The chalk line

Source: an original fiction extract.

The line appeared across the yard before breakfast. It ran from the drainpipe to the apple tree, dividing the paving into two unequal territories. Lena's brother had drawn it with the thick white chalk they used for marking pots. On his side he placed a table, two chairs and the little radio. On hers stood the compost bin. She watched from the kitchen window while he moved a chair an inch farther from the line, considered it, and moved it back. He had been staying with her for three weeks. His flat would be ready, he said, very soon.

They had quarrelled about the yard the previous evening. Lena needed space to sort plants for her weekend stall. Martin wanted somewhere to sit without balancing a cup among trays of seedlings. Both had described the other's request as unreasonable, and both had used the word always. The chalk was his answer. When Lena went outside, he was reading a newspaper. 'Plenty of room,' he said without looking up. She measured her narrow space with her eyes and began carrying pots out of the shed.

At ten, a gust of wind lifted the edge of the paper. Martin put his cup on it. Lena set a tray beside the compost bin and discovered that there was no space to turn with another. She could have asked him to move the table. Instead, she arranged the plants in a long row along the chalk, leaves leaning just over his side. He lowered the newspaper. She selected a taller plant and placed it directly opposite his chair. The radio continued to murmur between them, reporting sunshine elsewhere.

The rain began with three large drops on the paving. Then it came hard enough to flatten the newspaper. Martin stood, holding the radio beneath his jacket. Lena rushed to cover the seedlings, but the plastic sheet caught on a chair and pulled free of her hand. He caught its other end. Together they stretched it over the trays and weighed down the corners with empty pots. Water ran beneath their shoes. By the time they reached the kitchen, the white line had widened into a cloudy stream moving towards the drain.

They watched the yard through the glass. Martin said he could move the table against the wall. Lena said she only needed the middle until the stall opened on Saturday. Neither apologised. He put the kettle on; she hung his wet newspaper over a chair. In the afternoon he carried the table to the wall, leaving space for the radio beside the window. Lena moved the tallest plant away from his chair. A little chalk remained around the apple tree, sheltered by its trunk. She saw it when she swept the yard that evening, and let it stay.

Consider the whole source. A reader said: “The conflict is presented humorously, but the ending suggests a believable improvement rather than a complete reconciliation.” Evaluate how far you agree. Support your judgement with detailed references to the text and the writer’s methods.