by Aoife Walsh
Minny was gasping from the rain by the time they got home. The front door was open so Aisling must have let Sel in. She stood with water pouring down her neck, battling with the pushchair rainhood and hauling the baby out, then stripping him on the doormat. He scampered off while she wearily removed her own cagoule and sodden trainers. All of her was sodden. She followed Raymond into the back room just to make sure he was safe before she went upstairs and got dry clothes, but unfortunately Franklin was sitting in there with Aisling, tuning the bloody guitar again.
They looked up. Minny had hair plastered flat to her head and neck. Her face was actually dripping. Her T-shirt and skirt were sticking to her.
‘Hi,’ she said. Her heart gave a great knock of mortification, right against her chest wall.
‘Aisling called and asked me round.’
‘Oh. She did.’ She wiped her face. When she sneaked a glance at Franklin, he was flushed and looking in the opposite direction.
‘You’re really wet,’ Aisling said. ‘Raymond’s got no clothes on.’
‘Yeah. I’d better go upstairs and sort that out.’
She went up, shaking her head in disbelief. Selena was locked in the bathroom. ‘Hurry up, Sel.’
‘Why should I?’
‘Because I’m soaking wet.’
‘Well, so am I.’
Cursing, Minny fetched a towel from under her mother’s bed, and a T-shirt and shorts for the baby. She was freezing. ‘Selena, let me in.’
‘No.’
‘Unlock the door!’
There was silence. Minny beat on the door with the side of her hand. ‘Let me in NOW! Oh, I’m going to kill you, Selena.’
She went down in the end, in disgust, afraid the baby would have frozen to death. He was still with the musicians so she had to go in to dress him. Franklin and Ash were singing ‘Desperados Waiting for a Train’.
‘I don’t understand this song,’ Ash said, breaking off in the middle of the chorus, which was just the title repeated several times.
Franklin played another chord. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Why are they like desperados? He never says. It’s just about an old man and a little boy being friends, Mum says.’
‘Well …’
‘Have they broken the law?’
‘It’s a simile,’ Minny growled, pulling the T-shirt over the baby’s head.
‘Oh.’
‘You’re never very good with similes, are you, Aisling?’
‘But – so what’s the train then?’
Minny pulled Raymond’s shorts up. ‘He’s just making an image, like an old film with a couple of cowboys getting chased and being all tense waiting around to hop on a train or something – and they depend on each other. It’s them against the world.’
Franklin looked at her.
‘Yeah. So what’s the train?’ Ash asked.
Franklin’s phone rang. He went off into the kitchen to answer it.
‘Aisling, what are you doing calling up Franklin and making him come round?’
‘I wanted to sing.’
‘You can sing on your own.’
‘I wanted to see Franklin.’
‘You can’t just make people come and see you, and you should have asked me. It’s really awkward for me with him, right now, you know.’
‘Why?’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘Why does that mean I can’t see him?’
‘Leave it. Anyway, it looks pathetic, like you’re proper googly-eyed over him.’
‘What does googly-eyed mean?’
‘Oh God, never mind.’
The baby crawled off again, through the legs of Franklin who was coming back in. ‘That was your gran.’
‘Oh yes?’
‘She was just checking I was here, and it was OK for me to be … here.’
‘Why wouldn’t it be?’ Minny asked, not looking at Ash.
‘She’s at the airport, waiting for a flight,’ he explained.
‘What?’
‘She had to go to Ireland,’ Aisling said, looking up. ‘Uncle Kevin broke his leg.’
‘Oh.’ Minny frowned and sat down on the arm of the chair. How ridiculous to feel guilty. Anyway, people broke legs all the time. ‘How long’s she gone for?’ she asked Franklin.
‘She said she’d be a couple of days.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
He shrugged. ‘I’m not really meant to stay there by myself, that’s the only thing. So, I mean, if you can’t have me, then maybe I’ll head back to my mum’s or something.’
‘I think we should go to Dad’s.’
That was Aisling. She had stood up, laid the guitar aside and was sounding unusually firm.
‘No.’
‘I think we should go to Dad’s.’
‘So do I,’ Selena said, darting in under Franklin’s elbow and over to the window.
‘We’ve settled this. We’re staying here.’
‘It’s not safe.’
Minny stared. ‘Of course it’s safe, don’t be ridiculous.’
‘It’s against the law, with Selena and the baby and everything.’
‘Er – where’s your other granny?’ Franklin asked.
‘Oh, Aisling.’ Minny rubbed her face. ‘It’s safer than trekking across London with them when it’ll be evening soon, for one thing.’
‘But Dad would come and get us,’ Sel pointed out.
‘We don’t know that. We don’t even know he’s there, remember? We haven’t actually spoken to him in ages, they might have gone away or something.’
‘We should ring him,’ Aisling said, sticking to her main point with even more stubbornness than usual.
‘Aisling, we’re staying at home till Mum gets here tomorrow.’ She sat down again and picked up the book lying near her feet. ‘We’ve had this conversation.’
‘But I didn’t agree with you.’
‘I don’t care,’ Minny shouted. ‘You’re being stupid and we are going to stay here, not spoil everything ringing Dad when we’ve made it this far.’
‘I’m not being stupid.’ Ash’s voice wobbled but she stepped towards the phone and picked up the receiver.
‘Look. I’m in charge, right, aren’t I? Put that down and I’ll explain again.’
‘Why are you in charge? You’re not in charge.’
‘You weren’t saying that when I was looking after Raymond all night, or getting dinner, or breakfast this morning.’
‘You always think you’re in charge,’ Ash said. Tears were leaking out of her eyes. ‘But I’m the oldest.’
‘So what? You don’t act like it.’
‘Why can’t we do what I want for once?’
‘What are you talking about, “for once”? Our whole bloody lives are lived because of what you want, Aisling, when do you EVER not get what you want?’
‘All the time,’ she said to the floor.
‘You have your own room even though not even Mum does, you have your own computer, you don’t have to go to school any more. I get all the crapness of being the oldest, having to look after everyone and do everything, and now you want to take the credit and start making STUPID decisions. Everything we do and everything about how we live is about you, so shut up.’
‘I won’t shut up,’ Ash shouted. There was a sob in the corner and Selena dashed out again, nearly knocking Franklin over. Minny became aware that he’d been umming and making calm down gestures for a moment or two, and that he looked horrendously embarrassed.
‘Sorry, Franklin,’ she said, her voice cracking. ‘Look. Sorry, Ash. I just don’t want to phone Dad. We’ve made it this long, we can last till tomorrow night.’
‘I’m not stupid.’
‘No, I know you’re not. Sorry. Sorry, Franklin.’
‘OK, but I still don’t know what’s happening. Do you want me to go?’
‘No, you might as well stay. We’re all adult-less at the moment – Babi went off in a strop with her
boyfriend last night, you see, after smacking me across the face—’
‘What?’
‘After smacking her across the face,’ Aisling said, enunciating clearly.
‘She thought we were going to go round to Dad’s, but she didn’t bother checking so we just stayed here. Mum’s back tomorrow …’
‘You could have rung Judy.’
‘Yeah. Well, we could have. But anyway we didn’t, and it was fine.’
‘Yeah, only … the baby.’
‘I look after the baby all the damn time anyway, Franklin.’
‘It wasn’t fine,’ Aisling said. ‘We had Wagon Wheels and Coke for breakfast.’
Minny sighed. ‘Yeah, well. It was pure rock’n’roll when you put it like that.’
She decided to make them all a cup of tea. Aisling had stopped crying. It was still hammering down outside, water streaming down the windows and the sky dark grey. Minny switched on the lamp on the way out to the kitchen.
‘Er …’ Franklin said from the corridor. ‘Should the baby be getting out the front door?’
‘What? No.’ She pushed past him. ‘Raymond, come back here. Where do you think you’re going?’ She dragged him back in and slammed the door. ‘Jesus, good thing you spotted him.’ She looked back uneasily. ‘I’m sure I didn’t leave the door open.’
‘It wasn’t me,’ Aisling said immediately.
‘I know. I was last in. Selena!’
There was no reply.
She ran round the house first, all the rooms upstairs and even under beds and in wardrobes, though she knew Selena wasn’t old enough to have left the front door open just to scare her.
‘Shall I check outside?’ Franklin shouted up the stairs.
‘No, you’ll get soaked,’ Minny said irrationally, flying down again and towards the front door.
‘I’ve got a jacket, Minny. Calm down. You look out the front. I’ll check round the side of the house and the garden, OK?’
She wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Aisling had put Raymond into the front room, shut the door on him and was putting her jacket on.
‘We can’t all go out,’ Minny called, her mouth filling up with rain. ‘Someone’s got to stay with the baby.’
Franklin appeared behind Aisling in the doorway. ‘Do you want me to cycle up to the park?’
Minny hesitated. ‘The thing is, Selena doesn’t like you much.’
‘Oh.’
‘You stay here,’ Aisling agreed.
‘Well. Take my bike then.’ It was leaning against the side of the house, locked to a drainpipe; he came out to unlock it.
Minny hated riding bikes. She hadn’t been on one since they went to France the summer she was eleven and she fell off the first time she went round a corner. She seized its handlebars. ‘Don’t watch.’
‘Just don’t get killed, all right.’
‘Ash – you go down the street and up Milsom Road and down the next one and just keep looking, OK, and calling her.’
She was horribly afraid, especially on the main road, almost too afraid of falling under a car to keep checking the pavements for Selena. She wasn’t there anyway. There was rain flying into her face so hard she had to keep shutting her eyes; it was better when she got to the park because the wind wasn’t blowing right at her, but worse because there were millions of trees she couldn’t see behind. Anyway she didn’t find her. Nor at the playground. She was going to ride back by way of the river, just in case – Selena liked the river – but the towpath was under water. She stopped the bike for a second, looking at it, then turned sharply and set off again. The wind was really getting up, pushing her so hard she felt as if she might take off. Lightning split the sky, but the thunder was a comfortingly long time after it.
Her bum was killing her by the time she got back to her own road. She couldn’t bear to go on further. Her calves were murder too. She disembarked delicately outside the house and pushed the bike up. Franklin appeared. He must have been watching out. ‘Any sign?’
‘No. Is Ash back?’
‘No.’
‘Is the baby OK?’
‘Yes.’
Minny turned. Aisling was padding, slower than a walk, up the pavement. ‘Did you find her?’
‘No,’ Minny said, and her middle gave a sharp lurch. ‘I’ll call Babi and see if she’s around.’
‘She’s not,’ Aisling said. ‘I passed Gil’s house and the car wasn’t there.’
‘Oh Christ. They must have gone on that holiday then.’ They stood looking at each other. Minny dashed rain out of her eyes. ‘Maybe I should call the police.’
‘You can’t.’ Franklin had stepped out, shivering, to join them. ‘You don’t have anyone looking after you. How’s your mum going to explain to the police why you were all on your own? You’ll have social services right on top of you, all of you, even if your mother doesn’t get prosecuted or something.’
‘But –’ Minny could feel her heart beating in her face. On the other hand she couldn’t feel her legs at all. ‘I read something once about the golden hour, how if you don’t find them at once then—’
‘Don’t be stupid,’ Franklin said bracingly. ‘That’s if they’ve been abducted. Selena left the house on her own, she took her raincoat, she’s run away. That’s completely different.’
‘She might have been taken by now.’
‘She’s not going to get in someone’s car, is she? She’s sensible.’
‘No, she’s not.’
‘And she’s not going to get run over. We’ve just got to figure out where she’s gone. Who are her mates?’
‘Victoria.’ Minny’s heart bounded. ‘I’ll find the number.’
The carpet would never be the same again after they’d all pounded over it with wet feet, but she couldn’t care about that now. She had to scoop up the baby, who was virtually hysterical to see her, and shush him as she waited for Victoria’s sensible parents to answer. The problem was they didn’t.
‘Maybe they’re on holiday too,’ Aisling said helpfully.
‘But Sel wanted Victoria to come over for a sleepover. They can’t be.’
‘Do you know where she lives?’ Franklin asked. ‘I’ll go round and check she’s not there while you call her other friends.’
‘I don’t know her other friends,’ Minny said, and burst into tears.
Aisling found the address for him, in the phone directory. It was a couple of miles away, on the other side of the primary school. He went off, after a final worried look at where Minny was sobbing into Raymond’s hair. ‘I’ll make a cup of tea,’ Ash then said, and went off to put the kettle on.
‘Ash.’
‘Yes?’ She reappeared at the door.
‘What are we going to do?’
‘I’m going to make tea.’
‘I’m so sorry, Ash. I’ve been being a cow. I haven’t meant any of it – you know I didn’t mean Dad left because of you. You know he didn’t, don’t you?’
‘I suppose.’
‘I’m a jealous awful person and I was horrible to you and now I’ve made Selena run away.’
‘It’s OK.’
‘No, it isn’t. What are we going to do?’
‘I think we should call Dad.’
Minny looked at her in amazement. ‘Of course we should call Dad. Of course we should. I’m going to call Dad.’
‘OK.’
‘I should, shouldn’t I? I mean, he’s going to go proper nuts with us. With me. And with Mum, and this could cause all kinds of kerfuffle, but I think I have to, because, you know, it’s Selena. And then he can decide if he should call the police.’
‘Yes.’
Minny found the number on her mobile.
‘Yes?’
‘Yes.’
‘Dad? Where are you right now, Dad?’
‘Minny, oh, I’m so pleased to hear from you. How are you, darling?’
‘Where are you, please, Dad?’ she asked again, in a trembling voice.
He was
in Kingston about to see a client, he said, so he’d better call her back in an hour if she didn’t mind, unless she wanted a chat with Harriet, who’d come with him for the shopping; he’d ditch the client, only it was an important one …
Minny’s heart gave a painful thud because Kingston was only twenty minutes away unless the traffic was bad. ‘Dad, I’ve got to tell you something. Listen – I’ve got to tell you now.’ There was a pause.
‘I’m listening, go ahead.’
She told him, she knew, in a scattergun way – she couldn’t seem to marshal the story at all – but the gist of it got across. He cut through her telling him about the row with Babi. ‘The traffic’s awful. Give me fifteen minutes.’
He thought he was the best driver in the world, her father. She pictured him driving on the pavements like a car chase in a film, and almost smiled as Aisling handed her the tea. Then she jumped up. ‘We can’t sit around drinking tea. We need to be ready.’
‘Ready for what?’
‘Whatever. Come on, let’s go outside. Get your jacket on – we need to be looking. Bring your phone.’
‘Aisling,’ Minny said as they manoeuvred the pushchair out again, baby squawking, a few minutes later. Both of them had winter boots over bare legs. The puddles were getting deeper all the time.
‘Yes.’
‘You don’t think she ran away to Scotland, do you. To Mum.’
Aisling gazed at her. ‘She kept saying she wanted her.’
‘Did she?’
‘Yes, all yesterday, and today.’
‘I wasn’t listening.’ She pulled the rain hood over the baby, who roared and batted at it. ‘I don’t know. If she was really upset she might have meant to, but I don’t know if she really would – because Mum’s coming back tomorrow, she knows that. Once she’d calmed down a bit, wouldn’t she come home, not try to make it all the way to Scotland? She didn’t have a ticket.’ She might have had her Zip card though – that would have got her to King’s Cross. Would she know that it wouldn’t work to travel out of London? It was too hard to think when the baby was crying, her eyes and ears were both full of rain and it still kept hitting her. ‘Maybe that’s what we should try. But … we’re ages behind her. If that’s what she’s done, she’s in town by now.’