A few minutes later, the man in the polo shirt made his way along the gathering of foot passengers with his little machine, tapping people's phones here and there. Earwigging, Tilly tuned in.
'Afternoon, Eileen, all good with you?'
'Afternoon.'
'The leg healing, is it, my lover?'
'Bit better, yes, thanks.'
'What a turn up for the books, eh? We don’t want the likes of that again. Looks like you're walking better today.'
'I think so.'
Tilly was next. She looked up as the man approached. 'Hello.'
'Afternoon, my lover.' The man smiled, making the deep, tanned creases in his face go deeper. 'Day out, is it? That earlier fog has lifted more or less. It should be a nice day now the weather's turned.'
'I'm, umm, sort of. Err, no. Single, please.'
'Rightio.' The man started tapping the machine, stopped, looked down at Tilly's case and looked back up at her. 'Oh, sorry, I didn’t see your suitcase. Not coming back today, then?'
'No, no, I won’t be.'
'Staying for a few days with us on Darling?'
Tilly hadn't quite worked out what to say if anyone asked. To be quite honest, she was wondering what the heck she thought she was playing at. Spaced out from the journey and in a daze of the reality of what she’d done, which now felt very much in haste, she coughed. 'A bit longer than that, actually.'
The man's head snapped up. 'Resident?'
Tilly squinted and frowned. 'Sorry? Pardon? Are you asking if I live on Darling Island?'
'It's a Darling byelaw. I have to ask you if you are a resident, which I am fairly sure you’re not.'
'I, well, yes. I think as of today, I suppose Iama resident.'
The man's whole face changed: eyebrows went up, head turned to the side, and a question appeared on his lips. 'You're a Darling resident? Just to clarify, you’ll be permanently on Darling? Is that what you’re telling me?'
Tilly nodded, sighed and tried not to get annoyed. She appeared to be getting a Spanish Inquisition prior to purchasing a ferry ticket. Strange. Actually, not strange; the man wasn’t being rude as such, but hewasirritating her. Plus, she was now so tired and cranky that all she wanted to do was crawl into a hole somewhere and sleep. She felt her back go up and stopped herself from tutting. 'I am, as of about a day ago.'
'Well, there we are. You won't be needing this then, my lover.' The man wiggled the payment machine.
'No?'
'Residents don't pay to cross to Darling.' The man didn't move on to the next passenger but instead stood there with the machine in his hand, looking as if he expected an explanation. 'Where would you be?'
'Where would I be?' Tilly repeated, now losing the will to live and barely able to keep her eyes open.
'Yes, staying on the island as it were, where?'
Tilly hesitated. The first rule of thumb when travelling alone was not to broadcast one's whereabouts. 'Oh, umm, over the other side there.'
The man slowly nodded his head. 'Ahh, the penny's dropping. Must be Margery and Bill's, yes? John here said he'd had a message. The Boat Shed?'
Tilly side-eyed. 'Yes.'
'Well, I never. Gosh, that old place hasn't seen anyone for a while. Welcome, my lover. The Boat Shed, eh? That's a turn up. We'd been wondering, and everyone's been keeping an eye on it. Blimey, it hasn't had anyone there for a good few seasons now,years come to think of it. Rightio, well, welcome to Darling and good luck. You'll, err, you'll need it.'
'Thank you.' Tilly stood at the rail for a moment with her case beside her and a sort of warm, slightly winded feeling in the middle of her chest. In the space of three minutes, she’d been interrogated and connected to a woman she had spoken to once from Singapore and welcomed. The island was doing something to her already, and she hadn't even got off the ferry.
