The Butterfly Box(38)

‘All right, all right. Enough you two,’ said Polly as if she were talking to a couple of rowdy dogs. Tell him to come here for tea, then we can meet him for ourselves.’ Helena smiled triumphantly.

‘How old is he, Helena?’ Jake asked seriously, pulling out a chair and joining them at the table. He dug his fork into the lasagne.

‘Mid to late twenties,’ she replied and shrugged because she didn’t really know. He was bristly and hairy, well built and confident. He could have been anything between twenty-five and forty.

‘And he’s travelling alone?’ he said, chewing on his food. ‘Polly, this lasagne is really very good,’ he added as his wife sat down and helped herself to what was left.

‘Looks like it,’ said Helena.

‘At eighteen you might think you’re a woman, but when I was your age I had to have a chaperone,’ said Polly.

As if you needed a chaperone, Mum, you could flatten the strongest of men with one wave of your big hand,’ Toby chuckled irreverently.



Ramon met Helena as planned on the harbour wall. She was embarrassed to tell him that she had to introduce him to her parents before they’d allow her to

go anywhere with him.

‘My mother thinks you’re a murderer,’ she said and sighed.

‘Well, you can never be too sure.’

‘You come from a strange country, how are we to know, you might be a cannibal.’ She laughed.

‘Well, if I were I think you’d be pretty tasty.’

She smiled coyly but didn’t lower her eyes or blush. She looked at him with her steady blue eyes, assessing him. ‘You think so,’ she replied loftily. He nodded and grinned at her. Her arrogance amused him although he was sure it wasn’t meant to. ‘Well then, I think you’d better come and meet my parents. We live just outside Polperro so you can either travel as I do by bike or walk.’

‘I’ll find a bike,’ he said. ‘We can go together.’

They cycled up the hill out of Polperro, leaving the sleepy harbour and whitewashed houses that were stacked up the banks of the hill like dolls’ houses. It was a clear summer day, the seagulls floating on the salty breeze and the bees humming in the cow-parsley. As they cycled together Ramon told her about Chile and his book of tales. When he told her he was a well-known writer, she didn’t believe him, retorting that she had never heard of him. ‘Well, if you

come to Chile you’ll hear about me,’ he said.

‘Now, why would I want to go to Chile?’ she replied.

‘Because it’s beautiful and a girl like you should see the world,’ he said truthfully.

‘I’ll see the world one day. I’m only eighteen, you know.’

‘You have plenty of time.’

‘And lots of more important places to see first,’ she said. Ramon laughed and shook his head. He was suddenly overcome with the urge to kiss her, but he bicycled on. There would be time enough for that later.

Helena’s house was a pretty white building crawling with an abundance of clematis that climbed up the walls and onto the grey tiled roof above like the tentacles of a floral octopus. Ramon noticed a family of pigeons hopping about by the chimney, watching him from their lofty height with shiny black eyes. ‘Well, it ain’t much but it’s home,’ she said, dismounting and throwing her bike against the wall. ‘Let’s get this over with,’ she added, winking at him mischievously.

Polly Trebeka was not as Ramon had expected. She had pale hair like her daughter which was streaked with a silver grey and tied into a rough bun which

left curly wisps floating about her neck. Her face was completely free of makeup. She seemed the sort of woman who never bothered with creams yet her skin was soft and youthful and her smile that of a young girl. When he was introduced to Jake Trebeka he saw where Helena’s pale blue eyes came from. They were almost the colour of aquamarines. In Jake they were more evident due to his swarthy skin and jet-black hair. He looked like a strange gypsy with the eyes of a hawk. Helena had inherited their best features and was more refined than both of them.

Toby had taken special care to be present for this meeting. He had noticed the excitement burn in his sister’s cheeks when she spoke about this man and was curious to see what it was about him that made him different from all the other young men in Polperro who fell in love with her.

‘Please sit down, Mr. . .’ said Jake politely, looking to his daughter to introduce them. Helena, of course, didn’t know his name. Toby caught her eye and grinned. She shot him a look to tell him to behave himself before turning back to her parents.

‘Campione, Ramon Campione,’ said Ramon and sat down on the sofa. His presence was somehow too big for the small sitting room. Helena was undeterred by the amount of sofa he took up with his long arms and legs and sat down next to him.