Cupboard Narnia

Cupboard Narnia, Chapter 12

"Hello...Welcome...Hi. Please, do come in. How are you all?" Lily heard her mother's special guest voice before she saw her family arrive. Mike walked in first. He looked different from the last time she had seen him, older and greyer. Lily bounded down the stairs and hugged him. Over his shoulder, she saw Liz and Lucy come through the door. Liz.

Liz was a tall, thin woman, with curly hair Lily noticed was now dyed blonde. She had the dress sense of a seventy-year-old politcally correct lawyer, wearing a calf length black skirt and a pinstriped blazer, a chunky beaded pendant seen underneath. Her shoes were square-toed black leather, and her turtleneck jumper was the colour of mushy peas. Lily hated mushy peas.

Lucy skulked awkardly behind LIz, who glared at Lily. Lily smiled back. She knew it would infuriate her.

Harriet stepped forwards and took Liz's bags.

"I'll show you to the spare bedroom," she said, adressing Liz and Mike. "Lucy, if it's okay, you'll be sharing Lily's room."

Lucy gave Harriet a look that clearly indicated it was far from okay. Then she looked at Lily.

"I suppose so." she said, as if it was going to be hard work.

Lily had noticed that Lucy had changed. Of course she had. Everything about her was different now. Her hair, once strawberry blonde, like Lily's, had been dyed brown. She was wearing lots of makeup, and Lily couldn't see a single freckle. She remembered one night, way before the split, when Lily and Lucy had counted their freckles. She stil remembered the numbers: Lily had 34, spilling across her nose and cheeks messily. Lucy had 41, which dotted up to her temples as well as her cheeks. In retrospect, Lily found it strange that she remembered nothing about her parents' split, but she could easily recall the amount of freckles on her sister's face.

Lucy was even dressed differently; in fact, she was dressed in much the same style as Liz - though she was wearing a pleated skirt instead of a pinstriped pencil one.

Lily would never understand Liz's influence on her sister; as far as Lily could see, Liz was the most horrible woman who had ever walked the planet.

"This wallpaper..." Liz said now.

"What about it?" asked Lily. The wallpaper was knew; Sarah had put it up last week in an attempt to hide the cracked paint. It was bright blue and had shocking fuscia polka dots. It wasn't very easy on the eyes, but Lily liked it.

"It's very...bright," said Liz, wincing as she looked at it.

"Yes, we thought it would brighten up the place," said Lily, faking a smile. "Nice, isn't it."

Liz winced, and Lucy looked up at the walls in undisguised disgust.

This holiday was going to be perfect...