‘When?’
‘Now?’
He frowned and started to shake his head, ‘You see I have to run and see Sharon,’ I lied.
He continued to shake his head but said, ‘I shouldn’t really, but, well ok. Say “Hi” to Shazzer for me.’
‘Of course Jon and I will tell her what a help you have been.’
He beamed at this.
Zeke, Tommo and Sam all sat waiting to see Jon as I went back to Kurt and Jade. ‘How’s it going guys?’
‘Got some stuff to look at, can I come and see you tomorrow?’ Kurt asked. ‘Me and all?’ Jade added.
‘Err sure, I think, can’t it wait till Friday?
They looked at each other, ‘No mate, just us two. Not the others.’
Alarm bells started to ring in my head, ‘You’re not pregnant are you?’ I asked Jade.
‘Nooo Prof!’ she cried. ‘We will tell you tomorrow.’
‘They probably don’t want to be embarrassed about whatever it is they want to talk to you about. In fact they must have begun to start trusting you, I am surprised Jade didn’t clock you one to be honest,’ Stacy said as we drank our afternoon tea.
‘Hmmm maybe. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.’
‘Yep. Now what are your plans for tonight?’
I didn’t have any, or any money come to that, ‘Oh a cosy night in with my radio.’
‘And what’s on the menu?’
‘Sorry?’
‘What are you eating tonight?’
‘Oh not sure yet, I’ll decide later,’ despite Stacy having bought me fish and chips as well as a shirt, I was for some reason very reticent about admitting to her that I was broke again until Thursday, the day after tomorrow.
‘Right….. How do you get on with kids?’ she asked.
Grateful for the unexpected change of subject I said, ‘Well I would hardly call them kids, but yes I think your right and maybe we are developing a rapport.’
‘No dummy! Kids? Little kids.’
‘Oh, well small children are a lot like bad breath in my experience,’ I said. She stared at me wide eyed and with her mouth half open.
‘Go on,’ she said.
‘Well, you only really notice how odorous they are when they are not yours.’
‘I see,’ she said putting her cup down. ‘Max?’ she called.
Max? Was the fabled Max here, I was at last going to meet the man that had won this complex, infuriating and yet kind woman’s heart.
‘He’s here?’ I asked and she nodded in response. ‘That’s great, I have wanted to meet him,’ she just raised her eyebrows.
‘Yes Mummy?’ a child’s voice said as a boy of no more than five entered the kitchen.
‘This is Max,’ Stacy declared, grabbing him and scooping him up. ‘And he is a very grown up four!’ she said more to him than me, she then put her mouth to his stomach and blew against it making a rasping sound. At which he collapsed in giggles.
‘Raspberry!’ she shouted and he screamed happily and ran from the room. ‘Well that’s a pity she said, as I was going to invite you around for dinner.’
Back in my room I felt humiliated, angry and to be fair hungry as well. How was I supposed to know Max was a child? As pleasant as the boy seemed my observations on children in general were valid I felt. Parents as a rule tended to ignore some quite appalling behaviour by their offspring whilst condemning other less malevolent children for far lesser infractions.
By the time I reached the centre the following day I was ravenous, ‘Is Yu in yet?’ I asked.
‘No, not yet. Why? You hungry?’ Stacy asked. I nodded, ‘No dinner then?’ I nodded again looking down at the floor and feeling like a small boy who had been caught doing something very silly. ‘Should have come to mine then hey?’
‘Yes, sorry.’
‘Well I guess we can always try again tonight?’
‘Really, that would be great.’
‘On one condition.’
‘Hmmm?’
‘You have to tell Max an Egyptian story.’ Well that was an easy one, ‘Annnnd…..make him laugh,’ she said. Not so easy.
‘Ah, and if I can’t,’
‘You wash up and walk home.’
Chapter 15.
Kurt and Jade arrived together later in the morning, they both looked slightly pensive and I began to wonder if they were more of a couple than met the eye.
‘So guys what can I do for you?’
They exchanged glances then Kurt handed me a booklet, ‘I got that from the job centre yesterday. I wanna join.’ I looked down at the booklet and found to my surprise that it was for the Police Force. Kurt in the police did not seem like an automatic fit. However as I considered it I realised that Stacy had been correct in that he had strong leadership qualities.
‘I see and you?’ I asked Jade.
‘The Army,’ she said handing me another recruitment booklet.
‘Ok, can I ask why you didn’t want to discuss this in front of the others? These are both very respectable goals.’
‘Nah man, we’d get laughed at.’ Kurt said. Jade nodded her agreement.
‘Yet you were able to tell each other without ridicule?’
‘What?’ they both said.
‘You didn’t laugh at each other.’
‘Yeah, well we are tight y’know?’ Kurt told me. ‘We get on and the others wouldn’t understand,’ he continued.
‘Fair enough, have you been through them yet?’ both shook their heads.
‘We thought it’d be best if you helped us,’ Jade said.
‘Ok let’s do it.’ I said, gleefully stealing Stacy’s catch phrase.
‘I heard that!”’ she called from the other room as we sat down to go through the booklets.
Jade was very keen to try and apply to be an officer but accepted she needed to gain some qualifications. Kurt however was fairly disappointed to discover he had to wait until he was eighteen to join, ‘Ah man two years dude! That’s cr… .’
‘It’s not so bad, maybe we can find a way to use the time productively?’
‘Like what?’ he was leaning back on his chair with the hard scowl I had seen during our first confrontation outside the shop.
‘How about the “Service Preparation Course”?’ Stacy chipped in. She had been standing by the doorway listening.
‘The what?’ he said.
‘It’s a one year course that is linked to college; it gets you ready for joining the services. Apply with that in your pocket and you will be quid’s in mate.’
‘Really?’
‘Yep.’
‘Where would I do it?’
‘Oh dunno, maybe……here?’ Stacy said.
That caught us all by surprise. Here? How was that going to happen?
‘Well I wanna put a course on in September anyway so why not that, what do you think Marcus?’ It sounded like a great idea, they would just need someone to deliver it. ‘Well yeah, I like it. But who would teach it?’
‘Er you?’ she said.
‘Yeah Prof you! That would be cool!’
This was not good, I had evaded the issue of not planning on being there beyond my four weeks to the extent where it seemed that they were drawing the conclusion that I would automatically be a permanent fixture.
‘Of course Jade could do the Army prep element on the same course. This would help with applying to be an officer,’ Stacy added. ‘Tell you what, let me and Marcus talk about it and we can chat again either Friday or next week.’
Too right we were going to talk about it! As the now happy Kurt and Jade left I was furious.
‘Why did you do that? How did you know all the stuff about those courses? I would have preferred it if you had discussed it with me before involving me in your plans!’
She looked shocked at my outburst, ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Wrong? Everything! I know nothing about the course you just mentioned and I need a job a paying job. So maybe I won’t be around to te
ach whatever takes your fancy.’
There I had said it, well almost. I had at least indicated that my time at the centre was finite, which was a start I told myself.
‘Ok, listen we can talk about this tonight. I am sorry if I put you on the spot it was thoughtless of me. Ok?’
‘Yes, well please don’t assume…’ I said calming slightly.
‘I won’t assume anything, I promise. I know about the course because I looked at it before deciding on the short employability one as a test. It’s three days a week for one year and needs a teacher. It was just too big a step PM.’
‘PM?’
‘Pre Marcus. Oh and by the way.’
‘Hmm?’
‘You knew nothing about Employability two weeks ago and now Zeke, Tommo and Sam will not be in on Friday.’
‘Why not?’ what had gone wrong?
‘Jon rang, they all have interviews with a local building firm.’
Chapter 16.
The unmistakable clatter of Dolly coming to a stop, announced Stacy’s arrival to collect me. I made my way downstairs and slid into the passenger seat.
‘Alright?’ she asked, I didn’t know if she was simply saying hello or genuinely asking me if I had recovered from her actions from a few hours before. To be fair I was not sure if I was alright, I was still a little angry with her but also felt guilty about my whole approach to the situation. Maybe I should get it over with, cards on the table so to speak?
‘Yes. You?’
‘Hungry!’ she said as she smiled.
‘Where’s Max?’
‘The odorous one?’
Ah, well yes I hadn’t carried myself off impeccably either had I?
‘Ermm, sorry about that. I just don’t have much experience of children.’
‘And look at what you have achieved over the past few weeks!’
In more ways than one, I thought to myself. Was I really going to do what needed to be done tonight, here, now? I took a deep breath.
She spoke first breaking my resolve ‘He is with my friend Mel, I have to pick him up on the way home,’ she said as we pulled away. ‘Oh and Jon rang.’
‘Really, why?’
‘You missed an appointment, he was not gonna authorise you benefits this week.’
What? How on earth was I supposed to survive? ‘But I saw him yesterday!’
‘Yeah he said that but apparently it didn’t count for his records. Look its ok, I said you were helping the kids, which was true and he will see you tomorrow instead.’
How had I made such a silly error, twice as it happened, since I had initially forgotten before Jon had reminded me only to forget all over again? Once more I was in Stacy’s debt, which made it all the harder to do what I needed to do and tell her I was leaving. I knew that if it was difficult now it was going to be even worse in a few weeks after she had built up her hopes of me working full time for her. This knowledge did not help me though, despite the fact that I was fully aware that the longer I left it the harder it would be.
‘Maybe you should take tomorrow off?’
‘Why?’
‘It’s been a bit full on recently, get Jon sorted out and come in for lunch if you want?’
‘That’s very kind, thank you,’ she had got to stop this or I was never going to be able to let her down.
I reflected on how to broach the subject and decided the best way was to be as straight forward as I could. I realised that there was a risk I would be seen as being blunt so needed to pick my words carefully. ‘Listen Stacy.’
‘Yeah?’
‘I want to talk about something.’
‘What’s that?’
Ok here we go, now or never! I thought.
‘Oh, hold that thought! We are here,’ she said. I felt like making a noise similar to an airplane crashing as my resolve was once again thwarted. ‘I’ll just go and get him, won’t be a sec,’ she said as she leapt out of Dolly.
Sitting waiting I knew I had to say something before we got to her house, trying to say it during dinner would be very uncomfortable. I decided to prevent her from distracting me; or even starting Dolly before I had told her, that way if she reacted badly she could simply run me home. Or if it was really bad I could get out and walk.
I saw her coming back holding Max’s hand as he trotted next to her; she slid open the large side door in the rear and proceeded to strap him into a child seat that I had not noticed before. Her concentration was understandably fully on this important task so I waited until she was behind the wheel again. Once in she turned to Max and said ‘You ok buddy?’ He gave her a big smile and thumbs up signal. This was my chance.
‘Listen….’
‘Rock and Roll!’ Max shouted.
Oh good grief!
Stacy started laughing, ‘Sorry he loves to shout that when we drive away, what was it you wanted to say?’
The moment had thoroughly been lost but I had to push on, ‘I err, wanted to talk to you about the course you mentioned today.’
‘Yeah sure I know.’
She knew? Knew what?
‘Look I am sorry I dropped it on you like that please don’t let that put you off.’
‘Well ok, but it’s not the way you told me. Well it is a little bit. A lot actually, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about.’
‘I’m sorry, ok? She replied. I accept it was inconsiderate but if I offer you a heartfelt apology, which I do by the way, then can we move past it?’ She was not being defensive but genuinely seemed to be accepting her mistake; this was getting harder and harder.
She reached to turn the ignition key, ‘No wait!’ I almost shouted. She looked at me in surprise. Max added ‘Ohhh, Mummy!’ from the rear as he was obviously taken aback at my outburst as well.
‘You see, the thing is….’
There was a tapping on Stacy’s window; a woman was standing there grinning at her. Go away! I wanted to scream at her but Stacy was winding down her window, ‘Hi Ya Mel! What’s up?’
‘You left this,’ Mel said, holding a bag up. ‘All Max’s best toys!’ she added for his benefit, which made him shriek with excitement and reach for them.
‘Cheers Mel, sorry. Oh this is Marcus, Marcus this is Mel.’ Mel nodded to me and said, ‘Be nice to her mate, she is a bit special this one.’
‘Special case maybe!’ Stacy said as she laughed.
‘Ok, will do,’ I said.
Stacy started Dolly, ‘Well spotted,’ she said. ‘Leaving Max’s toys would have been a disaster. Hey Max?’ she said looking the rear view mirror at him.
‘Rock and Roll!’ he shouted.
‘What did you want to say?’
‘It can wait.’
Her house was a small terraced affair in a fairly quiet street; in fact Dolly’s arrival was probably the loudest thing that had happened all day I assumed.
‘This is nice,’ I said.
She gave me a long sideways glance, ‘Nice or different?’
‘How about pleasant?’ I tried.
She smiled at that then just sat behind the wheel and seemed to consider the house for a second, Max decided the pause had gone on too long an announced ‘This is my house,’ just in case I was unsure it seemed.
Stacy looked back and smiled at him, ‘Yes it is buddy and before that it was Granny and Granddad’s house,’ she said looking at me. ‘They left it to me; actually my Dad left it to my Mum and a whole heap of money. My Mum then left the lot to me hence buying the centre.’ There was another pause before she said, ’Right let’s do it!’ and jumped out of Dolly.
Once in the house Stacy left me alone with Max as she set about making lots of noise in the kitchen, Max elected to spend the time showing me his toys and explain in great depth what each one was. His favourite was a Dinosaur imaginatively named Lucy, an unusual choice for a T Rex I had to admit.
‘Do you like my Mummy?’ he suddenly asked.
Caught slightly off guard I managed to reply ‘Yeah, she is very nice.’
‘I love her; she’s the best Mummy in the world.’
‘Well that’s good news. Lucky you.’
He nodded sagely, then said ‘Where’s your Mummy? Is she dead?’
‘Err no, she’s not dead.’
‘He considered this then advised me with great authority that ‘Ricky at playgroup told me that most old peoples Mummies are dead.’
‘Not mine.’
‘Where is she?’
‘Max, don’t be rude!’ Stacy called form the kitchen. I actually didn’t think he was being rude, his line of questioning was logical considering the information he was working with.
‘Ah well you can tell Ricky he is wrong in this case. My Mummy is in Devon with, my Dad.’
Seemingly satisfied that this topic of conversation had run its course he proceeded to demonstrate how Lucy would eat me if I was “bad”.
Stacy eventually took him up to bed and as I sat alone in the living room I once again began to consider how to tell Stacy I would be leaving. Alfie’s opinion that she did not own me was at the forefront of my mind, as was the thought that I had never made any commitment to stay beyond the four weeks. If she had assumed things and was relying on her assumptions to come to fruition then more the fool her, this was not my fault I told myself.
So why did I feel so bad?
‘Ok, Marcus. You’re on!’ she called from the landing.
‘Sorry?’ I had no idea what she meant.
‘Story time remember? With the laugh proviso!’
I had forgotten that, ‘Ah, ok,’ I said far more confidently than I felt.
Sitting next to Max’s bed I felt a bit lost, well a lot lost actually. ‘Toby in Trouble!’ Max declared, Marcus in trouble was more like it. I looked at Stacy who advised me that ‘Max likes Thomas stories; his favourite is Toby in Trouble.’
‘Thomas?’
‘The Tank Engine! Blimey were you never a kid?’
‘Not that I can remember.’
‘Max buddy, Marcus is going to tell you a story about ancient Egypt! A none scary story,’ the last part of the sentence was pointedly for me.
Max showed his enthusiasm for this by drumming his legs on the mattress under the duvet. This was it, I was centre stage.
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