Everything is Beautiful Eleanor Ray (best manga ereader .TXT) 📖

Amy nodded miserably. ‘You don’t have to do this yet,’ said Richard. ‘Not if you’re not ready.’

‘I’m ready,’ said Amy. It had been weeks since Tim’s memorial service. She wanted Richard and the boys to be able to come into her house. She even wanted the council to be able to fix that stupid chimney. Rachel had arranged an extension with them after all that had happened, but it couldn’t be put off for ever. ‘Let’s do this.’

‘Great stuff. Come on team,’ said Rachel, punctuating her sentence with an enthusiastic double clap. ‘Hop to it. I don’t want to see any slacking. No cups of tea till the kitchen is clear.’ She scowled at Chantel. ‘And no cigarette breaks.’

‘Did you really have to invite her?’ whispered Chantel. ‘Just looking at her makes me want a smoke.’

‘She’s OK,’ said Amy. ‘Give her a chance.’

‘Bottles,’ said Rachel, getting straight to work. ‘All rubbish. Agreed?’

‘I’ll need to check them,’ said Amy, feeling anxious. ‘But yes. Most of them can go. Recycling.’

‘Newspapers,’ said Rachel. ‘The local paper dating back god knows how long.’

‘Eleven years,’ said Amy.

‘Red?’

Amy hesitated. She knew the truth now. ‘Yes,’ she agreed.

‘I’ll move them,’ said Richard quickly, grabbing a large pile. A puff of dust rose up and they all watched as the particles gleamed in the sunlight.

‘I know what we need,’ said Rachel. She produced a box of surgical gloves and handed him a pair, before pulling some on herself. ‘I can’t take any chances on infection,’ she said, with a nervous smile. ‘Not in my condition.’ The others didn’t notice, but Amy took Rachel’s newly gloved hand and squeezed it. Rachel squeezed back, then released her hand. ‘Chantel and Amy, some for you too,’ she said.

Chantel reluctantly took the gloves. She sniffed them. ‘They smell like condoms,’ she said.

‘Of course they do,’ replied Rachel. ‘They’re latex. Are you helping or not?’

‘Helping,’ said Chantel. ‘But I’ll take my chances.’ She handed back the gloves and Rachel scowled at her.

‘I don’t need gloves either,’ said Amy. ‘Everything is perfectly clean.’

‘If you say so,’ said Rachel, carefully putting a sticker on the plastic bin. She looked around. ‘What about these smashed pots?’ she asked. ‘Rubbish?’

Amy looked at the little piles of broken shards. She now believed that Jack had something to do with their destruction. ‘I need those,’ she said. ‘I thought I might use them for an art project. Keep.’

‘Really?’ queried Rachel. ‘You’ve got a garden full of whole ones.’

‘Yes, really,’ snapped Chantel. ‘Amy can keep whatever she wants.’ She smiled at her friend. ‘It’s so exciting that you’re doing art again,’ she said. ‘I can’t wait to see what you create.’

‘Fine,’ conceded Rachel. ‘But we’re still in the hallway and we’ve got the whole rest of the house to sort through.’

‘There’s no hurry,’ said Richard, placing a hand on Amy’s back. She smiled at the contact.

‘Let’s make a start in the living room,’ said Amy. She went into the room and Richard followed her.

‘Broken mirror?’ asked Richard.

Amy looked at the mirror, the cracks spreading over it like a spider’s web. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘We can get rid of it.’

‘What about this clock?’ he said, picking it up. ‘It thinks it’s seven o’clock but I know for a fact it’s twelve thirty.’

Amy looked at it. It was a pretty little clock face set into a gorgeous mahogany frame. ‘Keep,’ she said. ‘It probably just needs new batteries.’

‘And the lighters?’ said Richard. ‘They mainly seem to be the ones you can buy from the corner shop. And I keep treading on them. And you don’t smoke.’

‘Keep,’ said Amy. She closed her eyes and imagined being back in that field, listening to Tim sing and seeing the tiny flames dancing, waving from side to side in time with the music.

‘This one is broken,’ said Richard, holding up a green plastic lighter with a crack.

Amy snatched it from him. ‘I need it,’ she said.

‘They are a bit of a hazard for Daniel,’ said Richard, gently. ‘I wouldn’t want him here with this fire-starting equipment all over the floor.’

Amy hesitated. He had a point. ‘Gather them up and we’ll put them in a box,’ she said, finally. ‘I’ll put it somewhere Daniel can’t reach.’

She thought she heard a small sigh from Richard, but he obeyed, scooping up a handful of lighters. ‘Remember the council need access to the house.’

‘A box of lighters won’t stop them,’ said Amy. ‘They are little.’

‘There are hundreds of them. How about you keep your favourites?’

Chantel came in. ‘Are you pressuring my friend?’ she asked. ‘Because if you are I owe her one tower of boxes crashing down . . . ’ She mimed pushing over the boxes and laughed.

‘Don’t joke about that!’ said Amy. ‘Do you realise how many china birds were damaged beyond repair?’ She thought again of Scarlett, her tiny body broken into too many pieces to count.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Chantel. ‘I do want to support you. And I think putting the lighters in a box is an excellent idea. But those birds.’ She shivered. ‘They are hideous and they give me the creeps. I don’t like the way they are always watching me with their beady little eyes.’

‘You like them, don’t you?’ asked Amy, turning to Richard.

Richard suddenly seemed excessively interested in his shoe.

Finally he looked up. ‘I don’t,’ he said. ‘Sorry.’

‘I don’t care what either of you think,’ said Amy. ‘I was happy with my birds for years. When neither of you were around, they kept me company.’

‘But I’m here now,’ said Chantel. ‘And so is Richard.’

‘I can’t cope with this,’ said Amy. She began to shoo them out of the room. ‘I need some space.’

Amy closed the door and sat with her back against it. From this low height, her towers of possessions loomed overhead. She wanted to get rid of her stuff; she wanted a normal house. A normal life, whatever that was. She imagined Chantel visiting with the girls. Richard and the boys coming over for dinner.

She got up