White Feathers
“Fred Wilkes was a small, faded-looking returned soldier who knocked on the front door one afternoon and explained through a pronounced stutter that he had served with Ian in France. He had come to pay his respects, he said, and hoped to offer some comfort to Ian’s family.Tamar immediately ushered the man into the parlour, ignoring the state of his clothes and his rather rancid smell, and sat him down, calling out to Mrs Heath for tea and cake. She sat opposite him with her hands clasped in her ...lap, nervous in case Mr Wilkes might blurt out unpleasant details of her son’s death. But he only looked at her with sorrowful eyes that blinked rapidly and teared frequently.When the refreshments came he ate four slices of fruitcake one after the other and washed them down with great gulps of tea, which he spilled down the front of his mouldy-looking old jacket. Because it was a hot summer’s day Tamar offered to hang up his coat, but he said, with a deep shiver, ‘N-n-no thank you, ma’am, it was sh-sh-shocking cold on the Somme and I haven’t b-b-been able to get meself warm since.’Then it seemed to occur to him that Tamar might not want his filthy clothes on her lovely brocade sofa and he jumped up.MoreLess
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