Genius

by Clare Nonhebel

CHAPTER 48

  Things were definitely changing, Eldred thought.

  Edgar, though thoroughly negative about Mildred's job, was excited about appearing on local TV. He instructed Mildred to get his good suit dry-cleaned and had to be talked out of the idea of wearing a bow tie with it.

  'They'll want us to look like we normally do at home,’ said Mildred. 'You wouldn't normally wear a suit and bow tie around the house, would you? I wonder if I'll have time to get my hair permed? And those curtains will have to go in the wash.’

  Mildred, to Eldred's surprise, took no notice at all of Edgar's remarks about the pointlessness of her taking the new job. Even when Edgar said, 'They're only paying you peanuts anyway. If you think that's going to pay fees at a private school, you need your head seeing to, woman,’ Mildred only replied soothingly, 'We'll see what happens. Sometimes if you take the first step, something else comes along.’

  'Louise went and found out what farm we went to on the school trip,’ Eldred said, 'and talked to that man who asked me to phone him when my design was complete. He's going to go on the news and say it's a useful invention.’

  'That's good, isn't it?’ said Mildred.

  'But I didn't phone him,’ said Eldred. 'She didn't ask me if I wanted to involve him. I might have decided not to.’

  'Well, I'm sure it'll turn out fine,’ Mildred said. 'Don't worry about it. He won't say anything bad about you, will he? Not like Mrs Garcia?’

  'No,’ said Eldred. 'It's not that.’

  'What is it, then?’

  Eldred heaved a deep sigh. 'It's hard to know who to trust,’ he said. 'You never know whether someone is trying to be kind, or whether they think you can be of some use to them in their career.’

  Edgar and Mildred exchanged glances.

  'You leave it to us,’ Edgar said. 'If anyone tries to make use of you for their own ends they'll have your father to deal with. At least you know your parents can be trusted to want what's best for you, Eldred, even if we can't always find the way to go about it. We're not trying to make use of you, are we?’

  'No,’ said Eldred, but he thought, privately, that these changes in his life were turning out to be quite useful to them all. He had never known his parents talk to each other so much.

  The news team came on a Wednesday afternoon and filmed Eldred coming in through the gate on his way home from school - only, by the time they had arranged it, it was five o'clock and Edgar was also coming through the gate, having left work an hour early. So the film crew had to ask Edgar to wait out of sight while they filmed Eldred coming home alone first, then filmed Edgar coming through the front door (in his best suit and a new haircut, with a briefcase positively bulging with work) at a supposedly later hour.

  Eldred had to go into the kitchen and be shown eating biscuits, though in fact he had only taken one bite when the man said, 'Cut!’ and they moved him on to the next shot: sitting in his bedroom working on the computer, with a large hot light shining behind him, out of sight of the camera, and a microphone inside his shirt.

  He hoped for more biscuit-eating shots but all the crew wanted after that was talk. Eldred talked about school, the farm outing, the reprocessing plant he had designed, and his hopes for the future. His parents talked about Eldred. Eldred took little notice of what they said and gave very little thought to what he himself said. He answered the questions and hoped they would not stay long. He was hungry.

  When they finally left, Edgar and Mildred talked excitedly about what had been said and done and speculated on the neighbours’ reactions.

  'I saw that Mrs Bone twitching the front nets,’ said Mildred with satisfaction. 'She'll be on the doorstep in five minutes, what do you bet, asking to borrow something. She always has to know the gossip before anyone else.’

  The phone rang. 'That'll be her!’ Mildred said triumphantly but it was Louise to ask whether everything had gone well. Mildred and Edgar both talked to her, in unnecessary detail, Eldred thought. He disliked spending too much time on any one thing. A thing was exciting when it hadn't happened yet but once it was over it was gone, and surely it was better to move on to the next thing than dwell on the last one?

  'Can we get fish and chips?’ he asked, when his parents came off the phone.

  'Why not?’ said Edgar jovially.

  'Because there's salad in the fridge all prepared, that's why not,’ Mildred said.

  'Save it for tomorrow,’ Edgar said. 'If we can't push the boat out when we go on telly, when can we?’

  'We don't get paid for all this telly stuff,’ Mildred reminded him. 'It doesn't put any more money in our pockets, does it?’

  'Well, now that you've got this new job,’ Edgar said, 'we can maybe afford a few little treats.’

  'That money's for Eldred's schooling, every penny of it,’ said Mildred firmly. 'It's going straight into my account and it's not going to come out.’

  Edgar stared. 'You haven't got a bank account,’ he said. 'I handle all the finances in this house.’

  'I have now,’ said Mildred. 'I opened one today.’

  Yes, thought Eldred, things were definitely changing. Personally, he thought the change was for the better. He had never seen his mother in this light.

  ‘Just chips, with the salad, then?’ he hazarded. 'Out of my pocket money, if you like.’

  Mildred smiled suddenly. 'Oh, go on then,’ she said. 'I'm no match for both of you ganging up on me. Fish and chips it is, all round.’