‘Did he show you the oak?’
‘What’s that – should he have?’
He settled deeper into his cushion, retracting the urgency of his question.
‘He might have,’ she said. ‘It was a long walk and I was a little confused. He certainly talked of birds.’ They laughed as Rich refilled their glasses and Victoria proposed a new tribute. ‘To the birds.’
As their drinks met Radford noticed the hair at her temple seemed to be coming away from the scalp.
‘Are you okay?’ He reached without thinking and she pulled her head back, panicked. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—’
‘Don’t worry.’ She fixed the hair, pressing her thumb at her forehead, calming. ‘Thank you.’
All at once she seemed so familiar and he could not understand why. They talked about music and Radford saw no reason to pretend: he told her he knew nothing of it. She applauded this, saying that she knew everything about it but only enjoyed the tunes that Snuffy thought were obvious. She asked if he preferred sport or art or books.
‘No, none of those.’
‘So what do you think about?’
He pondered this for some time, gazing into the ceiling cloud, and she began to fit with laughter.
‘West is your good friend?’ She pointed to where he was playing cards with Lewis.
‘What do you mean?’
‘He’s been looking to see if you’re okay.’
‘Oh, right. I’m still on your last question.’
The ceiling continued to offer no assistance.
‘Your eyes,’ she said. ‘They are so blue.’
‘They’re brown.’
‘I say they’re blue.’
They talked of other things, of how well each other did or did not sleep and whether they thought in full sentences or a mush of ideas. Her hair, again, came away from her skin and he let it be. Just so familiar. He wanted to have his eyelids come closed and yet be able to see. He wanted so much to swim backstroke above them through the smoke. To meet her by sightless senses.
The door heaved open. Teddy stood tired and holding himself together against the gale. ‘All right, you pigs,’ he said quite happily and made beckoning gestures outside.
A thin shirt was visible beneath his dressing-gown, which he clutched to keep together. His slippers were wet and caked. Snuffy stood and with no conviction hid the whisky behind his back.
‘Yes, yes,’ Teddy said. ‘What surprise. Come, one and all, we know the procedure. Must we persist? Let us skip the formalities and return to the house and all get on with our rotten lives. I am too ill, too bored, to go through the tedious dishing out of punishments.’
He remained at the side of the door and presided over the procession of cowards. They all stooped at the point of passing, as if Teddy’s sleepy glare threatened to lash them. They all apologised in their way. Some mouthed or squeaked sorry. Brass batted himself on the back of the head as he exited. West and Radford gave the least, feeling the worst, shuffling near the doorway while Victoria and Snuffy backed themselves into the fire’s corner.
‘All me,’ Snuffy said, raising his cigarette. ‘I’m to blame.’
Teddy’s face grew grim, tightening. ‘Yes. Yes, you are, Simon. You ruiner.’
‘We’re so sorry,’ West said.
Teddy kept his stare with Snuffy. ‘These boys are guests. Simon, you are an employee. Am I correct? I couldn’t care less at their behaviour, but you …’
No-one spoke for a time. Music now seemed so juvenile. The red in the old man’s face faded and he ran a hand across the back of his neck.
‘I’m sorry,’ Victoria said. ‘Stupid of us. After everything.’
‘Oh, good grief,’ Teddy said and adjusted his gown cord. ‘Let’s not get maudlin.’ He put his hands on West and Radford, herding them outside. ‘But, if the wrong kind of person had visited the house today, well … There are many convinced we’re having a great joke out here and would be pleased to see us all out on our arses. Am I right? And none of you thought to invite me.’
‘We truly are sorry,’ Victoria said, not hearing the joke.
The boys checked each other’s faces. Teddy reached out and plucked the smouldering fag from between West’s fingers. He took a full, glamorous drag.
‘I am only flesh and blood,’ he said. ‘Only flesh.’
He returned the stub and marched outside, bringing all behind. They were gratefully subjugated, rubbish in the wind.
*
Radford and West had broken away to the belfry, and for three cigarettes they took seat of their thrones. Snuffy had in one way or another been the dominating topic of conversation since the morning of his arrival, but a change had come in the previous twenty-four hours. All had flipped and it seemed the boys were trying to last the longest without breathing his name.
‘Snuffy. How old is he?’ Radford asked, bowing out of competition.
‘Twenty-two.’
They nodded, in quiet reverence to this.
‘Are you in love with Victoria yet?’
Radford waved the notion away too vigorously.
‘You should be, if you’re not,’ West said.
‘In love?’
‘Of course.’
It was a clumsy thought that had occurred to Radford more than once. He wondered if it could be accurate. How pathetic that would be. How obvious.
‘What would it mean if I was?’
‘Nothing at all,’ West said.
‘I haven’t admitted to this.’
‘I thought it might be something you’d like to talk about.’ West gestured for the matchbook. ‘Love is something people want to endlessly discuss, to speak like they might be in a film.’ He paused, putting weight on one knee and mimicking a matinee idol. ‘I prefer to smoke, it being one of life’s elementary pleasures. No courtship. No having to reason with the thing or earn its respect. You introduce it to a flame and …’ He took a drag. ‘You breathe. Other pleasures are fine and worth chasing, but to smoke … is to taste life undiluted.’
‘How profound. And what of you and love?’ Radford asked.
‘Of course not.’
‘But you say I should.’
‘You should.’
Evening was hurrying over the house and the sound of bodies piling on the stairs was leaking through the flimsy door. Radford would not give himself up just yet.
‘You may have to go on wondering for a while,’ he said.
‘I will.’ Ugly shots of half-melted snow began to fall across West’s face. ‘Something I haven’t told you. My parents are coming.’
‘Here? I didn’t know – didn’t know it was allowed.’
‘Of course, just doesn’t happen too often. I mean, why would they come?’
‘Yours have been before?’
West smiled. ‘Three months since my father, six for Mother. And even then she refused to leave the car. The chill was dangerous. Jesus – there were butterflies, Radford, butterflies dancing gaily about the sundews. Twenty minutes, they never left the driveway.’ He released a cough of laughter. ‘Will yours come? Some day?’ His smile chewed itself to a grimace.
Radford waited, still and long enough for snow to litter his hair. He had not packed all he needed in his suitcase and would need to ask after a woollen hat. He imagined the snow aging him, making him grey before his time. He wouldn’t answer his friend, or even consider the question.
West pushed out of his seat and squinted into the increasing downpour. ‘Oh, will you stop?’ He shook a fist and gave all his venom to the sky. ‘Will you stop the god-sodding snow? Stop the wind. Stop all of this! Winter! You bastard! What is your point?’
He was pushing his knuckles into his sides and looking around his feet for something on which to impose violence. The kick he delivered to his throne wa
s an impressive one and white flew up like dirt after a landed grenade. Radford lunged and gave his own detonative kick. They raised eyebrows in agreement and leapt on the throne, demolishing it with hooves and blows. They were roaring and screeching, lustful in the act of devastation. It was Radford who first picked up a chunk and launched it at the sky. West followed and they were soon frantic, collecting clods of snow and hurling them to the air, over the edge of the belfry walls and out of the light’s bounds.
‘You will not take us!’
They exhausted all breath and energy and stood facing, leaning into one another.
A fleeting thought came into Radford’s mind. Who of the house had been given this attention of West’s before his arrival? It seemed real to Radford, but what if it was nothing special and he had simply been the next?
West was able to gather air. ‘Did we win?’
‘The campaign will be long.’
‘Of course.’ West was staring into his colourless hands. ‘Perhaps we retreat, just for the time being. I can’t feel my fingers.’
Together, combining their numb feet and unbending digits, they found a way inside and began a graceless run to the fire.
*
Radford came into the hall. ‘They’re here?’
That morning West had been a mess, neat but nervous in a way that Radford found infectious. The pair had sent each other into an anxious spiral and in the end West had demanded Radford be sequestered in his room.
‘Up in Teddy’s now,’ Lewis said.
At the staircase the group huddled against the railing, their heads cocked.
‘Anything?’
Brass looked up at the disturbance, annoyed.
‘Not much,’ Rich said in a whisper. ‘They went straight in, all serious. Heard a raised voice before, couldn’t make it out, the mother.’
The mere squeak of Radford’s footstep attracted another glare from Brass.
‘The father seems a jellyfish,’ Rich said.
There was a mumbling from the floor above and an occasional pair of shifting heels.
The door to Teddy’s rooms came open. ‘Margot.’ This could only have been the father, pleading. ‘Margot, stay.’
The boys assembled as she came down clutching her purse, her vision intent on each stair as she negotiated the escape. She passed the gallery without acknowledgement.
‘We’re not finished, Margot.’ The father showed himself. ‘There are things to sort.’
He paused at coming level with the group and they feigned indifference. Rich had begun to whistle.
‘Boys, good morning.’
‘Mr West,’ Brass replied and, for reasons unknown to Radford, saluted.
West’s father and his placations hurried down after his wife. Teddy came in their wake; West too, without looking up from his sharply polished shoes.
‘Come, now,’ Teddy said calmly as they descended.
It was unclear if this was a request to follow or a warning to remain but, like the rest, Radford followed. The mother had already made it outside. The boys stood in conspicuous clusters, knowing neither what was happening nor what could be done. Teddy spoke into the father’s ear outside the main house door.
‘You okay?’ Brass asked of West, reaching out, only to have his hand slapped away.
West began to dash frantically about the room as if outrunning a fire. He darted between the boys, pushing each away in turn. He was near crying, his face a ruin, failing to keep breath. Attracted by the ruckus, others were arriving now, and the crowding fanned West’s panic.
Foster was one among them and he came ahead and took possession of West by the collar. ‘What is it? What’s been said?’
At this Brass launched into the pair and swung his fist down, freeing West and sending the hurt Foster back into the surrounding bodies.
Teddy saw the tail end of the conflict. ‘Get rid of him.’ He pointed to the casualty as he walked back out. ‘I don’t care where.’
Foster was set upon, his arms trapped. Steered against a wall, the boy delivered a blow to at least one jaw. West looked to his father, who paused briefly before continuing to the car. The mother was already seated on the passenger side. West shoved his way through the room and deeper into the house.
‘Leave him,’ Teddy said at the doorway as Radford came forward. ‘Leave him, please.’
Someone needed to be fixing this, dragging the father back inside while someone saw to West. The mother needed to be extracted from the car, reasoned with. Yet they all just gawped like cows. Radford gave Teddy an accusing leer before running after West. He found him alone in the kitchen, at the sinks, looking out through clouded windows.
‘Yes?’ West asked.
There was no miracle of thought, nothing to counteract the abandonment. Radford had thought only as far as West being alone and the crime of that.
‘I don’t know,’ he said in the end.
West gave a short-lived smile as Radford went to his side and began to flick absently at the tea towels hanging from the oven handle.
‘I shouldn’t be shocked that they’re leaving,’ West said. ‘The surprise is that they came at all.’ He was rubbing his hand into his chest. ‘Did you see her?’
‘She looked angry.’
‘Teddy told them it was about time I went home.’ He laughed. ‘Should have seen her. Was like she’d found out she had six weeks to live.’
‘You’re going home?’
‘She said it was a crazy idea. And that I’m still crazy. All the world is mad but Mother.’
The towel and its stains gave no helpful answer. Neither did the leafless trees or Radford’s shoe tips. He screwed the towel.
‘Come on.’ He went straight. ‘Let’s give a proper goodbye, bon voyage.’
West cringed.
‘Make them remember. It’s only manners – when people leave, you give a cheerio.’
‘Maybe.’
‘Like a little kid, waving goodbye on the first day of school. They need to see. It’s pointless but it’s something for them to remember. After that we go and have a smoke. In our belfry.’
‘Okay, yes. Can I just take a minute? I’m going to wash my face. A minute?’
‘We’ll say goodbye together, all of us. To show them.’
Radford waited at the end of the hall. This would be a sight West’s parents could surely not ignore. This would hurt – the son waving farewell, fading into the distance of the rear-view mirror. He wanted their hearts to sting. West reappeared and went by without slowing, making the crowd and then outside. Radford ran after. West got ahead past Teddy and onto the pale stones of the drive while the car was reversing away, the father looking back over his shoulder and the mother’s face directed firmly downwards. Radford stood with Lewis and Rich.
‘We’re going to wave, okay?’
‘Why?’
‘To irritate that pair of cowards. Right? When West starts we join in.’
They made themselves into a rough line. Teddy took a few leaden steps back to join them and gave what seemed intended as a reassuring shrug.
‘Mother!’ West was twenty feet ahead and had one hand raised in a slow wave. ‘Father!’
‘Okay – now.’ Radford and the line began to wave ridiculously at the retreating car.
It was just as the vehicle reached the top of the drive and was near to passing through the gap in the stone wall that West removed the knife from his pocket. It was an elegant thing and shone bright and mortal against the clouds. He called merrily and brought the blade down in an unhesitating arc, slashing it against his chest.
Teddy roared. He and Brass were the first to move, breaking the line and dashing forward. Radford stayed at his mark. Others were shouting – names, sounds. West kept one hand up waving, the other with the knife. The red of blood was across its metal,
dripping down to the snow and gravel.
West sang for his mother.
Ahead the car halted and the father’s door swung open. The mother shouted something unintelligible. Teddy reached the boy first with Brass pulling the weapon from his hand and throwing it into the trees. West was spun around and ended up seated on the ground. His beautiful white shirt, one Radford had never seen him wear, bore a wide crimson slash across its front.
‘Get Lil,’ Teddy said. ‘Someone, get Lil. Tell her to bring her kit.’
Lewis claimed the task and grabbed at Rich’s arm. They went against the tide streaming outside. Radford was yet to move as it could achieve nothing. The Manor surged around West and closed a circle. Teddy waved for space and Brass ran ahead, signalling to the parents, screaming at them to stop. The father’s door closed and the car reversed to the road: they were gone before Brass made it even half the length of the drive.
Radford said nothing, thought of nothing, just looked down at West. The stripe of red had spread down that beautiful shirt. West looked back and smiled. Such an exquisite shock of colour against the white.
*
He said it had been for attention.
In the days that followed, the house was attended by two doctors, each going first with Teddy to his rooms and then to West, who was being confined to bed. No boys had been permitted to visit and one of the adults was in with him at all times, even at three in the morning when Radford and Brass had attempted and failed at a clandestine raid. The first doctor, the one with the standard grey moustache and leather bag, had been in with West for twenty minutes. The second doctor, with the rounded glasses and notepad, had stayed for most of a day, sitting with West for an hour at a time between taking Teddy for brief meetings.
Conclusions were come to.
It had not been a deep cut and was bandaged and healing. West made promise one final time that it had been only for the attention and this, ultimately, was accepted. He was to stay. The parents had been called and had not returned.
*
Radford hesitated before pushing in the door to Teddy’s office. The hunger to speak with him about West had propelled him out of bed and up the stairs but had failed to make clear anything further than the knocking.
The Everlasting Sunday Page 8