‘At the time of the attack, who knows? Shouting ineffectively at their dog? Failing to put it on a lead? Witnessing the destruction then scarpering like a shameless coward?’
Hannah seethed and Nancy felt uncomfortable. ‘I’ve come at a bad time,’ she said.
Hannah stood up straight and exhaled. ‘It’s fine. Can I help with something?’
‘I wanted to see if you had any chickens for sale,’ said Nancy. ‘Dean mentioned you might. When he came over to quote for the house.’
‘You ever looked after chickens before?’
‘Never,’ said Nancy, thinking she was about to be told it was no business of hers, a townsperson going around trying to acquire living creatures.
‘It’s pretty simple,’ said Hannah. ‘I’ll show you the ropes.’
An hour later, Nancy shut the boot of her car on four plump Derbyshire Redcaps, a coop and all the necessary food and bedding to get her started. She headed down the road, driving with extreme care, nervous about her cargo. She could hear them clucking to each other, perhaps terrified of what this utter novice was going to do to them.
‘Only eggs, ladies,’ Nancy called from the front. ‘No roast dinners, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.’
As she returned home, Nancy turned into her driveway and let out a delighted laugh when she saw a blue car parked outside her barn, a woman leaning against it, her face tilted to the sun. The woman looked up as Nancy leapt out of the car and ran over to envelop her in a tight hug. ‘You’re early!’ She pulled away and looked at her friend. ‘It’s so nice to see a friendly face.’
‘Are people around here not friendly?’ asked the woman.
Nancy drew back, as if surprised that the question had arisen. ‘No, they are. It’s just, you know, everything’s new. Honestly’, she reiterated in response to the look on her best friend, Beth’s, face.
Satisfied, Beth looked up at the barn. ‘Well, haven’t you gone up in the world? A country house. You, a lady of the manor.’
‘It’s nice, eh?’
‘Nice? That’s like saying Buckingham Palace is nice. Or a pink diamond is nice. It’s better than nice. It’s positively amazing.’ Beth moved over to the Tesla, ran her hand over it. ‘And check this out.’
‘Well, you know...after where we used to live. All those car fumes. It was really important to me to go electric...’
‘I hope you’re not apologizing for doing the right thing by your daughter,’ said Beth. ‘Now, you gonna show me around?’
‘In a minute. There’s just one thing...’
Beth was looking at the car, puzzled. There was a distinct sound of clucking.
‘Are those chickens I can hear?’ she asked.
Nancy beamed and went to open the boot, revealing her new purchases.
The chickens seemed content enough once they’d been removed from the car and they’d been pecking happily at the grass in their run when Nancy and Beth had left to pick up Lara from school.
The two women stood in the playground as the crowds of parents grew, friendship groups clustering together.
Beth watched with interest. ‘It’s quite tribal, isn’t it? All these clans preparing for battle.’
Nancy laughed. ‘There’s no battle. Well, not usually on day one.’
‘I know I don’t have my own and I work in a secondary where the kids are older and get themselves to school but, trust me, as a receiver of dozens of parent emails, there’salwaysan issue of some sort.’ Beth grimaced. ‘God, I’ve only been back a week. You should have seen my inbox, groaning with complaints, pleas, passive-aggressive missives about how their darling child should be in receipt of a scholarship or a bursary.’ Beth looked around. ‘Might even be from some of the mums here,’ she mused.
Nancy put on a polite smile as Lorna bounded up to them.
‘So lovely to have coffee with you today,’ Lorna said, linking arms with Nancy as if they were best friends. Her eyes slid to Beth and she raised an expectant eyebrow.
‘This is my friend, Beth,’ said Nancy.
‘Oh, are you a new mum too?’ asked Lorna.
