Celestial Land and Sea Read Online Free

headache; the last thing she felt like doing was concentrating on the tiny print of Great Expectations , however hooked to the story she was.
    Instead, she emerged onto Haverstock Hill and continued down the road until she arrived at her destination.
    "Portion of chips, please," she requested. "Large."
    She paid for the chips, left the chip shop, and clutched onto the steaming bag for warmth as she braved the cold. It would take her only ten minutes to walk home, and she hoped that her comfort food wouldn't be stone cold by the time she arrived.
    As she made her way up the hill Grace noticed how empty the streets seemed. It was almost eerie. The calm before the storm , she thought to herself. The wind blew lightly, barely enough to ruffle the ends of her scarf. A woman was walking briskly down the other side of the road, clutching onto an oversized bottle-green patent leather handbag, her heels echoing on the pavement as she walked. A young child ahead was bundled inside a padded winter coat with her face hardly visible, hidden beneath the hood's fur trim. The child's mother was frantically stuffing mittens onto her hands as they both moved along in unison. There was nobody else in sight. Although she had expected it to be busier on a Friday evening, she couldn't deny that she was enjoying the peace.
    Her mind had started to relax so much, in fact, that she hadn't noticed that the inevitable had happened: it was raining. It wasn't until she watched the young girl's mother wrestling with an umbrella as she tried not to drop her shopping bags that Grace actually took note of the first rain drop to fall onto her shoulder. It was followed almost immediately by another. Not wishing to take any chances at the risk of soaking her food parcel, she quickened up her pace as the rain began to fall harder. By the time she came to her turning near the top of Haverstock Hill, the water had started lashing down on top of her. Hugging the chips tightly to her chest, she could do nothing but run the rest of the way home.
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    The door locked itself behind her as she threw her keys back into her bag. She shook her head, trying to cast away the water that was now dripping down her face. "I'm so glad I keep my hair up," Grace mumbled to herself as she dabbed at the back of her bun with the sleeve of her coat before hanging it up on the banister at the bottom of the stairs. By the time she'd arrived just moments after the heavens had opened, the front of her house had become decorated with streaks from the downpour.
    "Is that you, Grace?" The muffled voice came from the living room.
    "It's me, don't worry Harriet."
    She turned into the living room to find Harriet sprawled across the sofa in her pyjamas, a glass of red wine in one hand and a bag of popcorn in the other. A tabby cat was stretched across Harriet's legs, sound asleep.
    "Been home long?"
    "About half an hour." She noticed the drowned rat appearance Grace was sporting. "Raining?"
    "Only buckets." Grace sat on the smaller sofa as Harriet shoved another handful of popcorn into her mouth.
    "Want one?" The cat miaowed when Harriet turned her body to face Grace. 'Quiet, Bella,' she said as she petted the cat between the ears to stroke it back to sleep.
    "No thanks," Grace replied, rejecting the sweetened offerings that had been thrust in her direction. She pulled the chip box out of the paper bag and let the warmth smother her face. She was relieved to see it hadn't been affected by the rain as she inhaled deeply to allow the hot aromas of salt and vinegar to fill her nostrils. There was something so comforting about chip shop chips that she could never quite put her finger on. She could think of nothing like it. As she bit into a steaming chip, she instantly forgot about the lousy weather and her boring plans for yet another mundane evening.
    "What are you watching?" she finally asked as she nodded towards the TV screen. A pile of Harriet's DVDs lay next to the TV.
    "A film." She threw a