Black Diaries

49. A Quiet Place in the Country

"Um, yeah."

"No problem. Maybe I'll go on a holiday to the US someday. I can start building up a cash of native currency." Winking at me, he held out his hands.

"That's nice of you. Here you go."

"Thanks. Here's your change."

Outside, I stopped at the first café I found and plopped down at a corner table, spreading the map on the top and weighing it down on the right side with a coffee cup and on the left side with Lucky's container.

"Meeeeow!"

Hm...that either meant "I'm so excited", or "How dare you use me as a paperweight!" Since I didn't have any other weight available, I chose to believe the former. But just in case, I decided to keep out of scratching-distance.

"I know!" I gave the cage a careful pat. "I'm excited too. Let's have a look, shall we? Let's see where we'll settle down."

"Meow!"

"Hm... what places are there...Basildon...no, I prefer curry to basil. Cheshunt...no, I don't think so. Or do you want to hunt bishops and kings with people who can't spell correctly?"

"Meoooooow!"

"That's what I thought. Watford... Hatfield... no, I prefer fields with corn on them. What you about you?"

"Meeeow!"

"Okay. Newmarket... no, something a bit older would be better. Braintree... Yuk! No, definitely not. I think I'd prefer Llanfairpwhatsitsname to that. Reading, Stevenage, Ascot—"

I stopped, and cocked my head.

"Ascot..." Carefully, I rolled the name around in my mouth. It had a nice ring to it. Somehow, it even sounded vaguely familiar. Taking my cell phone out of my pocket, I looked up "Ascot" on the internet.

"Listen to this, Lucky: 'Ascot, Berkshire is a small town about forty miles away from London, surrounded by idyllic woods, and home to several historic churches. Population: 11,603.'"

There was more, but I didn't read on. Instead, I looked up at Lucky, who seemed to have gotten over most of her feline indignation. "What do you say, Lucky? Sounds like a nice, quiet little town. We won't be troubled by any stupid cops or men down there. Is that the place for us?"

"Meow!"

That was good enough for me. Five minutes later I had changed some of my good old American dollars into currency that I preferred to have in my wallet instead of on my hips and was sitting in a not-hearse, on my way out of the city.

"Can I let Lucky out of her container?" I asked the cabby.

"Lucky, love?"

"My cat."

"Oh. Sure, love."

Without delay, I opened the container door and was greeted by an enthusiastic meow. A furry ball of fire shot up into my arms and snuggled up against me.

"Yes!" I laughed. "I'm glad to see you again, too. Look!" While, with one hand, I tried to fend off Lucky's enthusiastic attempts to climb over my head and into my blouse, I pointed out of the window with the other. "England—our new home."

"Meow!"

"Yes, looks nice, doesn't it?" I sighed, gazing out at the rolling, green hills. "And just imagine—the policemen here aren't even allowed to carry guns!"

After about half an hour more driving through the idyllic countryside, the roofs of houses began to appear in the distance. Finally, we rolled past a sign that proclaimed "Welcome to Ascot, Berkshire" and down a street decorated with pretty red brick houses on both sides. People were walking in twos or threes past the car, talking, laughing. A shopkeeper was busy making her shop window clean and shiny. A few dozen yards away I could have sworn I saw a couple ride by on two beautiful horses. I was in heaven!