Authors: K.C. Finn
Tags: #young adult, #historical, #wwii, #historical romance, #ww2, #ya, #europe, #telepathic, #clean teen publishing, #kc finn
The Mind's Eye (3 page)
“
Oh aren’t you just lovely, the pair of you!”
to her knees before us and pulled my shoulder forward for a hug. My
chair gave me a little space at least from her lovingly iron grip,
but Leighton had no such luck. He was pulled straight into her
ample chest where he could hardly breathe from the warmth of her
embrace. He emerged red-faced a moment later, stumbling
backwards.
“
Leighton, Catherine,” Officer Lewis explained, “This is Mrs
Gladys Price, your new guardian.”
“
Call me Mam if you like,” she added, “Everyone does round
yur.”
eye level with me, crouching on the floor with her warm hand on my
knee. She smelled like cakes and biscuits and her voice had a soft
melodic note, like there was music in every word she spoke.
“
Thank you Mam,” I said and Leighton repeated me. I was
embarrassed at how stiff my voice sounded, but Mam didn’t seem to
notice.
“
Well come in, come in!” she said, yanking herself up to her
full height, “You must be starving after that journey!”
of any kind of food had won Leighton over immediately. He bounced
on his heels as Mam circled him to take the back of my chair. We
said goodbye to Officer Lewis as he doffed his hat, then suddenly
we were off at Mam’s brisk pace down a dark corridor until we
emerged into a massive kitchen. A huge oval table made of dark wood
sat in the centre of the space, already laden with cakes,
sandwiches and a big jug of fruit cordial. Leigh’s jaw dropped to
the ground.
“
Oh sit down love, tuck in,” Mam said to him as she wheeled me
up to the near end of the table. I could already see the space
where a chair had been moved away to accommodate me.
brother wasted no time in heeding her. He took off his cap as he
dropped into a wooden chair near me and reached out for a sandwich
the size of a doorstop, taking an impossibly large bite compared to
the size of his mouth. Mam sat herself down just opposite me and
the tiny little girl who had answered the door came running up to
her. Scooping her up with warm, wide arms, Mam set the girl on her
knee and caught my eye.
“
Is this your daughter?” I asked, giving the little girl a
grin. She shied away, but she was smiling too.
“
Yeah,” Mam nodded proudly, “this is Vanessa. We call her Ness
Fach. My little miracle she is!” She cuddled Ness close before
setting her down again.
“
What do you mean?” asked Leighton with a mouthful of bread
and cheese. I made a point of remembering to tell him off for bad
manners later.
“
Well yur’s me with three grown up children, then suddenly
Ness comes along out of the blue! I didn’t even know I was pregnant
for a while!”
with a happy sigh, watching Ness Fach, who was eyeing Leighton with
interest. She put her nose up to the edge of the kitchen table and
stood on tiptoe to look at him.
“
Do you speak English?” Leighton asked her.
“
Yeah,” she said unsurely. I could see the fascination in her
little face. Girls always liked the look of Leighton. It was going
to be a problem when he got older, I knew. “How old are you?” Ness
mumbled.
“
Ten,” Leigh replied, “What about you?”
“
Three,” she said more strongly.
“
You’re a tall girl for three,” I observed with extra
enthusiasm, and she turned and beamed at me. “This is Leighton, and
I’m Catherine.” Ness nodded her tiny tawny head. “And my friends
call me Kit. If you like, we can be friends, then you can call me
Kit as well.”
took a moment to take in the proposition.
“
Kit,” she said shyly.
“
That’s right,” I replied.
scampered off again, disappearing out of the kitchen door and back
down the dark corridor. Mam watched her go, shaking her head.
“
She’ll be getting her Dolly to show you now,” Mam explained,
“Everyone has to meet Dolly. You haven’t touched your food yet
love.”
fill a small plate with food, feeling my heart settle like it was
being laid on a fluffy pillow. The situation could have been so
beastly for Leigh and me, but things were definitely on the up. I
wanted to be as polite and likeable as possible for Mam, hoping
that Leighton’s evident delight in her cooking was enough to
ingratiate him for the moment.
“
You said you had three other children Mam?” I asked, taking a
bite of a cucumber sandwich.
“
Oh yes,” she answered with great warmth in her tone, “My two
eldest, the boys, they’re with their father in the RAF, learning to
fly at Porth Neigwl. It’s a bit of a way from yur, too far to visit
like, but it’s nice to know they’re still on Welsh soil, isn’t
it?”
“
Do you suppose they’ll be training for the war?” I asked,
fascinated.
came to Mam’s eyes, her smile faded just slightly before she
brushed off her apron. “Oh if they’re as brave as their father,
they’ll be out there battering the Germans in no time,” she
exclaimed, “He was in the first war you know, my Clive.” She smiled
again proudly as I ate. “And,” she continued, “I have a daughter,
who is in the house somewhere. I don’t know where she’s got to,
actually, I did tell her you were coming.”
Even as she
was saying the words there came a clattering sound and a voice
answered her: “She’s been all over the house, actually, because her
mother gave her a million impossible things to do before
lunchtime.”
The young
woman who entered the kitchen was carrying a large stack of washing
which she dumped onto a counter with a huff. She was the most
beautiful girl I had ever seen, with pale skin and blonde curls and
sparkling blue eyes. I envied her instantly, most especially her
strong, slender legs. I’d have bet any money in the world that she
was good at dancing.
“
Blodwyn, this is Catherine and Leighton Cavendish,” Mam said
in her sing song voice, “They’re just arrived from
London.”
“
Pleasure,” said Blodwyn without smiling. Her voice didn’t
quite have the same melody as her mother’s. “I’d be more welcoming,
of course, if someone hadn’t worn me out asking me to do every
bloody chore in the house, whilst
she
set about making a ridiculously
big lunch that the five of us couldn’t possibly bloody
eat.”
“
What’s all this language, Blod?” Mam chided in a shrill tone.
She seemed more amused by her daughter’s moaning than annoyed. She
turned to me with a knowing look. “I thought she’d grow out of this
attitude when she stopped being a teenager, you know, but she
turned twenty last month and there’s been no change.”
girl gave a frustrated groan so loud that it startled Leighton, who
spilt the cordial he was drinking on his shirt. He looked at the
pink stain with a frown.
“
Oh dear!” Mam said kindly, “Let’s get that cleaned up quick,
come with me love.”
obeyed, exiting the kitchen by the far door. I saw him take Mam’s
hand as they went and I smiled, content that he was going to be
well looked after at Ty Gwyn. When they had gone I realised that
Blodwyn was watching me. She was leaning her perfect frame against
the sink with a thoughtful look clouding her eyes.
“
I’d love to be twenty,” I said awkwardly, “I bet you’ve got
all kinds of freedom about the village.”
“
Not any more,” Blod said, her rosy lips turning to a sneer,
“Thanks to your arrival, I might add.” She folded her arms sharply.
“Now that you’re here, Mam says I have to pick up the slack,
because she’s going to be busy seeing to
you
all the time.”
distinct impression that she didn’t mean ‘me and Leighton’ when she
said ‘you’. She was looking at my wheelchair disdainfully and I
felt like I wanted it to fold up and swallow me whole. Blod
approached me suddenly, her blonde tresses flowing like some
vicious goddess. Her blue eyes hardened as she looked down into my
face.
“
So don’t go thinking we’ll be like sisters, or friends, or
anything like that,” she snarled, “Because all you mean to me is
more bloody work.”
away after that, nearly knocking Ness off her feet as the little
girl appeared in the doorway. She groaned that loud groan again in
anger. “Out the way, pest!”
Ness stumbled
around her so she could continue to parade from the room in fury.
The little girl blinked in surprise, but she didn’t seem upset by
her sister’s remarks. Instead she caught sight of me and started to
smile again, ambling up with her hands behind her back. She bit her
lip, then brought her arms around to her front to reveal a little
ragdoll with ginger-brown hair the same shade as mine.
“
Dolly!” she said proudly.
smile for her, but it was suddenly difficult again.
have worried about where I was going to sleep; it seemed Mam had
thought of everything when it came to taking on an evacuee with an
illness. She had turned her husband’s sitting room at the back of
the house into a bedroom for me so that I would never have the
stairs to tackle. There was a fireplace, a wash basin and some
basic ablutions to help me stay comfortable and plenty of space
around the single bed for my chair to get around the room. I rather
thought the bed had come from a hospital, but I didn’t like to ask
too many questions on the first day.
Mam left me
to change for bed, which I could manage alone most of the time. I
hauled myself out of my chair by leaning on the bed frame, then sat
on the edge of the bed and shuffled out of my day clothes and into
my nightie. My stockings were the hardest thing to get off; I
realised sadly that Mum had always been the one to pull them off at
the toes. But I managed eventually and I was rather proud of myself
when Mam returned and found me wriggling in under the warm white
covers.
I knew right
away though, that she could see the pain it had caused me to get
about half a foot from the chair into the bed. I could feel my
cheeks glowing red, my arms aching from putting all my weight on
them, but I didn’t like to think about the pain, much less to talk
about it. Mam helped me with the last of the covers as I put my
head on the pillow. She put a small glass of water and a biscuit on
the bedside table.
“
My bedroom’s right above yur,” she said softly, “so if you
get into trouble you give me a shout.”
“
Thank you,” I answered, stifling a yawn.
“
You get a good rest love,” she continued, “I had a telephone
call tonight. They’re sending a car for you tomorrow to go and meet
your new doctor.”
not the kind that encouraged a good night’s sleep. I thanked Mam
politely and she put out the light, closing my door with a gentle
hand. But when she had gone I shuffled my aching legs restlessly
and rubbed my upper arms where they had taken on the strain. I
didn’t relish the idea of being prodded and poked by a new
physician, it was bad enough being examined once a month by Doctor
Baxendale in London and I’d known him since I was twelve when all
the pain began. I wondered idly what the new doctor might be like,
but the more I wondered, the more I worried, and I decided instead
that my mind needed a different occupation tonight.
Aside from
Leighton and my mother, I had never been able to use my secret gift
to intentionally enter anyone else’s head. I had always supposed it
was familiarity that allowed me such easy access into their minds,
but I also knew that my psychic ability sometimes had a farther
reach. Most especially when I was sleeping, in fact. It had started
to happen when I was around eight or nine, but of course for a long
time I thought they were dreams. Dreams where I was in someone
else’s head, looking through their eyes, hearing them speak and
feeling their innermost emotions like they were my own.
Now as I lay
in my new bed of my new home, I closed my eyes, hoping that
something interesting would come my way as I surrendered my mind to
slumber.
***
Generally I
didn’t like looking through the eyes of men, and I knew this one
was a man as soon as I saw the huge black boots crossed on the desk
in front of me. He was clipping the end off of a cigar with two
great hairy hands that looked rather old in a pale blue room with
expensive-looking paintings on every wall. He lit the cigar and I
felt the wave of satisfaction he got from the first long inhale he
took. I was grateful at least that my powers did not extend to
having to smell the smoke from the beastly thing, and I hoped that
they never would.