excerpt
“No, strangely enough, Sarah, she’s quite a good woman in her
way. Oh, she has her faults, and she thinks she’s a cut above the
ordinary Joe as we used to say in the Old Country. But then, lass,
which of us doesn’t have any faults?”
Mrs. Thompson expertly positioned a round slab of pastry onto
the sliced apples in the shell and began to press down the edges with
a fork. Without waiting for Sarah to answer her rhetorical question,
she said, “It’s Will I feel sorry for. He’s never been the same since it
happened. Used to be such a jolly man, always ready with a joke.
The girl was a lot like him in that way. Although in looks she was
fair like her mother. They hadn’t been here long when … when it
happened. Maybe a couple of years because I know the girl finished
up her high school in Nimkus.”
“What did happen, Mrs. Thompson?”
“I can’t really say, lass.” Mrs. Thompson suddenly looked embarrassed
and flustered. “And, my goodness, I’ve talked enough. The
time’s going on, and Ben’ll be in for his supper.” She gathered the
unbaked pies onto a tin tray and hurried into the kitchen.
Sarah stared after her. She wanted to ask more questions, but she
knew that no more information would be forthcoming from Mrs.
Thompson. Obviously, the English lady had already disclosed more
than she had intended.
But Sarah knew that something disturbing had happened in
Nimkus, and she was sure now that Ben had been a part of it.
Manolis Aligizakis 