‘Hey, Adam!’ said Danny suddenly. ‘Look at the state of these girls! Don’t they look like they’re starving?’
He pointed at the nearest one, blond with dark-red lips, wearing a grey skirt and jacket. ‘Missus! Hey, Missus!’ he shouted at the model. ‘Does nobody feed you? Here – would you like a bite of my burger?’ Adam laughed at the sight of Danny pressing his burger up against the shop window, talking all the while to the dummy. ‘Maybe one of your friends would like a bite. Forget the diet, girls, Danny’s here!’
Adam was laughing helplessly, doubled over. People were beginning to look and one little girl stopped, dragging her mother by the hand.
‘Why’s that man talking to the moggles?’ she asked, pointing over at Danny.
‘He’s just having a joke,’ said her mum. ‘Now, come on!’ They carried on, though Adam could see that the mother was chuckling to herself.
‘Well, I don’t know what’s wrong with you,’ went on Danny to his blond model. ‘I’m a chef – why don’t you come over to my place later and I’ll fix you a delicious meal? You’re way too skinny!’
‘Danny, you’ve really lost it this time,’ said Adam, shaking his head and trying to look serious. ‘We’d better get you to a doctor. Maybe Grandad’s fella would look after you. You’re worse than him!’ Then, as he spotted a security guard coming over, Adam’s smile vanished and he hissed urgently, ‘Danny! Come on!’
The security guard had broken into a run – well, more of a shuffling, panting trot – and was trying to talk to someone on his walkie-talkie at the same time. Danny turned and popped the last bit of burger into his mouth just as the red-faced guard reached them.
‘What’s going on here?’ blustered the guard. ‘Stop that carry-on or I’ll have you thrown out!’
‘Commander, I’m very sorry,’ said Danny seriously. ‘We didn’t mean to cause any problems.’ He sounded so believable, Adam was nearly convinced. ‘My colleague and I’ – he pointed at Adam, who was biting his lip, trying not to laugh – ‘we are terribly concerned about the state of those poor women. Look at them!’ Almost involuntarily, the guard looked in the shop window at the display. ‘Dangerously thin, they are!’ went on Danny. ‘And probably exhausted from standing all day. Do they not have a union? They should think about joining the union –’
‘Very funny!’ said the guard dryly. ‘Ha-blooming-ha! Now, you and your little colleague better get going before I happen to notice the bits of food on that window!’ He glanced over at the greasy-looking glass.
‘Oops! Better go!’ grinned Danny quickly, grabbing Adam’s arm and running towards the nearest exit. Adam ran to keep up, though it’s not easy to run when you’re laughing your legs off.
4
DANNY
As they walked back home, Danny whistled and hummed fragments of various songs, hands in pockets, lanky legs taking large strides. Adam walked quickly beside him, glancing up every now and then, sometimes jogging for a bit to keep up.
‘That was a laugh, wasn’t it?’ Danny asked. Adam nodded.
‘Listen,’ said Danny suddenly, ‘do you want to come out on Saturday with me and Linda? We’ll bring you to see Alien Empire if you like.’
Great! was Adam’s first thought. He’d been asking his mam for weeks if he could go to Alien Empire. ‘Thanks, Danny. That’d be brilliant.’
Then a thought struck him. ‘But what about you and Linda?’ he began.
‘Me and Linda?’ echoed Danny. ‘What about me and Linda? I’d like to see the movie, she’d like to see the movie, Adam would like to see the movie … Is there a problem?’
Adam could feel a flush beginning at his neck and spreading across his cheeks. He took a deep breath. ‘Won’t you two be, like … well … on a date?’
Danny stopped walking and turned to face Adam. He whacked himself across the forehead and exclaimed in horror, ‘Oh my God! How could I forget? You’re right, Adam. You’re absolutely right. I’d forgotten!’
Around them, people elbowed and jostled their way past. Danny placed his hands on Adam’s shoulders for emphasis. ‘Adam, thanks for reminding me. Of course: Linda is my girlfriend. I’ll have to do all that sloppy dating stuff. Now, what is it you do again?’
Adam could feel the blush reaching his ears, but Danny was having fun. ‘Oh, yeah – I have to hold her hand in the dark. What else? Nah, nah, don’t tell me … arm around the shoulders … what’s the next bit? I’m sure I remember … That’s it!’ he yelled triumphantly, causing at least three people to turn and stare at them. ‘Then I have to lean across and give her a great big smoochy sloppy kiss!’
Danny reached over and shook Adam warmly by the hand. ‘Thanks for reminding me, Adam,’ he said seriously. ‘Listen – if you come along, I won’t forget all that stuff. Maybe you’d sit behind us and, like, whisper to me what to do next … Will you do that, Adam? Will you do that for me?’
Adam was crimson with embarrassment by this stage and had begun counting the lace-holes in his boots. ‘Sorry, I don’t think I –’ he began.
Danny gave him an affectionate biff on the head. ‘Adam – you need to chill out! Big-time! I’m only joking!’
Then he decided he’d better not torture Adam any further; it wasn’t fun when it worked this well. ‘Listen, Adam – I mean, we could go in the afternoon. So it’s not like a date. It’s just three people going to a movie. Okay?’
Adam looked up and gave a lopsided grin.
‘Okay, amigo?’ repeated Danny.
‘Okay,’ said Adam finally.
* * *
‘Hi, Adam, love! Hi, Danny!’ called Adam’s mam as she came in from work. She managed to drop her bag in the corner, take her coat off and leave her keys on the table, all in the one movement. ‘It’s really getting cold these evenings. Did you have a good day?’ she continued, without waiting for an answer, as she went into the kitchen and switched on the kettle. ‘I hope you’ve done your homework, Adam. Have you?’ she called.
‘Yeah, it’s done,’ replied Adam from the couch, where he was lying watching TV. ‘Mam, Danny says he’ll take me to see Alien Empire on Saturday. Can I go?’
‘Sure, whatever,’ Deirdre replied, her eyes scanning the paper she had picked up.
‘Great!’ said Adam, making a thumbs-up sign across at Danny.
Danny went into the kitchen to talk to Adam’s mother. She had sat down at the table and was having a cup of tea and a cigarette. She would take a drag of the cigarette and then, while she exhaled, pick at the skin around the fingernails of her free hand. Danny noticed that her hands were trembling.
‘Hi, Danny,’ she said. ‘Do you want a cup?’
‘Nah, I’m grand,’ replied Danny. ‘Deirdre, I’m a bit worried about Adam,’ he went on quickly, after pausing to check that Adam was still watching television.
Deirdre sighed. ‘Go on,’ she said.
‘He doesn’t seem himself, you know? He’s very jittery, and he can’t take a joke or anything. I think maybe those lads in school are giving him a hard time.’
‘Look, we’ve already been through all this with him,’ said Deirdre tetchily. ‘I know they’re slagging him a bit, but he’s just going to have to toughen up. Everyone has to learn how to take a bit of teasing.’
‘Well …’ replied Danny, unsure now, ‘I dunno; I think maybe it’s worse than that. They pelted him with milk the other day.’
‘Don’t I know?’ Deirdre’s voice went up a notch. ‘Who do you think had to clean it all? It took me ages. Ah, Danny, sometimes he would do your head in. Why didn’t he run a bit faster? Why couldn’t he have scared them off? Even if he’d gone inside and told a teacher …’
Deirdre took a sip of tea and began to pick at the nails on her other hand.
‘Maybe he’s not able, you know,’ began Danny. ‘It’s not like him to be so …’ He searched for the right phrase, then shrugged. ‘He’s just so scared of everything now.’
Deirdre gazed out the window. ‘He’s alw
ays been a bit like that, ever since the time in the hospital when he was small.’
‘When was that?’
‘Oh, years ago,’ said Deirdre. ‘When he was about two or three. He’d fallen off the little low wall outside and broken his arm. We brought him to the hospital, and they set the arm, but it wasn’t right. So he had to go back and have an operation to put a pin in the arm. It should have been straightforward, but it wasn’t. There were infections and what-have-you, and it just didn’t heal. In the end it took another two weeks before it was sorted out and he could go home. His da and I took turns to stay in with him, but it was desperate.’ She shook her head at the memory. ‘Adam took it very hard. He’d scream and call your name when you had to go … He’d been talking great up to then, but after that things changed. He didn’t talk again for months and he got terribly clingy. He just became petrified of everything.’
‘Poor little bloke,’ said Danny.
Deirdre sighed and took another sip of tea. A hard look came into her eyes. ‘Yeah. But I’ll tell you something, Danny, I don’t need this right now. I’ve got enough on my mind, what with your grandad in hospital in cloud-cuckoo land, Jim doing killer shifts, and hassle at work. And there’s worse to come … I may as well tell you, Danny: it looks like I’ll be out of work in a couple of months. Before Christmas. Things are very tight. There’ll be some changes.’ She inhaled deeply and continued, ‘The car will have to go back … it’s no joke.’ She bit her thumbnail, and Danny saw her eyes filling up.
‘Ah, sorry, Deirdre!’ he said, feeling guilty now for worrying her further. ‘If it helps, I’ll go and visit Grandad a bit more, and I could –’
‘I wouldn’t wish it on you, Danny,’ Deirdre interrupted. ‘I hate going to that place. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s nice and clean, and the nurses are lovely. I just can’t stand it when he doesn’t know me. His own daughter! The other day I went to give him a kiss, and you’d think I’d tried to stab him! He nearly yelled the place down.’
If you can laugh sadly, that was what Deirdre did. ‘It’s terrible to see someone you love change like that – not even knowing where they are or who they are. I’ll tell you something, Danny, Adam’s brilliant with him. I couldn’t face it without him there. They laugh and joke like a pair of kids. Adam goes along with him.’
Danny reckoned he’d better say something positive while Deirdre’s eyes were tear-free. ‘Look, Deirdre, don’t worry about Adam,’ he said. ‘I’ll look out for him. Anyway, he’s bound to cheer up a bit at the thought of going to the pictures on Saturday!’ Danny grinned his most enthusiastic grin, though he didn’t really feel like smiling. ‘Adam will be grand,’ he finished.
‘He’ll have to be,’ said Deirdre, stubbing out her cigarette firmly.
* * *
It was a crisp, frosty morning, with a fine mist of water droplets over the car and on the grass. Adam took a slice of bread and stuffed it in his jacket pocket so that he’d have plenty of crumbs for the starling if it appeared. Then he waited in the hall until Mam came downstairs.
‘You’re keen this morning! A real early bird!’ she said.
Adam said nothing, just opened the door to go outside.
‘Are things a bit better for you in school now?’ Mam asked, as she started up the car. ‘It’ll all sort itself out in the end, you’ll see,’ she said, before he could reply.
The starling was there! At the first set of lights, the bird watched Adam from the top of a telegraph pole. Near the footbridge, he was perched on an electricity fuse-box that had posters all over it. Then Adam lost sight of him.
He could hardly believe what he saw when they reached school. The starling was waiting – not moving, not pecking or hopping, just perched on the corner of the school building, waiting – when Adam got out of the car.
Adam was astonished. He was about to say something to his mam, but somehow he felt that if he spoke about it, the starling would go away.
He waved goodbye to Deirdre and walked slowly past the bird. As he passed, he dropped a few breadcrumbs. The starling regarded them seriously, then flew down and pecked at them in rapid movements. Adam stood completely still. The little bird was only centimetres from his feet.
‘There you go, starling,’ he said softly. ‘I hope you like your breakfast.’
The bird hopped over to the edge of the grass, paused for a moment, then took off in the direction of the schoolyard. ‘See you later, then,’ said Adam, walking happily into school.
He actually enjoyed school that morning. When he came in, Niamh was sitting on his desk, talking to Conor. They were laughing at something Niamh’s little sister had said the previous day. Niamh was always telling stories about her little sister Amy’s antics. Half the time, Adam suspected they weren’t even true, but they were fun to listen to, so no one cared.
Niamh began the tale again, for Adam: ‘Adam! Guess what Amy said yesterday in the yard.’
Adam put down his bag and went over. ‘What?’ he asked.
‘Well, one of the babies’ – they all called the infants ‘babies’ – ‘had stepped on a worm, and they were all standing around looking at it. “Ah, God!” says Tommy. “I think he’s dead,” and they all looked sad. Jordan even began to cry. So what does Amy go and do?’
Adam and Conor shook their heads obligingly.
‘She got two little leaves and put them on the ground on either side of the worm, and then she said, “It’s okay, it’s okay, little wormie. Now you’ve got wings. You can fly up to heaven and be a worm angel!”’
Niamh and Adam and Conor all burst out laughing, but just then footsteps and general shushing announced Miss Hill’s arrival. A few minutes later, Conor passed Adam a piece of paper with a picture of the worm angel on it. He’d drawn a giant worm with a long robe and two huge wings, floating up through the clouds towards heaven. At the top of the page, in large letters, he’d written ‘HEAVEN – ENTRANCE THIS WAY’.
By break-time the weather was sunny and clear, even though it was still fairly cold. Adam could see lots of starlings, perhaps twenty of them, in a line on the telegraph wires. There was no sign of his starling, though.
But later, as the class was lining up to go inside, the starling appeared once again. He was perched on his usual corner of the roof, his head cocked to one side, watching the children as they passed by beneath him. When Adam passed, he dropped some more crumbs, and the bird seemed to nod a thank-you before flying down to peck them up.
Suddenly Shane, who had gone back to the playground to get his jumper, came running up to the starling. He stamped his foot and yelled, ‘Yah! Get out of it!’ at the little bird. Startled, the starling took off almost vertically and quickly flew away.
‘What did you do that for?’ shouted Adam.
‘What’s it to you?’ asked Shane, shouldering his way ahead of Adam in the line. ‘Thick bird. It’s just a bird, Adam. A stupid bird,’ he finished.
5
THROWING STONES
Adam woke with the feeling that something good was going to happen. For a start, it was light, which meant it couldn’t be a school morning. There was the sound of a radio playing downstairs, and the smell of toast. It took a few moments for him to remember that he was going to see the movie later.
Adam stretched and sat up, knocking a precariously-balanced pile of books off the end of the bed. The thud alerted Mam, who came in to see what had happened.
‘Was that you falling out of bed? Maybe we should put you back in your cot!’ She smiled mischievously.
Adam grinned back, delighted to see her in good form. She was wearing jeans and an old red sweatshirt, and her long hair was tied back in a ponytail. ‘You look really nice, Mam,’ he said. ‘You do! You look like a teenager,’ he insisted, as she began shaking her head.
Deirdre looked down at her old jeans and pulled at the faded top. ‘You must be joking! These are my rags!’ But she was smiling, and she gave him a quick hug and ruffled his hair.
‘Are yo
u coming with me to see Grandad this morning?’ she asked, the smile beginning to fade from her eyes. ‘He loves to see you, and –’
‘Sure!’ interrupted Adam. ‘You don’t have to make me go, Mam. I like seeing him.’
Deirdre paused on her way out the bedroom door. ‘I know, love. I only meant you’re very good with him and he loves to see you.’ She closed the door and began going downstairs.
‘But we have to be back in time for me to go to the pictures!’ Adam yelled down the stairs after her. Deirdre didn’t reply.
* * *
Grandad was sitting bolt upright in a chair which had a wooden table attached to it. He had his arms folded and there were some loose sheets of paper and a pen on the table in front of him. His eyes were fixed on some point towards the far end of the room. Birdy was on the other side of the ward, in his favourite chair, chirping softly. Two old ladies sat huddled together, leafing through a copy of Woman’s Own without speaking.
Deirdre had gone to park the car, as usual, so Adam came in alone. It seemed to take her longer to park the car at each visit. Then sometimes she’d have to talk to the nurses, keeping her out of the ward for another five minutes or so.
Adam walked quietly over to his grandfather, his shoes squeaking on the lino. The sound seemed huge in the silent room. He sat in the chair beside the old man.
‘Morning, Granddad.’
‘Shhh! Shhh!’ whispered Grandad urgently. ‘Fold your arms. She said fold your arms, Billy. She’s just gone out to talk to the master.’
Adam hastily folded his arms. He leaned over and whispered into the old man’s ear, ‘What are you looking at?’
Grandad hurriedly glanced at the door to see that no one was coming before he replied, ‘The board. The board, Billy. We’ve to learn that poem up on the board by the time she gets back!’ He began murmuring:
‘Under a spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands …’
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