Her local pharmacy had unexpectedly come up trumps on the flattery meter recently when she’d had to pick up some antibiotics for a throat infection.
The guy had looked at the prescription and back up at her several times before saying ‘This can’t possibly be for you. It says you’re sixty-two. There’s obviously been some mistake.’ She could have jumped over the counter and kissed him, there and then.
Not that she was ashamed of her age; she just didn’t feel the need to broadcast it. She didn’t feel sixty-two, so why should she go around admitting it? If it was fine for men to quote the Groucho Marx line about ‘only being as old as the woman you feel’, then the same was true in reverse. Younger men kept her young too.
‘Oh look! There are more of them.’
Charlotte’s voice in her ear was very loud.
‘And there are some baby goats too. They’re so cute.’
‘You mean kids.’
Charlotte pulled her phone out.
‘Whatever. I’ve got to capture this. Look at that tiny brown and white one trying to keep up. Oh, I hope he won’t get separated from the rest. Look, he’s trying to feed from his mum as she’s going along, but the mother’s not keen. She’s pushing him away, poor little thing.’
Sofia opened her window to see better, only to be assailed by the sour smell of goats en masse. She quickly closed it again.
‘Not surprised.’
At least her friend had perked up after their row at breakfast. It felt like they were edging closer to finding out what was reallygoing on. But Charlotte would spill when she was ready and not before.
‘The colours of the goats against the rocks are spectacular. Blacks, greys, browns and whites in all shades, like a patchwork. The subtle contrasts would give such texture and depth to any picture. It would have to be in oils.’
Sofia had considered the landscape a bit dull after the vibrant blues of the sea and the pinks of the bougainvillea down by the coast, but what did she know? At least Charlotte seemed to be talking about painting, if not actually doing it.
Maddie sighed as yet more goats wandered out into the road and eyeballed them through the windscreen, the bells round their necks tinkling away merrily.
‘Haven’t they got vegetation to munch on? We’ve got a lunch to get to.’
The driver started to move slowly through the goat gathering, and its members finally accepted the impromptu road party was over. Charlotte continued snapping away at their departing backs. Sofia waved goodbye to their animal friends and turned to face Maddie.
‘Have you got worms? Surely, you’re not hungry already?’
Maddie waggled her hand.
‘Ish.’
Charlotte held up her phone.
‘We’re nearly there! It’s a tour of the farm first, remember.’
‘Can’t wait,’ Maddie whispered to Sofia.
A younger version of Maria, named Alexa, was already waiting by the entrance with a group of around a dozen others and welcomed them at the gate.
‘Ah, our stragglers are here at last! Let’s carry on with the tour.’
Alexa herded them sheep dog style straight over to a field where the animals were having their daily feed.
‘Not more bloody goats,’ Sofia managed to say to Maddie under her breath.
‘I’m not interested in them either, per se, just what they produce. Goat’s cheese is one of my very favourite things in the world.’
Sofia picked her way delicately through the dirt, avoiding the many olive-sized black droppings. She hadn’t worn her new and extremely expensive gold espadrilles to impress some smelly animals. They probably wouldn’t come under Charlotte’s definition of ‘suitable shoes’, but she was damned well going to get as much wear out of them as possible.
The goats were munching away at big metal troughs of food raised up to head height. Sofia poked Maddie in the side to alert her to Charlotte’s continued interest in the animals, as she continued to photograph their every move, even crouching down to get close-ups of their faces eating.
