Beyond Life Read Online Free

boys and girls and each child had a space that contained their own small bed, meagre belongings and the luxury of a mosquito net. The orphanage accommodated 102 children aged between 9 and 13; 52 boys and 50 girls.
    Marion frowned at the memory of the two girls who had died. She’d been given the news along with Val and the other two volunteers, and little other information. When she’d asked to see the bodies to say goodbye to the children her request had been refused and Marion was still upset by the deaths. Daniel, one of the newer members of staff, had been acting as Assistant Coordinator since Thomas had left to oversee the building of a new orphanage near Lusaka. Both Marion and Val had got along well with Thomas but not so his successor. They realised that his inexperience might make him defensive but couldn’t understand the cold and seemingly uncaring and matter of fact way in which he’d announced the deaths of the two girls. It had affected all the children and the other staff had upped their efforts to make the children feel safe. Marion and Val had noticed that the local staff behaved differently around Daniel and they’d already decided to speak to the charity about his appointment on their return to London. In the meantime they’d resigned themselves to the fact that they had to get on with him as best they could and try not to let his attitude interfere with running the orphanage and educating the children.
    Along with the five children who she’d taken with her to collect water from the well, she turned to the sound of a vehicle approaching from behind and smiled falsely as the big white man driving the Land Rover lifted a hand from the steering wheel and waved. He was very good-looking and charismatic and Marion had no idea why, when she’d first met him, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and her gut instinct told her not to trust the man. He’d evoked the opposite reaction in Val and they’d flirted openly on the three occasions they’d met. Marion knew that Gary’s firm supplied the building materials for the charity at reduced cost so she had to be polite, but that didn’t mean she had to like him. She had no idea why he needed to visit today so upped her pace towards the front door and two of the smaller children had to run to keep up with her.
    *****
    It was the evening before the wedding and Libby was feeling a little nervous. Her brother Carl had arrived to be a guest and witness and though he knew their mother would be upset that Libby had married without her present, he also knew that she’d be over the moon to see her daughter happy again, eventually. Carl had gone off with Jim and Tony, and Libby and Tony had decided that they wouldn’t see each other until the ceremony the following day.
    ‘What have you got planned for us this evening?’ Libby was curious as Fiona had said it would be a surprise. She’d already had a low-key hen night the previous week with Fiona and six of her other close friends and didn’t want a boozy night before her wedding the following day. When she’d said this to Fiona a few weeks previously, Fiona had told her not to worry and that she’d arrange something to keep the pre-wedding nerves at bay.
    ‘So come on then, what are we doing?’ Fiona hadn’t answered the question and Libby was very curious.
    ‘Actually, it’s a surprise. We leave in half an hour and there’s no need to dress up.’
    ‘What sort of surprise?’
    ‘You’ll find out when we get there.’
    Claire and Ron had heard the entire conversation and both were as curious as Libby. They didn’t have long to wait.
     
    The disused cinema in the town had been converted into a Bingo Hall but also doubled as a venue for presentations, shows and concerts. The taxi pulled up and Fiona and Libby got out, Libby still not knowing what Fiona had planned. Her friend dragged her quickly into the building’s foyer and Libby assumed they had come to see a local play. Not giving her