‘I seem to,’ said Tommy, not interested. ‘On Barra or Berneray or somewhere.’
‘On Cladda, he said.’
‘Yes, perhaps it’s Cladda. Do you think that boat at Lochan Dhu will last a season or two yet?’
‘Can I go and get the Clarion from Bella now?’ asked Pat, having wolfed four scones and a slab of cake with the neat speed of a sheep-dog consuming a stolen tit-bit.
‘If she has finished with it,’ his mother said.
‘Uch, she’ll have finished with it this long time,’ Pat said. ‘She only reads the bits about the stars.’ ‘Stars?’ said Grant, as the door closed behind Pat. ‘Film stars?’
‘No,’ Laura said. ‘The Great Bear and Co.’
‘Oh. The day as arranged by Sirius, Vega, and Capella.’
‘Yes. In Lewis they have to wait for the second-sight, she says. It’s a fine convenient thing to have the future in the paper every day.’
‘What does Pat want with the Clarion?’