Page 193 - My Home on the Earth

I’ll be late for dinner. Bye!’ he said giving her a peck on the cheek.
‘Hang on a second, Steve. What about, Kate?’ called Alice, getting up and going to the front door. She was too late; he’d cycled off. Back in the lounge, she picked up her mobile and put it down. Preparing a question in her head, she picked it up again and pressed the buttons.
‘Hello, Marjorie. Yes, thank you, I’m fine. I have something to ask you. Something I have been putting off for a long time.’
‘I wondered when you’d get around to it. You want to know what happened to Kate, don’t you?’
‘Yes,’ replied Alice, softly.
‘When she came back to England, halfway through her tour of combat duty in the Middle East, the doctors here put her wounded body back together. They couldn’t do anything with her mind or well-being. She was brought home to recuperate, but couldn’t bear to be shut in. One day, she went for a walk to the engineering works and felt heartbroken to see what had happened to it. She hasn’t been home since and prefers to live alone in one of the more stable buildings. She’s so elusive, Alice. There one minute, and gone the next. But I’m certain she’ll come home one day.’
‘So it’s Kate who has been watching over Jake, every day and night?’ asked Alice.
‘At first, I wasn’t happy about it, but Stuart seems to think it was good for her to look after someone else so desperate for help.’
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