‘In And Out Of Houses’ by Elizabeth Taylor

In And Out Of Houses by Elizabeth Taylor, 1972

The magic trick:

Using a fun mechanism that involves a young woman visiting kitchen to kitchen around her village, collecting and sharing gossip

I try to put pleasant stories in the December SSMT calendar. It’s the time of year for “nice and warm” as opposed to the usual “difficult and unsettling” stories that litter the rest of the year’s reading.

Today’s story, “In And Out Of Houses” may be the definitive pleasant story. Kitty is home from school and enjoys visiting the kitchens of all the homes in the village. She chats with the owner, usually as they prepare the day’s food, and then runs off to the next house to share some kind of (mostly) harmless gossip.

It’s like the B-plot to a “Midsomer Murders” episode.

It’s also a great mechanism for the author to introduce and comment on many different characters in a simple way.

And that’s quite a trick on Taylor’s part.

The selection:

“What’s the news?” she asked.

“Mrs. Saddler still lingers on,” Kitty said. She had called at the almshouse to enquire, but the district nurse had told her to run off and mind her own business. “I looked in at the Wilson’ on my way here. Mrs. Wilson was making a cheese-and-onion pie. Of course, they’re vegetarians; but I have known him to sneak a little chicken into his mouth. I was helping to hand round at the De Vrieses’ cocktail party, and he put out his hand towards a patty. “It’s chicken,” I said to him in a low voice. “Nary a word,” he said, and he winked at me and ate it.”

“And now you have said a word,” Mrs. Prout said briskly.

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