Running
Page 18
She had found him squatting outside her front door. A drunk outside her door who wouldn’t shift. What was the world coming to?
If someone asked her for help, she’d give it a go at least. But she wasn’t keen on helping someone who trespassed on her land. She tried to shoo him away with a mop, her other hand pinching her nose. Then he started crying and talking about kids, guns and a dead son, she never knew he had. And that made her think of the bungalow, so she took him in. She was just about ready to reach for the phone to call the police, when he whipped the bag from under his coat. It was full of twenty pound notes. She had never seen so much money. In shock, she had put down the receiver.
Once she had recovered from the shock, she had helped the ‘rich tramp’ into the bath. She had to shave his head. It was full of lice and smelled rancid. She recognised him then.
‘Well I never!’ she had said.
She remembered buying fruit and vegetables from Paul Dockland’s market stall long before he had lost his soul to drink. He was always smiling, always laughing and he used to give her a fair price. But he did like a drink. He was known for that. She had often seen him staggering out of the pub on a weeknight. Then he took to staggering into it the second it opened. And then he moved on to the off-licence.
The more he drank the more foul mouthed and obnoxious he became. He let himself go. Let his business go.
A new supermarket opened closer to where Ada lived. She started to buy all her groceries from there; it being the more convenient option. She didn’t see how bad things got for Mr Dockland.
He didn’t remember her though, and she didn’t push to remind him.
It was hard at first, keeping him off the booze. She liked a drink herself, and wasn’t enthralled at the prospect of hiding bottles around the house rather than keeping them in the drinks cabinet. It helped that Dock wanted out himself. He said he was having nightmares, swore the noise of gunshots woke him from his sleep, gave his brain a good kicking.
‘I think it’s about time we moved out of Medswell,’ she said. ‘We could move to the coast.’
Dock gave her a reproachful look. ‘Bit far.’
If he thought it was safe to return to his bungalow, he would have gone even if there was no one to go back to. That’s why she had to tell him they had found Saul’s body - to make the transition easier. She didn’t want him wandering back up to that forsaken place looking for the boy.
She had told him Saul would have wanted him to stop drinking and make a decent life for himself. She had told him this over and over again. And she had also told him that if he wanted more than the cupful of brandy she could offer him, then he could damn well go into the village and get it himself. She wasn’t about to hand him the keys to her truck. Not that she thought he could drive. He was more apt to crash her pick-up into a wall, but if he wanted to walk, she wouldn’t be taking his boots away. The supermarket was a forty minute drive, or an hour and a half on foot.
‘You don’t want the police catching up with you, and we can’t spend that kind of cash around here. People will ask questions.’ As if they hadn’t ask enough already.
Dock bobbed his head up and down.
She liked it when he agreed with her. It meant he saw sense.
She thought about the teenage girl she had seen sitting on the road side begging for a ride to the hospital. She had said her sister was sick. If she had been thinking straight that day, she would have called the police and an ambulance and followed the girl to where the other sick child lay. But as it was, she had driven away thanking her blessings she hadn’t followed the girl and the girl hadn’t wanted to go with her.
She had planned to call the police to let them know there was a possible gang on the prowl. But then she conceded that someone else would have probably done it by the time she finished her shift at the garage. It was out of her hands. At least she had tried.
And now she would try with Paul Dockland. She would do it for those poor kiddies.
‘That’s settled then,’ said Ada. She shut the window. ‘I’ll call the estate agents in the morning.’
In a couple of months, she and Dock would move to some place nice, like Brighton or Erin town. How could they afford not to?
* * *
Chapter 69
Right to Happiness
It’s been four months. They say time is a great healer. You don’t want to believe it, because it seems too obvious…too simple, and yet it’s true. I know the worst of my torturous days are behind me: the past hurts, the losses, the pain and the regrets are slowly - very slowly - healing. Some childhood memories fade as easily as chalk marks on a road and memories take longer to fade as you grow older. I know my memories of our old place will linger on like mist swirling on the horizon.
The scar will always be there, but it disturbs me less as each day passes.
It’s late, but I’m not ready to go to bed just yet. I have some place to go. I slide my boots out from under my bed. Tosh is fast asleep. His new crop of curly hair sticks out from under the bed covers. His legs hang over the bed. I swear he’s gotten taller. Ellie’s asleep in her bed. She has a rag doll bunched in the crook of her arm.
I put on my boots, tying the laces securely around my calves.
I go to the kitchen and take an oil lamp from a shelf next to the stove. I light it and pad along the hall. This is my night time ritual. Alden said, ‘never stop believing in me, never stop believing in yourself.’
And I won’t. I don’t.
I take a shawl from a hook on the wall. I wrap it around me, and then slowly open the door. There’s no breeze.
The sheen of sweat on my face quickly evaporates in cold air. And for once, I welcome the goose bumps rising on my skin and the rippling chill down my backbone.
I walk over to the hedge and push my way through it. The tree branches form a glorious arc and every branch and twig is as thick and rich as a feather duster.
I stare at an oak tree not as huge as the one in our bungalow, but just as magnificent. Saul’s secret place. His sacred place. I want to feel something of what he felt when he came here: melancholy relief. The last time I was here, I shouted at him for no good reason. I came here with a problem; a serious problem I could have shared with him and chose not to. He was only trying to help. I knew that then and I know it now. I didn’t want him pointing out where I was going wrong. I knew I went wrong the moment I left Erin town.
I wish I had brought something solid of his with me. I should have taken his scarf. I touch the tree trunk wistfully, letting the rough bark graze my palm. I move around the tree, stepping with care over the hard roots latched to the blanket of grass. I tilt my head up at the tree’s leafy cloud. What I see there makes my heart almost stop beating: a roughly carved love heart, and engraved within it are the words, Saul and Kate. Deep, solid and going nowhere.
I hear a whisper. ‘Kate.’ It’s so faint. It could be my Strong Will setting out to fool me.
Tears spill down my cheeks. I turn and start to run down the slope, towards the road. I hear it again.
‘Kate.’ This time the voice comes from behind me.
I walk back up the slope, holding the lamp high. I’m wide-eyed with anticipation. I don’t want to get too excited, too hopeful.
I reach the top to see him standing there. His hands are sunk into the pocket of his jeans. His eyes lock on mine. He doesn’t move, he just stares.
‘You’re here, ‘I whisper, and then more loudly. ‘I’m here and you’re here.’ I set the lamp down and run the same way Tosh liked to run, crazy and carefree. And I don’t stop running until I’m in his arms. I hold him tight and tell him everything’s okay, that we’re really and truly safe, and that I love him, as I always imagined I would if this day ever came.
Saul takes his hands from his pockets and wraps his arms around my waist. ‘You see that man over there by the tree, he brought me here.’
I nestle my head against his chest. ‘I know,’ I say, though I can’
t see anyone standing over by the tree. ‘That’s Alden.’
He strokes the side of my face. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I was scared. I missed you Kate. I’ve been looking for you and Tosh everywhere for ages.’
‘We’re home Saul. We’re finally home.’
I don’t know where the future will take me. I’ve managed to jump through the Red Hoop and I don’t intend jumping out again. The hoop’s still spinning and I’m unsure where it will take me next, but I’m not afraid any more. I’m happy to take one baby step at a time. What I do know is, I earned my right to happiness. I earned it the day I was born.
The bungalow is our home: Tom’s, Melina’s, Sue’s, Cuddy’s, Ted’s, Ollie’s, Saul’s, Tosh’s, Ellie’s and mine.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1Thud
Chapter 2
Chapter 3Waiting
Chapter 4The Woodcutter
Chapter 5Our Room
Chapter 6A New One‘
Chapter 7 The Forbidden Room
Chapter 8Junk Kids
Chapter 9Wolf
Chapter 10And Then There Were Three
Chapter 11And Then There Were Two
Chapter 12Envy
Chapter 13Tar Soap
Chapter 14Runaways
Chapter 15Zigzagging
Chapter 16
Chapter 17The Woodcutter
Chapter 18Misty
Chapter 19What If?
Chapter 20Junk
Chapter 21The Crate
Chapter 22Pirates Chest
Chapter 23Aspirations
Chapter 24Pig
Chapter 25
Chapter 26A Sponge
Chapter 27Phew!‘
Chapter 28Soap Suds
Chapter 29Red Hoop
Chapter 30Hounds
Chapter 31Yellow Belly
Chapter 32No Argument
Chapter 33Angry Heat
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36Fairy Cakes
Chapter 37Secret
Chapter 38Leaks
Chapter 39Saul’s Place
Chapter 40
Chapter 41Get Up!
Chapter 42Junk Mountain
Chapter 43The Chest
Chapter 44Guilt
Chapter 45Saul’s Story
Chapter 46Avent Gotisville
Chapter 47Knowing
Chapter 48Accusations
Chapter 49Fire
Chapter 50Ransacked
Chapter 51Lost
Chapter 52Running
Chapter 53Tomorrow
Chapter 54
Chapter 55Intruder
Chapter 56Loot
Chapter 57Follow Me
Chapter 58Counting
Chapter 59Unnatural Light
Chapter 60Magic
Chapter 61Melina
Chapter 62Dear Lord
Chapter 63Biggest Bite
Chapter 64My Very Own Writing Book
Chapter 65Missing Kids
Chapter 66Facts First
Chapter 67Ada Bright
Chapter 68Well I Never!
Chapter 69