{"id":5390,"date":"2017-08-27T17:07:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T07:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/?p=5390"},"modified":"2017-08-31T18:11:01","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T08:11:01","slug":"falconers-lure-part-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/falconers-lure-part-four\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Falconer\u2019s Lure\u2019, Part Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter Five: Jael is Entered and Peter Gate-crashes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicola continues to learn about hawking and Patrick continues to be obnoxious. Nicola is unhappy about watching Jael\u2019s training, which involves showing Jael a live rabbit and then disembowelling the poor rabbit as soon as the hawk grabs it, and also letting a rabbit loose with a cross tied to it so it can\u2019t escape down a burrow. Patrick says it\u2019s \u201cterrifically humane and nothing the R.S.P.C.A. could even begin to object to\u201d. (The RSPCA in Britain in the 1940s must have been very different to the current Australian RSPCA, which had quite a lot<\/strong> to say recently about rabbits and other animals being used as live bait to train racing greyhounds.) Patrick also laughs wildly, \u201cclutching his stomach as if it hurt\u201d, when Nicola misunderstands an unfamiliar hawking term. <\/p>\n

No wonder his parents are pleased Nicola\u2019s sticking around. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t had much opportunity of making friends this last year or so,\u201d says Mr Merrick to Nicola. \u201cWe shall always be delighted to see you, as long as you want to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think it\u2019s just Patrick\u2019s injuries that have stopped him having friends, if he behaves at school the way he behaves at home. Even Nicola thinks he\u2019s being \u201cunreasonable and rather childish\u201d when he argues with his mother, who says it\u2019s impossible for Patrick to bring the hawks to London, so they will have to be released into the wild. She also tells Nicola that the Merricks are buying the Marlows\u2019 London house, so I suppose at least Lawrie will be able to visit her beloved hall-stand in the future.<\/p>\n

Patrick does show some concern when Jael claws open Nicola\u2019s shoulder, but probably only because if the grown-ups see, they might stop Nicola from helping with the hawks. And he does give her a book about Nelson\u2019s funeral (as an inducement not to complain about her shoulder?) and she promises to bring him The Boke of Falconerie<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Peter is coaching Lawrie in swimming and diving, because Lawrie has learned nothing from Autumn Term<\/em> and \u201cher ambitions were legion\u201d regarding winning all the school and regatta competitions \u2013 also, \u201cthese holidays, she might achieve a rather spectacular rescue if only someone would be so obliging as to put themselves in danger of drowning\u201d. <\/p>\n

It also turns out Peter has actually taken his loaded shotgun<\/em> to the beach with him. I don\u2019t know anything about British gun culture, but surely that\u2019s not normal? He aims it at a passing seagull, then manages to kill a couple of rabbits on the way home. Then he decides to take the dead rabbits to Patrick for the hawks. Patrick and Nicola aren\u2019t there, but he feeds Jael a rabbit, leaving the door wide open. What if that messes up Jael\u2019s training schedule or allows a hawk to escape? Patrick and Peter become a bit \u201cshy and embarrassed\u201d when they meet, years after they last saw each other, but things improve when Patrick invites Peter for an afternoon\u2019s hawking and suggests he bring his camera. Peter is trying to win a photography competition, the prize being a \u201ccine-camera\u201d. Then Patrick suggests Peter take a photo of the peregrine\u2019s nest on the cliffs.<\/p>\n

Peter, looking at Jael, said in a quick, enthusiastic voice, \u201cThat\u2019s a good idea.\u201d
\n[\u2026]
\nNicola looked across at Lawrie \u2026 and Lawrie lifted her shoulders to her ears and spread her hands a little, being Mademoiselle Renier being boulevers\u00e9e by such stupidity. And of course she was right: if Peter wouldn\u2019t say himself he couldn\u2019t stand heights, no one else could say it for him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh, Peter<\/em>. He\u2019s so caught up in demonstrating how brave he is, that he hasn\u2019t realised it\u2019s braver to admit when you can\u2019t<\/em> do something.<\/p>\n

Chapter VI: The Day It Rained<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicola gives Patrick The Boke of Falconerie<\/em> and Jael is becoming a skilled hunter. She chases a hare off into the woods and Nicola gets spooked in there:<\/p>\n

The sunlight, striking down between the thin tree-trunks, had a tarnished look. In the undergrowth, still sodden and strong-smelling from the night\u2019s rain, a million insects buzzed and hovered. There was nothing else. Unless you counted the unseen presence which watched and listened and moved as you moved.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, well,\u201d said Nicola, not aloud, above the sudden thudding of her heart. For there wasn\u2019t anything there. It was only the thing that happened in woods\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Afterwards, Patrick is able to admit he was \u201cabsolutely panic-stricken\u201d for a moment, but Nicola can\u2019t do the same because \u201cwhen you were thirteen and a girl, you had to be more careful.\u201d Which is true \u2013 plus, she\u2019s a Marlow, therefore not allowed to show any weakness.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s a nice long scene with the siblings exploring the old attic at Trennels and deciding what they\u2019ll do at the Colebridge Festival. Peter is entering for diving, swimming and dinghy sailing; Karen is entering the food section with \u201cOne Bowl of Salad Ready to Serve\u201d; Rowan\u2019s doing show-jumping on her pony; Lawrie\u2019s doing swimming, diving, high jump and elocution; Ann\u2019s in the piano competition; and Nicola hopes to win some money for keeping her hawk by entering singing, sports and pony events. Ginty wants to maintain her pose of being \u201cdifferent and aloof and sensitive like Unity said\u201d and tries to get out of entering, but gets bossed into swimming and diving by Rowan. Also, their father is umpiring the sailing, and Patrick has done one<\/em> nice thing by saying Rowan can practice with his jumps, even though they\u2019re competing against each other.<\/p>\n

But then their mother comes in, bearing news. Miss Keith says Nicola can<\/em> keep a hawk at school for a term! And the Kingscote uniform is changing back to its pre-war style, which means great expense for the five sisters, which prompts Rowan to make an announcement. She will leave school and manage the farm! It\u2019s not as though she has any great career plans, having realised she doesn\u2019t have the artistic skills to be an architect:<\/p>\n

\u201cSave Daddy coming out of the Service. Save Giles having a conscience. Save me having to think what I want to do in my future life. [\u2026] What\u2019s the point of my staying two years in the Sixth, and p\u2019raps being finished afterwards? It\u2019s all so I can get a reasonable job. And here is a reasonable job. So what?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nicola thinks this is a good idea, because Rowan is a \u201cterrifically bossy type\u201d who \u201creally can run things\u201d, but their mother is unconvinced. She says Captain Marlow won\u2019t agree, except of course he will \u2013 this way he gets to have Trennels and<\/em> his Navy career. Poor Rowan! She doesn\u2019t sound enthusiastic about this at all. She\u2019s sacrificing herself for her father. Even if she doesn\u2019t know yet what she wants to do with her life, even if Peter can eventually take over the farm \u2013 surely it will limit her future options to leave school at seventeen.<\/p>\n

The other thing that happens is that Nicola tries out her competition song, a very sad song about death, which makes Mrs Marlow rush off in tears because it reminds her of Jon. Which makes me wonder if she stayed at Trennels as a young woman and met both Jon and her future husband at the same time, and even though she ended up with Captain Marlow and eight children, maybe she really preferred Jon, who does seem to have been much nicer. (Don\u2019t tell me<\/em>, there\u2019s fanfic about that, isn\u2019t there?)<\/p>\n

Next, Chapter VII: Jael in the Evening<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter Five: Jael is Entered and Peter Gate-crashes Nicola continues to learn about hawking and Patrick continues to be obnoxious. Nicola is unhappy about watching Jael\u2019s training, which involves showing Jael a live rabbit and then disembowelling the poor rabbit as soon as the hawk grabs it, and also letting a rabbit loose with a … Continue reading \u2018Falconer\u2019s Lure\u2019, Part Four<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-5390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-antonia-forest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5390"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5400,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5390\/revisions\/5400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}