extract #1

Later, she sat at the breakfast bar with a mug of tea. The house was almost back to the way it was and her mind worked in circles to the sound of the washing machine.

Her thoughts drifted and she looked outside to the back garden and the high planked fencing that packed the paved space square. It was one of the few things that Charles had actually done around the house. More and more, especially since his wee turn, he'd become a big lump of furniture that she was left to dust and polish.

She took a sip of tea.

A cat appeared onto the roof of the shed. A light wet snow had fallen sometime in the night. She noticed that the cat had something in its mouth and got up and went to the window to see. It was a pretty wee finch blinking away in its jaws.
She rapped the window with her good ring and the cat crouched and looked in her direction. She hurried to the back door, unlocked and opened it. The cat was leaping up over the dark lengths of the fence and was gone.

The damp chill air was working its way into the kitchen so she closed the door. She felt her nipples had hardened and shook out her knitted top to loosen it and hide them. Her cheeks felt flushed.
Heat gradually returned to the kitchen and she sat down again. She lifted her tea and gently breathed in the steam rising from it. Just then the washing machine went into a whining fast spin cycle, making thought impossible.