An Awfully Big Adventure - Beryl Bainbridge [69]
She rang the familiar combination of numbers. ‘It’s been awful,’ she said. ‘There was a man who seduced me.’
‘The time,’ mother intoned, ‘is 6.45 and 40 seconds precisely.’
‘It wasn’t my fault,’ Stella shouted. ‘I’ll know how to behave next time. I’m learning. I’m just bending down to tie a shoe-lace. Everyone is just waiting round the corner.’
‘The time,’ pretty mother said, ‘is 6.47 and 20 seconds precisely.’