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‘OK. Rest Bay, Porthcawl, Cardiff, old South Wales,’ Jake muttered, then suddenly lostinterest in the subject.‘Can you take me surfing?’
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ Ron laughed.
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t surf.’
‘Never?’
‘No.’
‘Even Izzie surfs.’ Jake sounded scornful about Ron’s lack of wave action, until Sam said that he’d never been surfing either. ‘I can teach you!’ Jake cried excitedly. ‘It’s easy. Mum says we can rent wetsuits and boards.’ His face closed in. ‘I don’t want to rent a suit or a board. I’ve got my own, but they are at home.’
Ron was fairly sure the boy wasn’t referring to hisgrandparents’ house in Brighton, and his heart went out to him.
‘Tell you what,’ Ron said. ‘Why don’t we pop along to that building over there?’ He pointed to a glass and steel structure above Rest Bay. I think that’s where the surf school is based. We can find out a bit more about it, then we can tell everyone over lunch?’
‘OK,’ Jake agreed, but he didn’t look as pleased about the suggestion as Ron assumed he would. ‘Ron, can I borrow your phone?’ he asked, instead of pursuing the subject of surfing.
Ron said, ‘I don’t own one.’
‘Not at all?’ Jake was astounded, and even Sam looked shocked.
‘Nope,’ Ron said.
‘Everyone has a mobile.’
‘I don’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t need one.’
‘What if you want to speak to someone?’
‘I do it face-to-face.’
‘But what if they’re far away?’ Jake asked.
‘All the people I want to speak to, I see every day – namely your Aunt Beverley.’
Jake blinked owlishly at him, the concept of an adult not owning a mobile phone clearly an alien one. ‘A phone’s not just for phoning people,’ Jake said. ‘You can play games on it and listen to music, you can take photos, you can look things up. I want a phone,’ he added plaintively.
‘So do I,’ Sam said. ‘My mum said I can have one when I start big school, but that’s ages away.’
Ron smiled. They were already halfway through August, and the start of a new term was a mere three or so weeks away – just a blink of an eye for him, but “ages” to an eleven-year-old boy. Suddenly Ron felt rather old.
The lack of a mobile phone must have played on Jake’s mind all morning because as soon as they got back, the boy cornered Ellis who was sprawled out on a lounger on the sun-trap of a terrace, and Ron watched as she handed her phone over. Jake didn’t get to play with it for long though, because Ellis soon held her hand out for Jake to give it back. Ron was surprised she’d let Jake have it in the first place, considering how attached to it she was. He didn’t think he’d seen her without it for more than ten minutes, and only then because Kate didn’t allow electronic devices at the table during mealtimes.
‘Where is everyone?’ he asked, spying Brett in the lounge, reading.
Brett closed his book and put it down. ‘Kate, Annabelle, and Izzie have gone for a walk, and have taken Pepe with them. Portia is at the stables, naturally; Beverley is boiling herself in the hot tub, and my mum has gone to have her hair done. Oh, and Ellis is whispering sweet nothings down the phone to her boyfriend. She can’t leave the poor lad alone for five minutes. God help it when he’s in one uni and she’s in another – she’ll be a basket case wondering what he’s getting up to with all those freshers. Did you go to university?’
‘No, I joined the army.’
‘I didn’t go either. Wish I had now, seeing how excited Ellis is. Still, I wouldn’t have liked to rack up all that student debt. Fancy a spot of lunch? I was just about to make some ham sandwiches, and I dare say the boys are starving. Sam eats like a horse. I don’t know where he puts it all.’
Ron was happy to let Brett prattle on without expecting much in the way of an answer. His mind was on Annabelle, and he couldn’t believe how disappointed he was when Brett told him she was out. He’d been looking forward to telling her that he’d booked the kids in for a surfing lesson – all of them, Ellis and Portia included, although if one or both of them didn’t want to go, he’d happily take the vacant spot.
