Minding Frankie - Maeve Binchy [105]
“Nobody can understand those numbers, Emily,” he had said firmly. “They’ll do your head in. The main thing is to point west and head for the ocean.” And they did indeed see beautiful places like the Sky Road, and drove through hills where big mountain goats came down and looked hopefully at the car and its occupants as if they were new playmates come to entertain them. They spent evenings in pubs singing songs, and they all said it had been one of the best outings they had ever taken.
Emily had told them about her plans to go to America for Betsy’s wedding. The Carrolls thought this was marvelous: a late marriage, a chance for Emily to dress up and be part of the ceremony, two kindred souls finding each other.
Dingo Duggan was less sure. “At her age marriage might all be too much for her,” he said helpfully.
Emily steered the conversation into safer channels.
“How exactly did you get your name, Dingo?” she inquired.
“Oh, it was that time I went to Australia to earn my fortune,” Dingo said simply, as if it should have been evident to everyone, and it wasn’t asked by one and all. Dingo’s fortune, if represented by the very battered van he drove, did not seem to have been considerable, but Emily Lynch always saw the positive side of things.
“And was it a great experience?” she asked.
“It was, really. I often look back on it and think about all I saw: kangaroos and emus and wombats and gorgeous birds. I mean real birds with gorgeous feathers looking as if they had all escaped from a zoo, flying round the place picking at things. You never saw such a sight.” He was settled happily, remembering it all with a beatific smile.
“How long did you stay there?” Emily was curious about the life he must have led thousands of miles away.
“Seven weeks.” Dingo sighed with pleasure. “Seven beautiful weeks and I talked a lot about it, you see, when I got back, so they gave me the nickname Dingo. It’s a kind of wild dog out there, you see.…”
“I see.” Emily was stunned at the briefness of his visit. “And, er … why did you come back?”
“Oh, I had spent all my money by then and couldn’t get a job … too many Irish illegals out there snapping them all up. So I thought, Head for home.”
Emily had little time to speculate about Dingo’s mind-set and how he seriously thought he was an expert on all things Australian after a visit of less than two months, ten years ago. She had a lot of e-mailing to cope with to and from New York.
Betsy was having pre-wedding nerves. She hadn’t liked Eric’s mother, she was disappointed with the gray silk outfit she had bought, her shoes were too tight, her brother was being stingy about the arrangements. She needed Emily badly.
Could Emily please come a few days earlier, she asked, or there might well be no wedding for her to attend. Emily soothed by e-mail, but also examined the possibility of getting an earlier flight. Noel helped her sort through the claims and offers of airlines, and they found one.
“I don’t know why I am helping you to go back to America,” Noel grumbled. “We’re all going to miss you like mad, Emily. Lisa and I have been working out a schedule for Frankie and it’s looking like a nightmare.”
“You should involve Dr. Hat more,” Emily said unexpectedly. “Frankie likes Dr. Hat, he’s marvelous with her.”
“Do I tell Moira?” Noel was fearful.
“Most certainly.”
Emily was already busy e-mailing the good news to her friend Betsy; she would be there in three days. She would sort out the dull gray dress, the tight shoes, the miserly brother, Eric’s difficult mother. All would be well.
“Moira will be worse than ever when you’re gone,” Noel said, full of foreboding.
“Just take Frankie to Hat’s place in the afternoon. He plays chess online with a boy in Boston—some student, I gather. Hat gets great fun out of it. He even asked me if I could go to visit him when I was in the States and give the boy a chess set, but I told him that I’d never have time to get all that way in such a short