The scent of salt and fat from the sausage rolls was too much for Margot who had spent all morning preparing the house. She’d barely had time to change her clothes. Drops of water fell from her hair as she wondered whether there was anything more comforting than meat wrapped in pastry. They would surely be eaten first and a slight feeling of panic rose in her throat when she saw, through the pebbled glass of the front door, the black figures of the first guests moving towards the house. She took a sweet from the table, savouring it quickly. It was generous, she hoped they would say of the arrangement she had created: sandwiches, chips, cakes, mini quiches- food that people could nibble on and carry around with them without making a mess. Something looked like it was missing. The table shook. Concealed beneath, she saw Jack as a child sitting quietly, eating a sandwich— an assortment of lollies and a piece of cake in his lap. Roland was so like his father.
Margot helped Roland gather his booty and shuffle out from his hiding spot. His dress pants were powdered with sugar and his necktie was in a make-shift bow. Her back seized as she bent down to the little boy’s height to fix it. It was like he knew that she was in pain as he protested, evading her arthritic grip, insisting that his mother would let him wear the tie as he pleased.
‘Stop it! People will think there is something wrong with you.’ She said, grabbing at the tie.
‘I don’t care!’ He snatched it away, ripping the top button of his shirt open and revealing the chains around his neck. Margot knew they would have to do something about that at some stage, at least before he started school. Jack came through the door and the little boy raced for his father who lifted him into his arms.
‘Hi mate!’ He leant over and kissed Margot on the cheek. ‘Thanks so much, mum. You’ve gone above and beyond.’
The little boy climbed down from his father, grinning at her, knowing he’d won the battle.
‘It’s nothing, darl. I just want to do what I can to make things easier for you.’
Then Margot saw a familiar flick of black hair and that pale, sharp face weaving through the crowd of people. Margot’s eyes welled up, blurring the image of what appeared to be Sophie as she walked towards them, smiling like nothing had happened.
‘Are you alright, mum?’ Jack asked.
It wasn’t Sophie but from a distance, she was so like her. Margot worried about how the stress of the past week had affected her sanity. The woman touched Jack’s shoulder and asked if she could use the bathroom. Margot forced herself to stop staring at her and focused her attention on the sandwiches that were vanishing from the table. One lay on the ground, smeared, Jack’s footprint perfectly preserved in the crustless white bread. Jack was so preoccupied with his phone buzzing that he didn’t notice. Margot scooped it up, covering her hands in salmon paste and hummus. When she looked up again, the woman had gone.
‘People are sick,’ Jack was saying to her quietly. ‘I post a video, showing the work I’ve been doing and nobody reacts. My wife dies and suddenly everyone is my friend.’
Margot didn’t know what to say. Roland returned and took three more sandwiches right in front of her, quickly stuffing them in his pockets, bold as brass.
‘Roland!’ Jack shouted, stopping the boy in his tracks. ‘Put those back!’
Roland rushed off. It looked like Jack was going to race after him but he didn’t. His phone sang gleefully with messages of condolence. It was so unseemly, Margot thought, to text someone on the day of their wife’s funeral.
‘Jack,’ Margot asked, almost at a whisper. ‘Who was that woman?’
He looked up from his phone. ‘Who?’ Jack spotted someone he wanted to talk to and left. An older woman in a dramatic, black dress enveloped him with sleeves like the wings of a crow. A theatre-type, Margot thought. The woman who had seemed so much like Sophie returned from the bathroom and smiled at Margot before disappearing as the others spilled into the house, making the place look suddenly darker.
Incredible! I'm hooked! Absolutely loving your writing <3