Perfect Day

before.’
    Something about this recollection jars in Nell’s mind.
    ‘You said he had loads of girlfriends...’ she says.
    ‘Did I?’
    ‘On my first day!’
    She remembers the conversation distinctly because she’s always slightly resented the way that Alexander looks mystified when she refers to his old girlfriends, as if he’s forgotten he ever had any.
    ‘I probably said lots of people wanted to...’ Frances says quickly.
    ‘Who thought it was weird when I got off with him?’ Nell asks.
    ‘Everyone!’
    Nell’s a little unsettled by the thought of all the other teachers in Tokyo being amazed behind her back. Stiff with the cold, she stands up and beckons to Lucy.
    Frances stubs out her cigarette with the sole of her boot.
    They both watch Lucy’s stumbling progress up the beach.
    ‘Look!’ she says. Her little hands are cupping three big pebbles. ‘This one is for Frances . This one is for you, Mummy, and this one is for Ben.’
    ‘Who’s Ben?’ asks Frances .
    ‘Boyfriend,’ says Nell.
    ‘He’ll probably just chuck it back out to sea,’ Frances remarks.
    ‘Do you like them?’ Lucy asks.
    ‘Lovely,’ Nell and Frances say together.
    ‘What about one for Mrs Bunting?’
    ‘No, she’s going to have a starfish,’ Lucy says. ‘Can we please go to the starfish shop now?’
    ‘All right then,’ says Nell, pleased to get moving again after the long cold wait.

    Wooden wind chimes on the door of the shell shop rattle as they push it open. Out of the wind, the inside of the shop seems cosy. There’s a dry, slightly fishy smell exactly like somewhere else Nell has been, but she cannot immediately place it.
    Sea urchin lamps and mobiles made of translucent slices of shell hang so low from the ceiling that Frances catches her hair. On the floor are baskets filled with graded sizes of cowries, scallops and spiky white conches.
    Lucy picks up a handful of the tiniest cowries. They’re speckled like ladybirds,’ she says.
    Nell crouches down beside her. Of all the gifts of parenthood, she most loves being shown the world again through a child’s eyes.
    ‘And look at this!’ She picks up a half-abalone with a silvery rainbow inside.
    ‘Is it made of metal?’ Lucy asks.
    They’ve been doing materials in school.
    ‘No. It’s shell.’
    Nell knows that’s not quite an adequate answer. She’s trying to think what shell actually is. Calcium of some sort? Is calcium a metal?
    ‘Where are the starfish?’ Lucy suddenly remembers her quest, letting Nell off the hook.
    ‘Over here!’ Frances calls.
    Lucy chooses the biggest starfish she can find.
    ‘Look at that!’
    Frances points to a kitsch tableau of three rabbits made of shells.
    ‘It’s so lovely!’ says Lucy. ‘Can I have it?’
    ‘No, darling, we’re just buying a starfish for Mrs Bunting,’ Nell intervenes.
    ‘But I do want it so much, please, please, please!’ Lucy jumps up and down.
    ‘No darling, it’s hideous,’ says Nell.
    ‘ Frances likes it.’
    Nell looks despairingly at Frances, who shrugs her shoulders.
    ‘I want to buy it as a present for Daddy,’ says Lucy, trying another tactic. ‘Because,’ she tries to think of a persuasive reason, ‘because he’s not having a lovely day at the seaside.’
    ‘I don’t think Daddy would like it,’ says Nell.
    ‘He would! Daddy loves rabbits. Do you remember when Daddy and me went for a walk and we saw the field with the rabbits in?’
    ‘I take Lucy for a walk every day. We see cows in fields and magpies. Alex takes her once and they see rabbits!’ Nell explains to Frances .
    ‘I know,’ says Frances , ‘I read about it in your column.’
    ‘God!’ says Nell. ‘I can’t believe I’m so unimaginative!’
    ‘I freeze my tits off playing golf, I buy her lunch. I get a stone. Alexander does bugger all, and gets this charming little objet d’art,’ Frances whispers.
    Nell laughs.
    ‘Bloody men!’ says Frances .
    ‘Bloody men,’ Nell agrees.
    They smile at each other. They haven’t had a bloody men conversation since the long drunken evenings they used to spend together in Tokyo before she and Alexander got together.
    ‘This shop smells terrible,’ Lucy announces.
    And suddenly Nell knows what the smell reminds her of.
    Alexander’s mother’s hut in Mersea where they went because Joan wanted to see the sea before she died.

    The day started inauspiciously when Joan refused to acknowledge that Lucy needed to be strapped into a car seat for