Room 2D

From New Blushes 2.16 Wandering down the lane Diane Jordan was dreamily thinking about horses. Not any particular horse, just that it would be so nice to have one. The family had moved two days ago to this village in the heart of the country and so it was a possibility, but she didn’t think her parents could afford it, and anyway you needed a field or paddock and their cottage didn’t have that. Still it was nice to imagine it and that was what she was doing as she strolled down the lane on this lovely autumn afternoon. Having a pony, or maybe even finding someone else who had one and who wouldn’t mind her helping with it. Grooming and feeding. And riding a bit. Not that she had any experience really but she could learn… And then, coming to a gap in the hedge and a gate, she saw it: the most beautiful young chestnut gelding. The sight almost took her breath away. Seeing it framed in the autumn yellows and golds of the hedge was a

 

Photo-story from Janus 100 featuring Jenny Close as Chelsea Chelsea walked through the garden of the huge old house, fearful of the unknown. The statues seemed to stare, the walls to whisper. She paused before the wooden steps which led into the swallowing gloom, and wanted to run back to the comfort and shelter of Madam’s arms. But it was her beloved Madam  who had sent her here; who had pampered and prepared her, dressed her in this navy-blue pleated skirt and pristine white cotton top. ‘Yes, you’ll be afraid,’ she had said, but it will be exciting too. And it will be exciting for  me  to think of you.’ Exciting? Chelsea’s heart pounded as she mounted the steps and entered the rear of the house, passing with trembling gait through the kitchen and into the vast imposing hallway. The 21-year-old girl felt tiny and utterly insignificant as she trod up the stairway as Madam had instructed, hearing the creak of seasoned ti