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"Could you drop us off somewhere?" asked Kevin.
"We need to go some place quiet to talk," said Sadie.
"O.K.", said Mr Blake. "I know just the place."
Kevin slumped back in his seat, eyes closed. Sadie and Mr Blake
talked of old pupils and teachers at the school exchanging pieces of
news, and he told her that he had retired the previous summer. He
was driving them out to one of the suburbs. The houses changed
from terraced to small semi-detached with no gardens, and then to
slightly larger ones with gardens and hedges and gates.
Mr Blake turned off the main road and stopped in a quiet street.
"This is my house," he said, indicating one with a white gate and
a laburnum tree overhanging the pavement. "You can come in and sit
in peace."
"That's greatSmashing!" said Sadie.
They helped Kevin indoors and laid him on the settee in the sitting
room. It was a comfortable, tidy room, with family photographs on
the mantlepice and piano.
"I'm a widower," said Mr Blake. "My wife died two years ago and
my family's grown up."
"So you live alone?" said Sadie.
"Yes. Sit down, Sdaie, I'm going to make you both a cup of coffee
and then I'm going to ring my doctor and ask if he'd mind having a
look at Kevin's head. He's an old friend of mine and he'll oblige
me, I'm sure."
Kevin tried to protest but found he was too tired. Sadie sat
