Trish wept alone for David and tried to put a good face on it before the world. She kept his business card on her bedside table. It said “David Lin” and underneath that his name in Chinese characters, and then his address in San Francisco. She looked up how much it cost to fly to Boston.
It took Helen a long time to tell her mother that she had a new boyfriend. “Boyfriend” didn’t feel like the right word, as it hadn’t for David. Helen’s new partner, Don, was divorced, and thirty-six. Helen was twenty-seven. “He’s serious, Mum,” Helen said. “Not like the others. Not just seeing my looks.” He was another mature student taking the same degree Helen was. “But he’s doing it part time. He has his own business, importing computers and selling them. He says he wants to know how they work so he can be better at that.”
“Computers and space,” Trish said. “My children are so futuristic.”
“And a pop star and a banker,” Helen reminded her.
“I could never have imagined any of that,” Trish said.
25
Different News: Pat 1978
When she was fourteen, Flossie announced that she wished to be known as Firenza in Italian and Flora in English. Her mothers did their best to comply. She also took to doing her hair like the statue of the goddess Flora and to being more enthusiastic about flower gardening than vegetable gardening. Bee found this amusing and encouraged the flower growing, with the result that the garden was a mass of blooms that year. Jinny, meanwhile, was getting top marks in school and affected to care nothing about her appearance. Philip had just passed his eleven plus and was learning to play the oboe. He sang in the church choir. The girls played popular music as many teenagers did, enjoying Italian pop and the new “Volga beat” songs that everyone seemed to be dancing to. Philip turned up his nose at all of that and played Vivaldi and Stravinsky when it was his turn to use the music center.
“Are we driving to Italy this year or what?” Jinny asked one June Sunday as they were just finishing lunch.
Pat and Bee looked at each other. “Driving, I think,” Pat said. “They’ve been bombing trains again, and now we can take turns driving it’s cheaper and more practical again.”
“Can we stop in Menton and see the gardens?” Flora asked.
“It depends on whether it makes sense, but I should think we can go that way and stop there,” Bee said. “I’d like to see them too. They have the oldest olive trees in Europe.”
“They have water hyacinths,” Flora said.
Pat looked at Jinny, whose turn it was to clear the table. Jinny obediently began to gather up plates. Pat got up to fetch dessert—a strawberry cake she had made. In the kitchen she automatically switched on the radio. “Not known yet whether the blast was nuclear,” the announcer was saying.
Jinny put the plates down with a clatter. “Nuclear?” she said.
“There has as yet been no official Pakistani response. United Europe has asked China for clarification.”
“What’s happening?” Bee called.
Pat took the cake through into the dining room. “It looks as if China has intervened in the Indo-Pak war. They don’t know if it’s nuclear.”
“What are we doing?” Bee asked.
“Asking for clarification, apparently.” Pat switched the television on.
“Geiger counters as far away as Tehran are confirming that the strike on Delhi was definitely nuclear,” it said as the tubes warmed up.
“What should we do?” Flora asked.
“It’s just like before you were born, the Cuban Missile Exchange,” Bee said. “It doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world and that everyone will push the buttons just because somebody has.”
“They could, though,” Philip said. “It could be the end of the world.”
The phone rang, and they all jumped. Bee wheeled over to answer it. Pat switched off the television and everyone listened. “Yes, we’re all here, yes, we’re all safe, yes, we have heard the news. It doesn’t seem as if there’s anything we can do about it, so we’re going to have some cake. I’m glad you’re safe. Well don’t go any nearer! In fact, come home if you can. I understand that. Well, stay safe. We’ll see you in Florence. We love you.” She put the receiver down. “Michael. He’s in Jerusalem.”
“Does he think it’ll be the end of the world?” Philip asked.
“No,” Bee said crisply. “If he thought that he’d have asked to speak to all of you. He just wanted to make sure we knew what was happening.”
“Is Jerusalem a target?” Flora asked.
“It might be, if the whole Middle East goes up. But they seem to prefer suicide bombs and assassinations to all-out war these days,” Pat said.
“That’s a comfort!” Bee said.
Pat switched the television on again. They ate the cake without tasting it and later drank a pot of tea without tasting that. Jinny kept switching the channel. “Do you think you’ll get different news on ITV?” Flora sniped.