Читать книгу Ten Days - John Sheppard - Страница 10

Jackie took a break from her gardening. She sat on a small stone bench in the formal garden, facing the sundial. Her head was shaded from the late summer sun by a large, wide-brimmed straw hat, and at her feet was a wicker basket with a sampling of flowers from the garden. I’ve got to get these in some water soon, she thought. She added to the mental notes of things to be done within the garden.

Was all this work worth with it? If the Enemy came in a couple of weeks, would anyone care what she did to make the garden look better? “No,” was the fairly easy answer. So why was she doing it? “It keeps me sane,” was her reply to herself. It, like the housework, was something she could control. The rest of her life was in disarray; here in the garden and in her house, things were in order.

In the past, their home had been a center for social gatherings. Behind the main house there was what had once been the carriage-house. The exterior detailing had remained, but it had been converted into a combination servants’ quarters and guesthouse.

It was hard to believe she once had a full-time maid for each of the two stories of the home, plus a full-time gardener, to help her maintain the property. There had even been a part-time cook. The families of the servants had all left the country or fled to the port city in the last year or so. Now she hired out the work to various locals or she and the children did it themselves.

Minus the household staff, this summer had almost been like most summers before it. While there had been some shortages, the electric lines hadn’t been cut, and there was both oil and natural gas. She did miss the annual trip to the national forest. There had been no proof of the Enemy controlling it that she knew of, but the capital population had been advised not to enter. Tomorrow would be the farmers’ market, her favorite source for fresh fruit and vegetables. The trip to the market was another bit of order. She had gone with Mandy twice a week almost every summer and fall since they had moved in.