The Island of Dreams by Helen McGinn EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Helen McGinn
- Language: English
- Genre: Women’s Friendship Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 3.7 MB
- Price: Free
Martha Williams had a feeling today wasn’t going to be her day.
It had started quite promisingly. She’d bagged the last almond croissant
at the café she always stopped at on her way to the station, before getting a
window seat on the train.
Then things had started to go wrong. Crossing her legs as she sat on the
train trying to read her book, she’d noticed a mark on her dress. Scratching
it had only made it worse. She’d gone to put on her favourite lipstick only
to find the lid had come off, leaving sticky red smears across the contents of
her handbag. By the time she got to Waterloo, the sun that had been shining
so brightly when she’d left her flat barely half an hour before had
disappeared behind thick dark clouds.
As she stepped out onto the street to make the short walk to work, the
heavens opened. Martha rummaged through her handbag for her umbrella,
resulting in more lipstick on her fingers, only to find she’d left it at home.
Instead, she pulled her trench coat over her head and made a run for it.
She crossed the small courtyard of the old red-brick school that was her
workplace, fat raindrops falling down her face. Deciding to avoid the
staffroom, Martha headed straight to the staff loos to survey the damage in
the mirror. Her dark hair hung heavily, strands sticking to her damp skin.
She took off her glasses and wiped the smudged mascara from under her
eyes with a paper towel. Shrugging off her coat, she shook her head under
the hand dryer to get some of the water out.
‘Morning, Martha,’ said a slightly-too-cheerful-for-that-time-in-themorning voice.
Martha didn’t even have to look up to know who it was. ‘Morning,
Janet.’
Janet was the school receptionist with a habit of stating the obvious with
a side order of smug. ‘Someone got a soaking this morning. I left a little
earlier when I saw the forecast, managed to miss it.’
‘Well done you,’ Martha said without a smile. ‘So organised.’ She stood
upright again and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. ‘Right, I’d better get
going.’
‘Ah yes, big day today. Last day of term. Always so sad to see them go.’
Janet sighed.
‘Well, not all of them,’ said Martha, laughing.
Janet looked blank.
‘I mean, they’re great kids. It’s just, you know…’ Martha tailed off.
‘It’s been a long year, I’m sure you’re looking forward to the summer
holidays just as much as they are.’ Janet smiled tightly and turned,
disappearing into a cubicle.
Martha took one last look at her still slightly bedraggled appearance in
the mirror and left, making her way down the long, still empty corridor to
the staffroom. She scanned the room for a familiar friendly face. Over on
the other side she spotted her fellow teacher and beloved friend, Joanie.
‘What the hell happened to you?’
‘Morning, Joanie, nice to see you too. How can you eat those this early
in the morning?’ Martha gestured at the packet of pickled-onion-flavoured
crisps in Joanie’s hand.
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