Read Did The Earth Move? for Free Online

parents back together again.
    She heard a door opening and quickly hit the stop button on the video remote.
    Michelle was standing in the doorway, all freshly showered, in a long white robe with her hair up in a towel. She smelled way too flowery for Anna's liking.
    'Hi,' Michelle said.
    'Hello.' Anna wasn't exactly filled with enthusiasm at the prospect of a conversation with Michelle.
    'Are you watching TV?'
    'I was. But I'm fed up with it now.'
    'So, what would you like to do today, Anna?' Bright smile.
    'Don't know. What are you doing?' Scowl.
    'I was going to go into town. Maybe you and Joseph would like to come along?' Michelle was trying really hard here. 'Maybe you'd like something new? A dress or new shoes or something?'
    'Ummm ... No thanks. Why don't you go off shopping so Daddy and I can do something a bit more interesting instead.' With that Anna picked up the remote control, flicked the television on again and pretended to be incredibly interested in the Japanese action fighters cartoon bursting over the screen in front of her.
    Michelle left the room without another word for one of her fierce whispers with Joseph.
    'It doesn't matter what I do, she just doesn't like me,' Michelle complained. 'She doesn't want to like me.'
    'Calm down,' he tried to reassure her. 'It's a big thing, your dad being with someone else. Just give her a chance.'
    'But she's so snooty with me. You really should tell her not to be so rude.'
    'Michelle, calm down.' Joseph put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her lightly on the lips, 'She's nine, you're . . .' Unfortunately, he couldn't remember.
    'Twenty-seven,' she hissed at him.
    'Sorry.' He gave what he hoped was a reassuring pat on the shoulder again and went to see his daughter.
    'Morning honeybun,' he said as he came into the room.
    'Morning.' He was treated to a rare full-beam Anna smile.
    He sat down on the sofa beside her, cuddling her up against him. Then, noticing the video recorder lights on, he took the remote from her hand and pressed play. Footage of Eve laughing, holding a squirming almost-toddler Anna filled the screen.
    'I'm just reminiscing.' Anna tried to sound casual.
    Joseph laughed at his funny little nine-year-old, watching her toddler shots and coming out with a word like that.
    'You were a lovely baby,' he said. 'You're a lovely girl.'
    'Daddy?'
    'Yes.'
    'Why can't you and Mummy be nicer to each other?'
    'Why can't you be nicer to Michelle?' he countered, but it was true, he and Eve were going through an embarrassingly snide phase at the moment.
    Anna decided to ignore the Michelle remark and carry on: 'It's just so . . . childish,' she told him off. 'You're so nice to me and Mummy's so nice to me. Why do you have to be so stupid when you're together? It makes me feel really sad.'
    'Sorry,' Joseph said and cuddled her in a little closer. I'll be much nicer to your mummy.'
    'Promise?'
    'Promise.'
    Oh good, there was the very first step in her reconciliation programme already achieved and how easy had that been! Now, for step two.
    'Anyway, I don't really like Michelle,' she confided, 'I think she's boring.'
    There was just a trace of irritation in his voice as he replied: 'Well, just try a bit harder for me, honey, because I really like her.'
    'Hmmm.' She was going to have to work fast, before her dad decided he loved Michelle or something awful like that.
    'How did you and Mum meet?' Anna asked, because apparently focusing on happier times was a very important part of relationship counselling. She now had a book on it: Make Your Marriage a Happier Place, which she'd bought at a secondhand bookstall at the market for 50p.
    'Bit young for that, ain't you?' the dealer had asked.
    'It's for a friend,' she'd said coolly, handing over her 50p and hiding the book in her bag so her mother, over at the vegetable stall with Robbie, wouldn't see it. Plus, she'd discussed the subject at length, although not to her great satisfaction, with her mother's friend, confidante