. "Shut up, Yannis," Nico reprimanded. "My grandma said my mom killed my dad and she was a witch," Yanis added. "She didn't say that," Nico said, growing louder.

"She said it. I heard her say it, when Mum hit back at Granny, saying she was a witch." "Grandma didn't really say Mom killed Dad," Nico said. "She said it. I heard her say it." "You didn't hear—you shut up, Yannis," Nico growled, when there was the sound of things breaking and Ana gasping. "Mom!" Anna yelled. Ruth arrived just in time to pull Nico and his brother away.Nico was screaming, Yannis was crying, and the yard was full of broken eggs.Anna stood there, twisting her hands. "That's enough of you," Ruth said, placing the two of them at an arm's length away, thinking about how to solve the problem.Out of the corner of her eye she saw a fox crept into the clearing between the apple and pear trees at the end of the back yard.

"Anna, are the chickens all home?" "Of course I did," said Anna, and followed Ruth's gaze. "Oh, Fox!" "Look," said Ruth softly, throwing her arms around the boys, "see that?" "It doesn't eat chickens, does it?" Yannis asked. "He can't eat the chicks if they're all home. They're in the cage. We like the fox," Ruth said. "They actually leave the broken eggs for him to clean up after we're gone." "Most people here hate foxes, but we think foxes are strong and energetic," added Anna, using the exact same words Ruth used when they first met foxes a week or two after they moved here . The children stared at the gray animal.Ruth's take is that the garden was more or less taken over by foxes when the "country cottage" was once empty.Although the fox is always stealing her chicks, she is still happy to have the fox. With him, the rabbits will not dare to approach, and it will probably make the number of rabbits less and less.But she didn't want the fox to eat the rabbit. "That poor old fox, hunted and hated by men," she said to the two boys, "sees our garden as a refuge from a hostile world." "We like foxes," Anna said with a smile. You have undoubtedly earned your bread this afternoon, Mr. Fox, thought Ruth.The fox was idling across the lawn, completely ignoring the presence of people, while the two boys also forgot to fight and stood there dumbfounded. "Let's make dinner," said Ruth at last. "Nico, will you get Flossie in?" she said, offering him the task like a gift, to prove that she still trusted her. He, despite her compulsion, had pulled him so roughly away from his brother. Once they were inside, she asked the children to help her prepare dinner, assigning tasks to each, and instead of making a roast leg of lamb, she made a pie, which involved stirring in a crockery and rolling out the crust. , garnished with leaflets and initials, is a far more involved process than baking something and takes longer, especially with such an inexperienced team of cooks.Ruth is a big believer in the healing power of the kitchen. Niko quickly diced the lamb, skimming off the fat, Anna fried the onions, and Yannis rubbed the flour into the butter with his freshly washed fingers. "Yo—it's hot," said Ruth, throwing open the kitchen window.Indeed, the March morning sun was surprisingly bright. While the pie baked on the stove, she let the younger children cut up the remaining pie crust into cubes, while she and Nico peeled the potatoes. "Nico, how was your second day at school?" she asked. "It's all right," he replied, "it's just—" "What is it?" Ruth asked. "Well, there was one or two kids, and they laughed at me." "why?" "They say I talk weirdly." "Who said you were weird?" "Oh, just one or two kids from our class. They're idiots, leave them alone." "What is your name?" "No, it's okay." Ruth made a mental note to speak to Nico's teacher the next morning. "What do you think, living with us?" she continued. "It's okay." He replied. "Just okay?" "Yeah." He frowned, slowly peeling potatoes with a paring knife, and replied while nodding. "I think you've finished planing this one." Ruth took the potatoes from him and put the unshaved one in his hand. "How is your mother?" she asked. "She's fine." "Really all right?" "Really. Uh... she's very sad, for my dad." "Of course she's sad." Ruth put down the paring knife and bent over him, trying to meet his eyes. "You know, it's normal to be sad when someone you love dies." "I know," he replied, keeping his eyes on the work in hand. "Well—are you sad, Nico?" she asked. "I..." He looked up, looking over her shoulder, something flitted across her face, and Ruth couldn't identify what it was—fear? She turned and saw Polly staring at her from the open kitchen window, trembling.The black hair shone around, making her face look small and unreal.She put on the translucent white nightgown again.Ruth noticed that the pajamas were a little wrinkled in the sun and had small stains like dried blood.Her eye sockets were red and bloodshot. Her voice was calm when she spoke. "Of course you're sad--are you, Nico?" Nico nodded numbly. "We're all heartbroken, Ruth. Don't forget, our worlds are falling apart." Then, somewhere deep inside Polly, a burst of energy erupted and she yelled, "My God!" The children stopped what they were doing, raised their heads, and were stunned.On the other side of the kitchen, a knife fell from the magnet plate to the stone floor with a clang.Ruth was horrified and shocked, but she managed to pull herself together quickly.Ruth clapped her hands. "Okay, kids. Why don't you go watch The Simpsons? Nico and Ana, can you watch Flossie for a while?" Ruth led them into the TV room and put the remote Throwing it into Yannis' hands, Yannis took it as if it was a treasure entrusted to him for safekeeping. Ruth hurried out of the house and turned to where Polly was still standing, but she looked up now at the annexe, where her stained pajamas fluttered in the breeze. "Come on, Polly, let's go to your room and make a cup of tea and sit down." "You always think you'll be all right if you feed other people's bellies, don't you?" asked Polly. "I know," said Ruth, putting her arm around Polly's, "but, you know? I really want a cup of tea. Come on." Ruth took Polly's limp, limp arm and led her up the stone steps to the annexe.Her skin was rough to the touch, dry as paper.She barely resisted and followed her obediently. "I'm sorry, I've been busy today," Ruth said. "I wanted to stay with you for a while, but I'm going to do some shopping. I was here earlier, but I think you're still asleep. Your time doesn't belong You yourself, always have to take care of two sons, and it must have been like this for a long time." "Yes." Polly pulled her arms out of Ruth's and hugged her thin frame.At this time, the sun had already set behind the auxiliary building, the shadows were getting longer and longer, and the breeze carried a chill.They stopped at the bottom of the wooden stairs leading to the bedroom-living room. "Don't come in," she said to Ruth, "just a second, will you?" "Of course." Ruth replied.She stood there and waited for ten minutes, only to hear Polly walking upstairs, rustling and clinking things.She heard a faucet turn on for a moment, and then the toilet flushed.Then Polly appeared at the door, out of breath, as if her mood had been brightened by the work she had just done. "I'm sorry," she said, "boys—they messed up here." But they're at school all day, Ruth thought.As she followed Polly upstairs, she smelled an overwhelming strong amber perfume, which she had evidently worn all over the room.But why?What is she covering up? "I'll put the kettle on," said Polly, going to the kitchen.Ruth sat down at the table. She didn't know what it was that Polly had been purging.The room was a mess, the bed was unmade, messy, with sheets and bedding pulled aside.Underpants were everywhere, as if the contents of the suitcase had been thrown in all directions from the center of the room at 360 degrees.Polly's guitar was out of its case, and on the table were sheets of yellow paper covered with words, pictures, strikethroughs, and hieroglyphs.Ruth had seen it many times before and knew what it meant. "You're writing." She looked up at Polly. "Huh? Oh yes," she replied, hastily putting away the paper as if she hadn't noticed it before.She dumped the stuff on the bed like a trash and covered it with the duvet, "You know, it's a way for me to let off steam." She sat down on the paper on the bed. "Is there some more?" asked Ruth, getting up to finish Polly's half-finished task of making tea. "Oh, Miss Ruth, you needn't know." Polly began to laugh, and Ruth laughed with her.But Polly's laugh was a little long and unnatural, and ended in a mechanical spasm in the throat. Ruth turned and filled the glass with milk, and brought Polly a glass, placing it carefully in her hand. "Polly, are you sure you're all right?" "Honestly?" asked Polly, taking a sip from her glass and grimacing. "I'm better. Give me some time, will you?" "Of course," said Ruth, "there's plenty of time." "I'll be all right," said Polly, starting to drink the hot tea as if it were one of her duties.After drinking the tea, she put the cup on the ground and looked up at Ruth who sat down at the table again. "Ruth," she said, "I'm really grateful for everything you've done for me, really. Just—just please don't think that talking, talking comfortably with me or my kids It's all okay. That's not okay. Everything we've been through can't be resolved that way, the only way it works is the way I am. I don't act the way you do. Always. So, Please don't think a few words and a few plates of food will bring me back, because you can't. The truth is nothing will bring Christos back from the dead. This is what I - the boys and I - are doing Things to deal with. How can you understand what that means to us? So please -- you know -- give it up." Ruth looked at the floor and exhaled slowly. "Fine then," she said. "I know you want to be everybody's mom, Ruth. We both know very well why that is." Ruth was so shocked by what Polly had just said that she couldn't breathe. "Don't worry, Ruth," Polly went on, "just don't be the mother of my baby, okay?" Ruth stood up, turned and left.She found her knees shaking.At the top of the stairs, she turned to Polly and forced a smile. "Are you coming down for dinner?" she asked. "The kids made pie." "They must have done it," said Polly, wrapping herself in her arms and avoiding Ruth's eyes. "It's seven-thirty then. Please don't be late. Pies don't sit out too long." "Okay. Goodbye," replied Polly, getting up and closing the door behind Ruth. Ruth turned and took one last look at the ruined room she had spent so long cleaning up for Polly's arrival.It was only then that she noticed that on Polly's bedside table was a new novel by Simon, in hardcover, recently out. Polly followed her gaze. "Oh, Simon brought it at lunch. Showed it to me. Seems pretty good," she said, turning her back on Ruth. "It's really good," said Ruth, looking straight at her. "You'll like this book." She turned and walked downstairs towards the "Country House", counting the steps carefully.