Read The Crow Road for Free Online

Kenneth,’ the station master said, taking his ticket at the gate. ‘It’s yourself. Back from the varsity, are you?’
    ‘Aye, Mr Calder; that’s me done with it.’
    ‘You’ll be coming back then, will you?’
    ‘Aye, maybe. We’ll see.’
    ‘Indeed. Well, I’ll tell you now; your sister was here earlier, but wi’ the train bein late an that ...’
    ‘Ach, it’s not far to walk.’
    ‘Indeed not, though I’ll be shutting up shop very soon now, and I could offer you a lift on the back of my bike if you liked.’
    ‘I’ll just walk, thank you.’
    ‘As you will, Kenneth. It’s good to see you back.’
    ‘Thank you.’
    ‘Ah ... that might be her, actually ...’ Mr Calder said, looking down the curve of the station approach. Kenneth heard a car engine, and then headlights swung white light across the iron railings holding the rhododendrons back from the tarmac road.
    The big Super Snipe growled into the car park, heeling as it turned and stopping with the passenger’s door opposite Kenneth. ‘Hello again, Mr Calder!’ a voice called out from the driver’s seat.
    ‘Evening, Miss Fiona.’
    Kenneth threw his bags onto the back, settled into the passenger seat and accepted a kiss from his sister. He was pressed back into the seat as the Humber accelerated off down the road.
    ‘Okay, big brother?’
    ‘Just grand, sis.’ The car skidded briefly as it swung onto the main road. He clutched at the grab handle on the door pillar, looked at his sister, sitting hunched over the big steering wheel, dressed in slacks and blouse, her fair hair tied back. ‘You have passed your test, haven’t you, Fi?’
    ‘Course I have.’ A car, coming in the opposite direction, honked at them and flashed its lights. ‘Hmm,’ she said, frowning.
    ‘Try the dip switch.’
    ‘Ah hah.’
    They swept off the main road and into the house drive, roared up between the dark masses of the oaks. Fiona took the car grinding over the gravel, past the old stable block and round the side of the house. He looked back over his shoulder. ‘Is that a wall?’
    Fiona nodded as she brought the car to a halt in front of the house. ‘Dad wants a courtyard, so he’s building a wall by the stables,’ she said, turning off the engine. ‘We’re going to have a conservatory overlooking the garden, if mum has her way, which I dare say she will. I think your room’s all right, but Hamish’s is being redecorated.’
    ‘Heard from him?’
    ‘Getting on famously with the piccaninnies, apparently.’
    ‘Fi; really. They’re Rhodesians.’
    ‘They’re little black Rhodesians and I shall always think of them as piccaninnies. Blame Enid Blyton, say I. Come on, Uncle Joe; you’re just in time for supper.’
    They got out; there were lights on in the house, and a couple of bikes lying against the steps curving up to the front door. ‘Whose are those?’ he asked, taking his bags from the back of the car.
    ‘Couple of lassies camping over there,’ Fiona pointed, and he could just make out a dim orange shape, lit from inside, under the elms on the west side of the lawn.
    ‘Friends of yours?’
    Fiona shook her head. ‘No; just turned up, asked to camp; think they thought we were a farm. They’re from Glasgow, I think.’ She took his briefcase from him and bounded up the steps to the opened double doors of the porch. He hesitated, reached into the car and took the keys out of the ignition, then glanced at the tent. ‘Ken?’ Fiona called from the door.
    He made a tutting noise and put the keys back, then shook his head and pulled them out again. Not because there were strangers around, and certainly not just because they were from Glasgow, but just because it was irresponsible to leave keys in the car like that; Fiona had to learn. He pocketed the keys and picked up his bags. He glanced over at the tent, just as it flared with light.
    ‘Oh!’ he heard Fiona say.
    And that was when he first saw Mary Lewis, running out of a tent in her