SHADOW OF A RECLUSE 

By Tessa Harvey


    A whole year later there had been absolutely no trace anywhere of Hunter - not even in olden-day phone books.
    At first Tarrant was secretly very relieved. He felt like a man battered around the head so much so that when the beating ceased, he was too afraid to look around and see where the perpetrator was in case he had merely stepped back and was waiting, smiling......
    But there were more pressing concerns. He had to get work. Staying on Government benefits was not an option. Sylvie and the children looked up to him. There were no other relations handily present to share the load. Any other relatives were either far away, whereabouts unknown, or deceased. There were no living grandparents. But Ada and Oliver were friends.
    At first Tarrant was optimistic. I can do this, he thought, but job after job had eluded him. Finally he said, "God, if you are real, open a door for me!" The next place he tried - oddly enough, a boxing club - were prepared to give him a go. "I'm an ex-con myself," the boss explained, "and what I say goes."

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