The Knapthorne Conspiracy by Malcolm Ballard (best english novels for beginners txt) 📕

with her morning’s work, Bella got up slowly, still with a slight twinge of pain in her lower back, and massaged her back muscles. After all the months of work, promoting Lingering Doubts, then the comings and goings of the past few weeks it had seemed as though she would never get round to starting to write again, fearing the longer it took the more difficult it would be. But that hurdle had been cleared now, she knew, and she was prepared for the task that lay in front of her. Making her way downstairs she realised that she had been so engrossed with her work that not one thought about Ben, Kyle or Laura had entered her head, writing absorbing her so completely. It was a form of escape too, and she recognised that, but she couldn’t lead her life simply through the pages of her books. Now that she had relocated, temporarily anyway, she needed to develop a life of her own outside of writing and her thoughts turned to Kyle, wondering not only when but if he would ring. Then she realised that he would have to. It occurred to her that she didn’t have the least idea of where her car had been taken to or by whom.

It was now the height of summer and she found the room became unbearably hot as the day wore on, with the warm air rising through the cottage and accumulating in her workplace. In one of the downstairs cupboards she remembered having seen a three-blade electric fan, on a tall stand, and to her relief, when she tested it, it appeared to be in full working order. Not only did it have three speed settings but the fan itself could be set to rotate through an arc of about one hundred and twenty degrees before retracing its path. Placed at a respectful distance from her desk, to prevent her papers being scattered by the fan’s action, it proved the ideal solution to the problem. Although it had proved quite simple to remedy the situation, in this instance, Bella had become very resourceful over the many years of living by herself. In fact, she was often more adept at fixing things around the home than many of the men she knew. Especially if the problems were of a technical nature. It was a happy knack she seemed to have developed, through having a practical approach, and came in very useful in her particular circumstances. Also, something in her nature made her baulk at asking a man to look at a problem when the answer was probably staring her in the face. With her working environment dramatically improved, Bella worked through the afternoon and on into the early evening until her eyes began to get scratchy, but she was very happy with what she had achieved. The pattern was repeated the following day as she began to flesh out the outline of the story and develop thumbnail sketches of some major and minor characters. Now that the juices were flowing, it was imperative for her to have contact with the child of her inspiration on a daily basis, to live the lives of her characters as she would live her own life. The less distraction she had, therefore, throughout the evolution process, the better and she blessed her uncle Foxy yet again for his benevolence. Tuesday followed much the same pattern as Monday, the only interruption being a call from Jane, to thank her for the weekend. At first, Bella had thought the call might be from Kyle and answered the phone in a state of excited anticipation.

“It’s only me, darling!” Jane had said, and immediately asked if she had heard from Kyle to which Bella replied that she hadn’t. “Before I forget,” Jane continued, “you’ve still got my watch down there. You can’t believe how frustrating it is to keep looking at a bare wrist. I’m going to go out and get a cheap replacement this afternoon until you can get mine back to me. Do you have a postal service there?”

“Jane!” Bella warned her, menacingly. “Behave yourself, or I won’t take you to The Lamb, the next time you come down!”

“Well, there’s a threat I can do without. And on that subject, thanks for the weekend. I haven’t enjoyed myself so much for ages, Bell, and I thought you were looking really good.”

“You too!” Bella enthused. “And you’ll be pleased to know that I worked solidly, all day yesterday, and the ideas are coming thick and fast and I hold you entirely responsible.” Good humour permeated her words and Jane was pleased and excited to hear the news. She asked no questions, knowing Bella would contact her for advice or guidance, if necessary, and present her with a synopsis and excerpt when she was ready.

“Ok, sweetie! Gotta go. Just called to say thanks. Let me know if you’re coming up this way, eh?” Bella replied that of course she would and thanked her for calling before getting back to work.

On Wednesday morning, Bella received the call she’d been waiting for, a week to the day after her accident. After enquiring as to her health, Kyle had nothing but good news, informing her that her car would be delivered to her the following day and, that if it was ok, he’d like to drop in and see her. Because of work commitments, he was unable to make it this weekend but he would like to call by the Saturday after. Perfect, Bella thought, wondering where he was phoning from. It sounded like a pitched battle was going on around him.

“What’s all that noise?” she asked him. “I can hardly hear you sometimes.”

“Sorry!” he apologised. “We’re creating a building site at a disused school in Keynsham and it looks more like a war zone, at the moment. Anyway, looks like someone’s calling for me, I’d better go. See you Saturday week!” After he had rung off, Bella sat back