daytime, definitely not cold enough to get coated in ice. She opened her mouth, but didn’t say whatever it was…
“He was
that
Norman Welkin?” Cally cried, across the table. “Founder of the Welkin Society?” She clapped a hand to her mouth, looking horrified.
Dad nodded.
Cally’s hand dropped to her lap.
“I had no idea,” she breathed. “Oh my God! Why did Sondra call
me?
”
“You’re not one of them?”
Cally shook her head. “I want to be.” And you could hear it in her voice, the longing. “Now, I don’t suppose it’ll ever happen.”
Dad shrugged. “You’re probably better off anyway. That lot, they all sounded a bit…” he did a crazy little whistle.
Luckily, Cally wasn’t really listening. “Sondra said she
couldn’t
call any of the psychics she knew.”
Dad shrugged again. “You know those types, always falling out over their chakras or whatever. Actually, Norman had been complaining about his lot, the last year or so. How they were always ganging up on him because he wasn’t actually psychic, just the man with the money. About a month back he even told me he thought some of the group weren’t genuine, and he was a man who believed in
everything.
He was proper cut up about it. I told him to stop wasting his money.”
Now Cally was listening. She looked horrified at Dad. “No, no! Norman Welkin created something wonderful!The Welkin Society is so well thought of. Membership is a real mark of respect, it gives you credibility.”
“Oh, yes,” said Dad, seeing the look on her face and backtracking like a pro. “I meant he should rest up a bit, at his age, since it was all going so well.”
Cally groaned. “The things I said to Sondra, I’ll never get in now.”
“With what’s just happened…” Dad’s voice wobbled a bit. “I mean, Sondra probably won’t even remember.”
“Do you think so?” Cally asked, hopeful sounding.
“What’s up with your mum?” I whispered to Isis.
She looked at me. “Haven’t you heard of the Welkin Society?”
Well yes, because old Norman was always going on about ‘his’ society, that he’d started. But I was never interested, I just thought it was a club for nutters like him.
Dad reached out, put his hand over Cally’s. “Don’t worry, it’ll work out. I can put a word in with Sondra, if you want. Explain things.”
“You can?” asked Cally, gazing at him.
Dad smiled. “We can talk about it this weekend.” He looked at me. “You’ll be all right with that, won’t you, Gray?”
“All right with what?”
“Cally and Isis coming over this Saturday.”
Isis glared at her mum, and Cally blushed.
“We’ve got a computer,” Dad said to Isis. “You and Gray can play games on it. While I take Cally for a walk in the garden, or something…” Cally blushed even harder.
“Oh! No!” cried Isis.
“No way!” I said.
But what could we do? It was love at first sight with those two…
… Where am I anyway? I thought I was supposed to be having blood taken for tests, but this is like a storeroom or something. What’s going on? Are you even a doctor?
No, I’m not. But I don’t think you would have come with me if I’d told you the truth. We’re somewhere quiet and we won’t be disturbed, which is all you need to know at the moment. Look at me, that’s right. You feel calm and safe. You feel perfectly relaxed. You want to tell me everything that happened, everything you know.
Oh… yes, I do.
She pushed with her feet, idly spinning on the roundabout. Grey-tarmac road whirled into green-grass park, then back to tarmac. She was on her own, rustling in her raincoat. Apart from Angel of course, who was sat on the seat in front, drizzle falling through her.
“Erewego round the mubberry bush.”
Angel held on vaguely to the steel frame, happily singing one line over and over.
Isis kicked her feet faster, eyebrows pulled down. Every time she spun past the view of the park, she could see them. Cally
Jarrett Hallcox, Amy Welch
Sex Retreat [Cowboy Sex 6]