Barbara Taylor Bradford - A Sudden Change of Heart

Laura loved Claire. They were the best of best friends even though they were so different. ‘Chalk and cheese,’ Grandpa Owen said about them; Laura didn’t know if she was the chalk or the cheese. Her grandfather encouraged her to be athletic and adventurous; he had taught her to ride a horse, taken her climbing in the hills, given her swimming lessons and instilled in her a confidence in herself. And he had taught her to be unafraid. ‘You must always be brave, Laura, strong of heart and courageous, and you must stand tall.’

The problem for Claire was that she wasn’t at all athletic and she shrank from most physical activity. She couldn’t swim and she was unable to ride, being afraid of water, afraid of horses. And yet they were best friends because they shared so many other things, and Claire, despite her physical fragility, had strong mothering instincts. She was warm and loving with Laura and Dylan, and this was especially meaningful to Laura.

Claire was a master storyteller, inventive and imaginative, always weaving yarns, telling them ghost stories and other fantastical tales. They played charades, wrote plays and acted in them, and they shared a love of films and music and clothes. In certain ways, Laura was in awe of Claire. After all, she was five years older and knew so much more than they did. Dylan, being only four, didn’t know much of anything, and he was very spoilt, in Laura’s opinion.

Pulling the strap of the string bag over her head, Laura fished inside for the plastic bottle of orange juice which Fenice, the housekeeper, left for her in the kitchen every morning. After taking a gulp or two, she put the bottle on a small ledge, took her diary from its secret hiding place and began to write her private thoughts, which she did every day.

Soon it began to grow warmer inside the tree house and several times Laura found her eyelids drooping; finally she put down her diary and pen, rested her head against the wall. And although she tried hard to stay awake, she began to doze.

Laura was not sure how long she had been asleep, but quite suddenly she opened her eyes and sat up with a start. Just now she had heard screams coming from somewhere in the distance. Had she been dreaming?

Then she heard it again, a faint scream, and an even fainter voice calling, ‘Help! Help!’

It had not been a dream; someone was in trouble. Crawling as fast as she could, Laura backed out of the tree house, bottom first, dangled over the edge until she found her footing on the ladder and climbed down swiftly. She was well practised in this descent and soon reached the ground.

The cries were increasingly fainter, and then they stopped altogether. But Laura knew they had emanated from that part of the river which was wide and deep, beyond the drystone wall, near the meadow where all kinds of wild flowers grew. Sensing it was Claire calling for help, Laura ran at breakneck speed, her long legs flying over the grass. It had to be Claire who was in trouble in the river, Laura was certain. Who else would be in the valley?

Coming to a stop when she saw the flower basket, Laura quickly pulled off her sneakers and jeans, and scrambled down the muddy bank just as Claire’s pale face bobbed up above the surface of the water.

‘I’m here, Claire!’ Laura shouted, dived in and swam towards her friend.

Claire’s head went under again, and Laura took several gulps of air and dived once more. At once, she spotted Claire floating underwater.

Swimming to her, Laura grabbed her under the arms and swam them both up to the surface as best she could. She was tall and strong for her age, and she managed somehow. But then when she started swimming them both towards the bank Laura was pulled back along with Claire who was clinging to her.

‘It’s my foot,’ Claire managed to splutter. ‘It’s caught on something.’ Terror etched her stark white face and her eyes were wide with panic.

Laura could only nod. The girl glanced around frantically, wondering what to do. She had to get Claire’s foot free from whatever was holding it underwater. Yet she could not let go of Claire, who would sink if she released her. Laura spotted the branch of a tree a short distance away from them. It was a large limb, half on the bank, half in the water, and she was smart enough to know it was probably too heavy for her to lift. But she decided she must attempt to swivel the part which was in the water towards them. If she was successful, Claire could hang onto it, use it as a raft.

Staring at Claire she said, ‘I’ve got to let go of you, Claire, so that –’

‘No, no, don’t! I’m scared!’ Claire gasped.

‘I’ve got to. I’m going to get that branch over there, so that you can hang onto it. Then I’ll get your foot loose. When I let go of you, start flapping your arms in the water and keep moving your free leg. You’ll stay afloat, you’ll be okay.’

Claire was unable to speak. She was terrified.

Laura let go of her, shouted, ‘Flap your arms! Move your leg!’ Once Claire started to do this, Laura swam upstream in the direction of the branch. It rested on top of the water, and after a bit of tugging and pulling it began to move; unexpectedly, the other end came away from the bank. It flopped into the river with a splash. Grasping the leafy part of the branch, Laura tugged and tugged for a bit longer until it began to float alongside her. Dragging it with her with one hand, she struck out, heading for Claire.

Although she had gone under several times, Claire had kept on moving her arms and leg in the water and had managed to hold her own. As soon as Laura pulled the branch nearer to her, Claire grabbed for it and hung on tightly.

So did Laura, who needed to catch her breath and rest for a few minutes. When she had recouped, she dived underwater, went down to the bottom of the river bed and slowly came up, swam closer to Claire to see what had happened.

Laura was frightened when she saw that Claire’s foot was caught in a roll of wire netting, part of which had unravelled. Claire’s sneaker was wedged in, entangled with the loose part of the netting. Laura attempted to free her foot, but she could not; nor could she get the sneaker off, try though she did. She floated up to the surface, took several big gulps of air and rested her arms on the branch.

Peering into Claire’s worried face, she said, ‘I’ll have to go and get Tom to help me.’

‘Don’t leave me,’ Claire whispered tremulously, sounding more nervous than ever.

‘I have to. Just don’t let go of that branch,’ Laura instructed and swam across to the river bank.

After hauling herself up out of the water, the girl pulled on her jeans and sneakers, and set off across the meadow. She ran at a good speed, heading for the farm’s compound of buildings in search of Tom. When he was nowhere to be found, and knowing there was no time to waste, Laura dashed into his tool shed, found a pair of garden scissors and headed back to the river. After undressing once more, Laura dived into the river, and swam over to Claire who still clung to the tree branch, looking scared.

Showing Claire the garden scissors, Laura explained, ‘I can’t find Tom. I’m going down, I’m going to cut your sneaker off.’

Claire nodded. She was shaking uncontrollably and goose bumps had sprung up all over her body from being too long in the cold water. Laura dived down into the river, but it was hard for her to reach Claire’s foot at first, and she had to try from various angles. Finally, she managed to manoeuvre her right hand and the garden scissors underneath the wire netting. Her first attempt to release the trapped foot was to cut up the front of the laces. She succeeded, but Claire’s foot would not come out of the sneaker; after struggling for a few seconds longer Laura had to rise to the surface to breathe in air.