PT_Oh_Dear

7/31/2019 PT_Oh_Dear

1/10

PenguinTasters

An extract from Oh Dear Silvia by Dawn Frenchwww.penguin.co.uk/tasters


2/10

Oh Dear Silvia

by

Dawn French

Copyright Dawn French, 2012

All rights reserved

Penguin Books Ltd

www.penguin.co.uk/tasters

Oh Dear Silviais available to buy from Penguin

Paperback | eBook

and is also available in theKindle Store and the iBookstore


3/10

1

ONE

Ed

Wednesday 10am

He sits with a sense o being watched, although he himsel

is the watcher. Momentarily, the others have stepped out-

side so he is suddenly, shockingly, alone with her. Its odd or

there to be no voices. No sound, save those o two human beings

just being alive. He becomes acutely aware that or the frst

time in a very long time, he eels irreutably more alive than

her. Shes always making sure you know shes chock-ull o lie.

She lives big and loud. Right to her fngertips. Her presently

somewhat swollen fngertips. Look at them. Someone, perhaps

a nurse, has tried to remove the coral-red varnish, but it is stub-

born and has bled into her skin, revealing the nails beneath to

be unbeautiul, nicotiney. Blotchy red fngers. Yellow nails.

She wouldnt like him to see such a personal thing, so he

tries to stop looking . . . but o course he cant. He is transfxed

by the unusual sighting. He eels her watching, and although


4/10

2

she isnt and although he so wants to remain defant, he looks

away.

So. Here they both are again. Alone. They havent been alone

in a room or . . . well, since they were married. Whats that?About . . . God . . . What is it now? Five years? Something like

that.

There she is. Breathing.

Here he is. Breathing.

Thats it.

Pretty much like it was at the end o the marriage, really.

Two people occupying the same air. Nothing else in common.

Just oxygen. He remembers when sharing breath with her

was exciting, intimate. He would lie close to her in the night,

happily breathing in what she breathed out. The breath o lie,

their joint breath rom their joint lie.

This breathing now, though, is very dierent.

He hears his own. Its quick and halting. It fts with his

heartbeat, which is anxiously ast and occasionally missing

altogether, when he fnds himsel holding his breath whilst

urgent rightening thoughts distract him.

Her breathing is entirely unamiliar. Its regimented and

deep. Her lungs are rhythmically resonating loudly around the

room, chiming in with the bellow-like wheezing o the machine.

Shes being breathed or, through a huge ugly tube in her throat.

Because Silvia Shute, despite all the supposed lie in her, is

in a coma.


5/10

3

TWO

Jo

Thursday 2pm

Adervish is whirling around Silvias bed, gabbling and

gesticulating wildly. Her explosion o curly grey hair

bobs about busily as she moves. The too many strands o

assorted, expensive but meant to look casual beads dance on

her bosom, and the clack o her posh but meant to look like

working boots resounds o the sparkly-clean-polished-all-

the-way-under-the-bed-twice-a-day-check-it-on-the-time-sheet-

no-bugs-here-mate-oor. This is Jo, Silvias elder sister. Her

mouth has mistaken itsel or a machine gun.

It just bothers me darling, that when you do eventually

wake up, Im not even going to be able to tell you what

happened because nobody seems to bloody know! You are

probably the only one and will you even remember? God

knows. Well obviously God knows, whichsoever God one

chooses to align onesel with, o course. I cant remember now


6/10

4

i you even believe in God, do you? Oh God, thats awul. No. I

dont think you do. I think youre a hundred per cent not quite

sure, arent you? I remember you once saying you thought

Jesus wore a blindold to decide who would get the poorlybabies, and how that was terribly unair, but you were eleven,

so you may well have updated your thinking since then.

I know you like Christmas and weddings and church and

stu, but does that necessarily make you a Christian? Its

probably got more to do with abrics and lights and catering i

I know you. Do I know you? Thats the big question darling,

because I can see all this . . . this hellish situation, theres going

to be some major decisions I will probably have to make on

your behal.

Oh God. Why did this happen?! What the hell were you

doing out on your balcony? In the reezing cold? On your own?

Have you started smoking again? Oh, darling, look at you . . .

Jo leans over Silvias bed, smooths her cheek and runs her

fngers through her little sisters hair.

Desperately need your roots doing, darling. Oh dear. Whats

happened? Where are you Sissy? Come on, come on. Wake up

sweetheart. Wake up and see me. Im here darling. Im here or

you. Always here or you. Big sister to look ater you. Just as it

should be. Big one looks ater the little one. I promised Mummy

I would, and I will.

Come on now, try to wake up. The doctor says youre a long

way away, but youre just asleep, arent you? Very deeply


7/10


8/10

6

head injury. Thank you, Hugh Laurie . . . or giving me this ter-

rible news in your inimitable orthright, some might say even

cruel style. Thank God its you, because now o course, I know

it will all be alright or the simple reason that you will inevit-ably triumphantly and last-minutedly restore my stone o a

sister to ull health.

Sissy might even seduce him on waking, with her unique

interestingness and win him over to become Mrs Hugh

House . . . hmmm.

That frst shock o the phone call was awul. But this shock

today, Jo thinks, the shock o actually seeing her lying there

so motionless save or the hypnotic eort o the enorced

breathing, is much much worse. No two ways about it, Silvia is

nearly dead.

Look at her. Her skin never usually looks pallid like this.

She must not die. Ater all, Jo promised their mother to

always have a care or her. Silvia shall not die beore Jo. Other-

wise Jo is even more o a bloody ailure. I thats possible . . .

Hold on, sweetheart. Come on! Keep living. We all love

you . . . Well, I do. You know I do. Weve had our moments Sis,

but the loving you part has never ever been in question. You

always love your little sister, dont you? Yes. You do. You have

to. Thats what you do. You just love them. Whatever theyre

like. Whatever theyve done. However thoughtless or insensi-

tive they might sometimes have been . . . however much they

might have hurt you, sometimes carelessly, admittedly, but


9/10

7

oten purposely, you just keep right on loving them. Whatever

you eel. You try to put their eelings frst. They come frst.

Think o others beore yoursel. Always. Sel comes last. Silvia

must be protected.So thats what were going to do. Keep you going sweet-

heart, at all costs. Im not giving up on you. Therell be

something that wakes you up. Ive just got to fnd it darling,

thats all. Im going to try anything and everything, just you

wait and see, and one day I will fnd it and youll open those

beautiul big grey-blue eyes, and Ill be the frst thing you see,

and youll know how much I cared and how much I tried, and

youll be grateul and maybe a tiny bit less unkind.

I might well catch you looking at me oten in the uture, just

knowingly, out o the corner o your eyes and I will know you

are thinking, Yep, there she is, my sister Jo, who saved my lie,

who didnt give up on me, who kept her promise. Who is, truth

be told, a bit extraordinary and to whom I owe . . . well . . .

everything, really.

Jo picks up Silvias heavy dead weight o a hand, noticing

the red smudged fngers and lits it to her lips and kisses it

very much.


10/10

PngnTtr

Read iT

Reiew iT

discuss iT

saRe iT

Oh dr slv vlbl to by n Pngn Pprbk n Book,

amzon Knl eton n n appl Book.

Fn ot mor bot dn Frnh n Oh dr slv t

.pngn.o.k n lt kno ht yo thoght of th

xtrt on th book pg.

Jon thon of booklovr t Pngn t rr grop t n n

ntrv, rv, ggton, on n mor. t

.pngn.o.k/rr to n ot mor.

if yo njoy th xtrt, tll yor frn v Fbook n Tttr.

im rng th rt hptr of Oh dr slv th Pngn

Ttr. donlo th xtrt hr .pngn.o.k/ttr

R thm on rn... donlo n prnt thm... Pt thm on yor mrtphon...

eml thm to frn... wth Pngn Ttr, rt hptr of aLL

Pngn ltt ttl r vlbl to onlo for FRee!

Documents

PT_Oh_Dear