MORNING SERIAL
HOT youth tempering manly steel ... the sick kitsch, with its call to eternal virility, fleetingly evoked in Michael a boyhood yearning to march free of the terrifying claims of tenderness.
‘Hey,’ Michael said to Isolde. ‘No. Don’t.’
For she was walking straight forwards, hands in pockets, without any attempt at stealth. Michael grasped her arm to restrain her. She wrenched it free. ‘I’m going to see what this is.’ A band struck up, with a drum roll. Dogs barked, straining at the leash. She ran to the edge of the drive. Michael watched her go, with sinking heart: the skirts of her cream coat flapping as she ran, her hands still in her pockets, beret askew, as if in a casual hurry to catch a train. Michael had no option but to follow her. She was stationed beside one of the blond boys with a torch, speaking to him. The gangling lad, in leather shorts, with a scarf knotted round his neck, was visibly embarrassed by the interrogation but kept singing.
Karl Schmidt reached her before Michael. ‘I do regret,’ he was saying, ‘this is a gentlemen only occasion. Old boys’ reunion.’
‘Really?’ said Isolde, without budging.
‘I hate to seem unchivalrous ...’ ‘We’re looking for a lost child.’ ‘I regret, I have seen no lost child.’
‘What’s going on up here?’ Torchlight painted Isolde’s face with flickering yellow. The last of the officers marched into the hall, their flags having been lowered and borne in before them.
‘I hate to seem unchivalrous, but this really is an exclusive gathering. I shall have to invite you to leave.’
‘What if I don’t?’
‘But I’m sure you will, my dear Miss Dahl.’ Karl cupped her elbow in the palm of one hand, guiding her into the trees where Michael was standing. ‘After all, you wouldn’t want to spoil the occasion for a group of veterans, who rarely get the chance to meet. I mean, imagine you were at home and the ... what shall we say ...the veterans of the British Legion were having a get-together.
> The Element of Water by Stevie Davies is published by Parthian in the Library of Wales series www.parthianbooks.com
CONTINUES TOMORROW