A Cure for All Diseases

– I felt a warmth – he asserted – A definite warmth as from a powerful sun-lamp –

Back in the car – out of earshot of Mr Godley – I observed that – in veiw of the nature of the injury – I would have been more impressed if hed felt a definite coldness.

He turned in his seat – hed wanted me to sit in the front – but I insisted he needed the space because of his ankle – & gave me a delighted smile & said – see Mary how good Charlotte will be for us. Scientific objectivity – thats what we want. No chance of charlatanism ruining the good name of Sandytown with her keen eye upon us! –

Im not sure what lasting effect the healers hands might have on the sprained ankle – but one thing I feel certain of – Tom Parkers optimism is incurable!

Mary drove well & very carefully. If shed been at the wheel I doubt theyd have ended in the tank trap. On the other hand I couldnt regret that they had. My acceptance of their invitation might have been made in pique – but now I found I was really looking forward to the visit. Dont know if Ill get much useful thesis fodder out of it – after my start with Godly Gordon I guess Ill need to brush up my interviewing techniques – but being cast in the role of detached scientific observer tickled my fancy.

Like a camera – I will record – & not judge.

Or maybe Ill judge just a little! I am after all Steve Heywoods daughter.

Difference being – Ill keep my judgments to myself!

& you – of course!

Short break there.

Eldest kid – Minnie (= little Mary) – burst in to say lunch would be ready in 20 mins – & see if Id got everything I needed. Gave the impression shed been sent – but I suspect it was mainly her own idea – to check out the new fish! She talked non-stop – while her eyes gobbled everything up – especially my laptop. Shes 9 going on 90 – reminds me of me at that age. Havent been bothering much with security – but now I may reactivate my password!

Got rid of her – by main force! – after a couple of minutes – so now I can get to the really exciting bit of the journey here – so pay attention!

Even at Marys steady pace it wasnt a long drive – but long enough for me to learn a little more about the Parkers. Old Yorkshire family – made their money in building – Tom trained as an architect – offices in Scarborough but siezed the opportunity offered by mod tech to work from home – 4 kids – Minnie 9 – Paul 8 – Lucy 6 – Lewis 5 – apples of his eye – Marys too – but Tom comes first. I get the impression she doesnt like letting him take off alone – not cos she dont trust him sexually – but cos she worries what scrapes his enthusiasm might get him into! Like driving into the tank trap – I suppose!

He talked – with great affection – of his financier brother Sidney – younger – & invalid sister Diana – older. Without saying much – Mary gave the impression she has a few reservations about Sid in the City – & a whole bucketful about sister Di!

More to Mary than meets the eye. When Tom started rattling on about Kyoto House – inviting her agreement that it was in every way superior to the old Parker family home theyd swapped it for – she replied dutifully – I suppose youre right dear – but the old place did have such a pleasant garden – & so sheltered –

– yes – thats it entirely – he declared – as if shed confirmed everything hed said – It was indeed sheltered – from the benefits of the sea breeze – & sheltered from the veiw too – no outlook save for fields & trees! Now – from Kyoto up on North Cliff – on a clear day you can see halfway across to Holland – & when Im working out ideas for the Development Scheme I dont need to sit at my drawing board – I just go into my garden & look down & there it all is at my feet – as it were! –

– did you design Kyoto yourself? – I asked.

– naturally! – marvellous feeling – not having anyone looking over your shoulder at the drawing board – do you follow? The opportunity afforded me by the Consortium – of getting involved in planning & building on a large scale – was not the least of its attractions. Its going to be something new – I promise you – nothing piecemeal or accidental – every step carefully thought out – every detail pertinent & planned! – & a carbon footprint no bigger than a cats! –

The quality of light ahead was now giving promise of the sea. Against the intense blue sky I could see the rather sinister silhouette of a large house – more than a house – a mansion – with enough towers & turrets to give the impression it had had youthful ambitions to grow into a castle!

– Denham Park – said Tom.

– where Lady Denham lives? – I guessed.

– oh no. She lives at Sandytown Hall – he replied – which her first husband – Hollis – acquired – along with the Lordship of the Sandytown Hundreds – an ancient traditional rank – acquired by purchase – unlike her subsequent title –

It sounded to me like shed got that by purchase too – & I think I detected a little twitch from Mary. Us psychologists are v sensitive to twitches!

– the Denham property – Tom went on – & the baronetcy of course – went to her nephew-in-law – Edward –

Here our conversation was interrupted – wed been driving with the sun-roof open – to get the full benefit of the invigorating Sandytown air I presume – & suddenly – in an instant – the car filled with the most disgusting smell imaginable.

Pig shit! – on a huge scale – it made our slurry lagoon seem like a rose-bowl!

Mary hit the button to close the sun-roof – apologizing profusely.

– the Hollis pig farm – she said – except calling it a farm is an insult to real farmers! –

– now now my dear – said Tom mildly – its a natural smell – & nothing natural is harmful to man –

– nothing natural about the way they keep those poor animals – said Mary.

– intensive farming is the price we pay for not wanting to pay the price we would have to pay without it – said Tom – & its very rare that the wind is in a quarter which wafts the aroma into Sandytown –

– indeed no! – said Mary – which is why Daphne Brereton spent most of her time at her first husbands house – even after shed married her second! –

Yes – I know – mysterious! – but all will be explained later. Meanwhile we drove for a mile or more alongside a high wired fence through which I could see rows & rows of concrete buildings with all the charm of a concentration camp. Finally we reached the main entrance to the site – with a huge double gate – & a sign reading HOLLIS’S HAM – the Taste of Yorkshire – except that someone had been at work with a spray can – & it now read – the Taste of Death.

There was a man up a ladder with a bucket & scrubbing brush. He paused in his work as we passed & gave a wave. Tom wound down the window & called – Morning Ollie! More trouble, eh? – but Mary didnt slow down enough to give the man time to reply – & Tom closed the window again but not before wed got another near fatal dose of the porky pong!

A few minutes later Mary signalled to turn seawards as we approached a sign saying Sandytown via North Cliff.

Tom said – my dear – why dont you takes us round by South Cliff – & through the town – so Charlotte can give us her reactions – first impressions are so important –

Obediently Mary switched off the signal & drove on.

I didnt correct Tom about first impressions. Diplomatically I hadnt mentioned the famous excursion. Now I began to see for myself what Tom – of course – had already told me – that Sandytown – originally just a fishing village – is situated in a broad bay between two lofty headlands – North Cliff & South Cliff.

A loop of road runs down from North Cliff – through the village – then up to the coastal road again – via South Cliff.

Got that? – or do you need a diagram! –

As we approached the South Cliff turn off – I could see the headland here was dominated by a complex of buildings. One of them looked like an old mansion house – green with ivy – with a long extension – in keeping but definitely recent. A couple of hundred yards away was a modern two storeyed building – the stonework brilliant white – broad reflective glass windows catching the drift of small white clouds across the bright blue sky. Alongside that – a long single storeyed building – in the same style.

We turned off the coast road – but before we began the descent proper – at Toms request Mary pulled in by a gilded entrance gate – set in a dense thorn boundary hedge – bit like the entrance to heaven in that Pilgrims Progress you got for a Sunday School prize – remember? – we used to tear pages out to roll our ciggies!

A large elegantly designed sign board was inscribed Welcome to THE AVALON FOUNDATION. There was a small gatehouse from which a man emerged – his face breaking into a smile when he recognized the car.

– Morning Mrs Parker – Mr Parker – he called.

– Morning Stan – replied Parker – How are things? Family well? –

– Yes thank you – all middling well. Yourself? –

– in the pink Stan – said Parker – which was either a bit of an exaggeration – or Mr Godleys healing hands really had done the business.

As they talked – I studied a site diagram beneath the welcome sign. It indicated that the main two storeyed modern block was the Avalon Clinic – the long single storey was the Avalon Nursing Home – & the old house was the Avalon Convalescent Home.

A phone attached to the gate-mans belt bleeped. He excused himself & turned away to answer it.

I said to Tom – how do the locals like having the clinic on thier doorstep? –