Read The House of the Scissors for Free Online Page B

“I think that just about sums him up.”
    “You forgot to say he and Hilary are coming along today to watch you work,” Jill drawled. “At Hilary’s instigation, of course!”
    “I’ll have a word with him,” Sammy said. “Get going, everyone! You’ll be complaining about working in the hottest part of the day if we don’t get started. Arab, do something about your hair. The heat makes it look stringy.”
    “Charming!” Arab acknowledged, making a face at him.
    “I’ll do it up for you,” Jill offered. “Take everything with you and I’ll do it when we get there. I’ll come with you in the Mini-Moke.”
    The two girls set off together, shoving their various appendages into the back of the open vehicle. Arab stopped at the garage for some petrol, jumping out to watch the African as he checked the engine for oil and water and the tyres for air. She found it difficult to make her wants understood, for he spoke only Swahili. Seeing her difficulty, the Indian owner of the garage came out of the office and issued a number of abrupt instructions, smiling appreciatively at Arab as he did so.
    “The car is going well?” he asked her.
    “Beautifully!”
    “That is good, very good. I am happy that it gives you pleasure. I hope you are seeing all our places of interest?”
    “We’re working right now,” Arab told him. “But I went to Mambrui yesterday.”
    The Indian nodded, his spectacles catching the sun and transmitting little shafts of light across the garage foyer. “I hope you have a pleasant day, yes indeed, a very pleasant day.” He patted the Mini-Moke with affection and hurried back into the office.
    “How do you do it?” Jill asked as Arab climbed back into the car and started up the engine. “Aren’t you going to pay, love?”
    “Do what?” Arab demanded. She pulled a couple of twenty-shilling notes out of her pocket and handed them to the African, waiting impatiently for her change.
    “Well, honey, Lucien Manners might be the big one who got away, but all the others rise swiftly enough to the bait! Even Sammy is indulgent where you are concerned!”
    “I can’t say I’ve noticed it!” Arab grunted.
    She pocketed the few coins that the African gave her, without bothering to count them, and drove off quickly down the road. The movement of the car made a wind that blew through their hair and cooled them down.
    “I love it here!” Arab exclaimed.
    “Despite Lucien Manners?”
    Arab chuckled. “Yes, despite him. I hope Hilary comes alone today. I can’t imagine Mr. Manners enjoying anything as frivolous as next season’s fashions! He’ll make superior noises and ruin everything!”
    Jill stretched herself elegantly. “I think you’re making a great deal too much of this,” she observed. “I thought him a fine man and I very much hope he does come. Sammy hopes so too, if only because he wants to use his house, especially if it’s all you say it is.”
    “He won’t ask him, will he?” Arab demanded.
    “It won’t be your fault if he does,” Jill pointed out. “Relax. He won’t blame the sins of the outfit on you!”
    “That’s all you know!” Arab retorted gloomily.
    Casuarina Point was completely deserted, however. The thatched hotel drowsed in the hot sunshine, a relic of earlier days along the coast, before the package tours and the larger, more impersonal hotels they bring in their wake. A number of chalets had been built here and there, where the guests slept, going into the main building only for their meals and for the benefits of the bar and the shop. Sammy had hired one of these chalets for the girls to change in and Arab drove the Mini-Moke straight up to it, parking it neatly beside the would-be garden that was fighting a losing battle with the coral sand.
    Sammy was standing looking moodily out to sea. The notes in his hand fluttered in the breeze, but despite the wind it was still extremely hot.
    “I’ll take the afternoon dresses first,” he told them.