by S M Mala
He walked all the way round to see Hatty sitting on a chair with Philip bent down, looking up at her.
He kept back when he noticed Philip’s concerned expression.
‘That was last time, it won’t happen again,’ he gently said. Jake noticed his large hand was on her thigh and he twitched with jealousy then realised Philip’s accent was more American than local. ‘And now instead of crying afterwards, ya cry before.’
‘Because I know,’ he heard her sob, unable to see her face as her back was turned to him.
‘It’s all in ya head little one.’
‘I just feel sad,’ she sobbed. ‘Delores doesn’t understand. She’s prancing around like the lady of the house and I’m just whispered about.’
‘Them people only surprise ya look like a woman,’ laughed Philip. ‘Instead of a homeless poor man.’
‘They all hate me.’
‘Hatty, no one who knows ya well enough to hate ya, silly gal.’ Philip squeezed her thigh. ‘Me ya friend, me tell ya da truth.’
‘So all I have to do is walk round once, get a drink, a plate of food then I can go,’ she said, wiping her face.
‘An’ stop cryin’.’
‘Are my eyes really red?’
‘Well, I can see them from here,’ said Jake, coming out of the shadows and walking towards them. Philip jumped up quickly, greeting him with a wide smile and an outstretched hand. ‘I’m Jake Logan.’
‘Good to meet you Mr Logan,’ Philip said. Jake put his hand into the large palm and shook it. ‘I’m Philip Isaacs.’
‘Yes, I know,’ he said and noticed Hatty was putting her head up in the air, wiping her tears furiously away. ‘Is she alright?’
‘She’s not a party gal, are ya Hatty?’
‘No,’ she croaked, not turning around.
‘Mr Logan, would you do me a favour?’ asked Philip, eyeing Hatty suspiciously. ‘Could you take Hatty into the party?’
‘No!’ she said, standing up and turning to the pair of them.
Jake stood there and once again couldn’t speak. Seeing Hatty, close up, made her only more gorgeous. He took a deep breath and noticed Philip smiling.
‘Go into da kitchen an’ wash ya face,’ said Philip. Hatty stood there and looked at him before quickly doing as she was told. ‘She not gat no idea, ya know.’
‘About what?’ Jake said, staring at her.
‘About her beauty,’ he smiled.
‘Why’s she crying? Who upset her?’
He stepped forward, watching her splash water on her face before drying it.
‘Everyone and no one! She’s very sensitive.’
‘She seems to be confident enough when I see her.’
‘It’s all a front,’ laughed Philip. ‘She thinks too hard about things.’
‘Thinks about what?’
‘Who she is, where she comes from, why she killed her mother and father,’ sighed Philip. Jake immediately turned to Philip. ‘And dem people out dere love to talk an’ dey call her a miracle to a witch, a poor gal or a rich one. I blame Miss Delores for all this as she tries and protects Hatty but it make the girl more alone. She need friends she can trust. Some people, like boys, only want to know her cos she live ‘ere. And also she’s a very beautiful woman.’
‘Gina Glory Glory better not hit me if she sees me with you,’ Hatty said, marching towards them, her spirit back on track. ‘And if anyone says anything horrible to me, I’m just going to punch them!’
‘Dat me gal!’ laughed Philip as he shrugged. ‘Mr Logan, keep an eye on her as me gat to do sometin’.’
‘Sure but call me Jake,’ he said, taking a deep breath and trying to control the urge to touch her as she stood in front of him. ‘Are you going to be good?’ She looked up into his eyes and nodded. ‘Good.’ Philip quickly walked off and it was just them. ‘Ready?’ He put out his arm as she glanced at it and walked slowly back around the house, ignoring his gesture. ‘Fine.’
Jake could see the angst in her eyes as he walked with her. He knew there was no point making conversation as her lips were pursed though he did notice too many people were looking at the pair of them.
‘You’re very popular,’ he leaned down and whispered in her ear.
‘You’re not funny,’ she said and he saw the hurt in her eyes. Jake immediately slipped his hand into hers as she scowled at him. ‘Let go!’
‘No,’ he said and dragged her around saying ‘hello’ to everyone. ‘Hello I’m Jake and this is Hatty.’
‘Why are you doing this? They all know I’m Ha Ha mad as a hatter Hatty. The child who’s cursed.’ Her voice cracked a little and Jake wanted to hold her close, realising her hand was shaking.
‘You’re being melodramatic,’ he said, pulling her around.
‘You can let go of my hand now.’
‘I don’t want to,’ he smiled, feeling her small palm in his. ‘I’m protecting you because we’re like brother and sister, aren’t we?’
Hatty watched Jake walk around the party as she stayed firmly fixed with Louisa on the balcony, knowing too many people wouldn’t have the nerve to venture closer to the house.
‘It wasn’t that bad and you’re having a good time,’ laughed Louisa. ‘Jake Logan is a fine looking man, ya hear?’
‘He’s okay,’ she shrugged watching him flirt, knowing he was a bit drunk. Hatty sipped her drink and tasted the wine on her lips before grinning. ‘I told him I didn’t drink gin and my father was a drunk so he probably thinks I’m tee total.’
‘You what!’ laughed out Louisa. ‘Didn’t you tell him the last time you got drunk they found you passed out in a bush outside your house and Delores went mental?’
‘Better he thinks I’m naive and virtuous because he’s got less chance to get ideas,’ Hatty sighed, feeling a stab of disappointment.
‘Ya really like him?’ hissed Louisa, moving closer.
‘He’s Murray Logan’s son.’
‘Look around this place. Who stands out?’ smiled her friend as Hatty searched the ground and stopped at Gina, who was glaring over.
‘Her and him,’ said Hatty quietly, looking into her glass. ‘Perfect couple!’ She looked up and noticed Gina stomping towards her. ‘Oh shit!’
‘Ha Ha Hatty,’ Gina said drunkenly, turning her nose up at Louisa. ‘What dat about?’
‘What?’
‘Holding me man’s hand?’ she snapped, focussing on her before narrowing her eyes. ‘‘e’s with me so keep away.’
‘He’s got a girlfriend,’ said Hatty, sitting back in her chair knowing she wasn’t out of the woods. ‘She lives in New York.’
‘Ya tink cos ya live ‘ere ya better dan me?’ hissed Gina as Hatty glanced at Louisa for some moral support.
‘Leave her alone, she not done nuttin’ to you!’ snapped Louisa, giving Gina a filthy look.
‘Ya stupid like ya broder, Louisa Isaacs. She makin’ a fool of ‘im!’ snarled Gina.
‘It gat nuttin’ to do wid ya!’ snapped Louisa. ‘Go an’ fin’ ya man before some oder gold digger get dere first.’
‘Ya stick up for dat?’ Gina said, pointing a finger, as Hatty closed her eyes knowing people were looking. ‘No moder, no fader, she nuttin!’
‘Why don’t you shut-.’
‘It’s okay Louisa,’ said Hatty, not wanting to cause a scene and looking up at Gina. ‘You’re right I’m nothing and you’re something so very special. Now I told you, go away.’
‘Everyone laugh at ya, ya stupid gal!’ carried on Gina as Hatty gulped hard.
‘You’ve had too much to drink.’
‘Well have some of mine then,’ said Gina and threw the drink in Hatty’s face. She sat there and heard small gasps as her insides trembled knowing she was on the verge of crying. Hatty stood up and made eye contact with Gina, who looked at her as if waiting for some reaction. ‘Ya kill everyone ya touch, don’t ya?’
‘Do the men still sing ‘Gina Glory Glory Hallelujah‘ when you walk past? Is it becaus
e they’ve fucked you or just picked up something nasty and have to explain it to their wives and girlfriends. You’re the one who everyone’s laughing at. The only good thing you can do is get on your back and I know your secrets Glory.’
Hatty then stepped around her as people laughed.
‘Why you little-.’
‘I think you should go home,’ she heard Murray Logan say in the background.
Hatty held her head up high and walked straight past Philip and Jake, going towards her house.
‘Hatty! Hatty!’ she heard Delores shout behind her. ‘Stop!’
Hatty turned around when she reached the house, full of anger and tears, before screaming at her aunt,
‘I’m never ever going to one of the parties again! Do you hear me! Never! I don’t care what you think. I’m not putting up with this shit anymore!’
Six
Hatty sat in her hiding place as the rain fell and she stayed dry under the tree. She’d managed to avoid everyone for the weekend. She didn’t bother to speak to Delores, especially since her aunt watched her rip the dress up and throw it into the bin the following day.
‘What have I done wrong?’ she whispered to herself, closing her eyes and not wanting to cry again, too scared to go on her bike just in case people spotted her.
Her mobile phone was ringing and she knew it was Delores wanting to know where she was. Hatty stood up and walked towards the old house, looking around, before she opened the back door with a key and walked in. She smiled for the first time in days as she admired her own handy work at restoring it.
Slowly, she walked up the stairs into the main bedroom and looked at the immaculate place. All the wood back to its natural beauty before she spotted the chest she had made from scratch. Hatty lifted the lid then turned off the phone, flinging it in with the three others she said she’d ‘lost’. She sat by the trunk and looked through her keepsakes. Hatty smiled at her mother’s collection of recipes in a small book. She gently touched it before pulling it out of the box.
‘No one wants me here and I’ve got no one else in the whole wide world except you, Murray and Barney.’
She sadly looked through photos of when she was a child. She noticed her baby hairbrush before she touched a dress that belonged to her mother. Gently she pulled it out and removed it from the plastic bag, holding the light yellow dress in the air before standing up. It was too long for her. Putting the dress to her nose, she sniffed, hoping to find something she would remember. Soon she realised she couldn’t remember a thing.
Then she spotted Simon’s diary, which she’d still not had the guts to read, and stroked it gently, getting angry with Gina once again.
After putting the things away, she opened the shutters over-looking the sea. The violent grey liquid smashed against the rocks, spitting white foam in its wake as the sand stayed perfectly flat. The sky matched the colour of the sea and consequently her heart.
Hatty walked around the house, checking everything was clean before going into the dining room where she stored her other possessions.
Mirrors, boxes, bowls, all created from wood, were neatly stacked on the floor and her work bench was still messy from when she last used it. Today she didn’t feel like doing anything, so sat in the corner on the stool and examined her secret work room. It was nearly afternoon and she knew she had to go home before the echo of her name would be shouted all around.
‘Hatty!’ she heard at the door. ‘Let me in.’
It was Philip.
‘I’m not here,’ she replied.
‘Open up! Me gettin’ wet!’ She slowly got up and went to the kitchen door, unlocking it and letting him in. His arms were full of drift wood as he came in, dripping wet with a massive smile. ‘Look what we got here!’
‘Thanks,’ she said, unenthusiastically, as she noticed Philip frowned for a moment. She walked back into her work room. ‘Put them on the table and I can dry them out.’
‘Your aunt keep pesterin’ me, wantin’ to know where you are,’ he said, throwing the wood on the table. ‘Me said me saw you on the other side of the island.’
‘Did she ask how I got there?’
‘I said you came to the house and I gave you a lift,’ he smirked. ‘If she knows you here, she beat your rass.’
‘She don’t!’
‘Gina Morgan, bold as brass that girl, went into the office and apologised to Mr Murray for her behaviour.’
‘But not to me.’ Hatty bit her lip again.
‘She ain’t gonna do that and you know it.’
‘Well as long as she keeps her job and everyone’s happy that’s all that counts.’
‘This is beautiful,’ Philip said, picking up a bowl. ‘You a talented gal.’
‘Talented at killing people.’
‘Hatty,’ said Philip, painfully. ‘Ya not kill anyone.’
‘If it wasn’t for me my mother would be alive, then my father wouldn’t have died and Simon-.’ Hatty took a deep breath. ‘Simon would be here and Glory Morgan wouldn’t hate me as much as she does.’
‘The boy drown so leave it. It ‘appen.’
‘She’s never going to make me forget it, is she?’
‘Ya can’t live like this,’ Philip said, walking up to her and pushing her back down to sit down. ‘Life is strange. It not ya fault tings ‘appen.’
‘Friday night people looked at me like I’m odd. Like there’s something unlucky about me,’ she said, trying not to cry again. ‘I try to act like I’m happy, like everything’s okay but I’m not. I say I want to stay here on the island but … who am I kidding? They don’t want me.’
‘Your Aunt Delores would be happy if you went away, ya know.’
‘Even she doesn’t want me around.’
‘People very good at criticising an’ makin’ judgements.’
‘She’d never leave Murray. Why does she accept he’ll never marry her or be open about their relationship?’
‘Because his heart belongs to someone else,’ he gently replied, taking her small hand in his. ‘Delores accepts this.’
‘His poor wife,’ said Hatty, looking into Philip’s dark eyes. ‘He must’ve been heartbroken, though that son of his wasn’t nice about it.’ Philip laughed. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘Mister Murray Junior taken a shine to ya, ya know.’
‘He thinks I’m strange.’
‘Me tink he tink other tings,’ sniggered Philip. ‘The way he look at ya, gal.’
‘He’s got a girlfriend and Gina Glory Glory bitch Morgan. I can’t play. Plus Delores has told me to keep away. Ya not tink ‘e me broder?’
‘Ya don’t look alike! He far prettier!’ laughed Philip loudly, releasing her hand. ‘And if me look at Louisa like dat, me fader kill me!’
‘Her man’s married.’
‘Not me to pass judgement on me sister.’
‘I know,’ Hatty let out a sigh and stood up. ‘I don’t know what to do. Do you think they’re going to force me to apologise to Glory Morgan?’
‘Have you spoken to anyone since Friday?’
‘Nah!’
‘Ya better get home before Delores scream blue murder.’
More guests had arrived for the evening when Hatty returned to the estate, in the back of the pick-up truck with her bicycle. She scowled at the people laughing in the gardens and noticed it looked like a dinner party.
‘Party, party, party,’ she scowled at Philip. He walked around the truck and stood with his hands on his hips. ‘None stop fun in this place!’
‘Out!’ he said, pointing to the house. ‘Go and speak to ya aunt.’
‘I’m not apologising to her,’ she replied defiantly and stood up, walking to the edge as Philip easily picked her up by the waist and put her down on the ground.
‘Ya know I’d marry ya if me tought it would ‘elp but it wouldn’t.’
‘We could get married and then we’d both be happy,’ she said wishfully. ‘I’d be a good wife and you’d let me work for you
r company. It would be wonderful as I’d be able to use the tools and you have so much wood!’ She was met with a roar of his rich laughter as he shook his head. ‘You’re the only one who knows what I’m like and I know what you’re like. We wouldn’t have to answer to anyone.’
‘But me not make ya ‘appy and ya just make me mad,’ he sniggered and tapped her head.
‘You make me happy. You understand me.’
‘Ya need to fall in love with someone.’
‘Why? No one’s going to fall in love with me. I’m from bad stock and I’m cursed with bad luck.’
‘Hatty, ya should write. Ya good at talkin’ nonsense,’ Philip replied, getting her bike off the back of the truck and placing it in down so she could hold it. ‘Ya know, I could never love ya de way ya want and ya know me would want to kill ya after a week.’
‘I know,’ she sighed before smiling. ‘But one day you will say ‘yes’ to marriage when all else fails.’
‘And far me, dat would be a very dark day indeed.’
Sneaking into the main kitchen of the house, she put some rice in a cup and poured over spicy chicken stew. She grabbed a spoon and disappeared back to her own home. Hatty sat on the other side of the bungalow which was private and cut off from the rest of the estate. She ate her food very quickly then washed up the cup before going for a shower.
As she sat in her bedroom, she could hear laughter from the large house and noticed the beautiful crowd of people gathering outside. She spotted Delores, who was looking after the guests and waiting staff, then ducked under her window. Hatty headed back into their garden and sat in the hammock, hanging between two trees, staring up at the sky.
She didn’t know how long she was thinking about nothing when she heard Barney yelp at her.
‘Watch it pooch or I’ll fall out and squash you,’ she said, seeing the dog look up at her wanting to play.
‘Leave him alone,’ Murray said, walking towards her as she noticed his long tanned legs approaching.
‘Evening Mister Murray,’ she said, unenthusiastically, letting her hand hang down so she could gently hit the dog on the head as she rocked herself back and forth with her foot.
‘Four days, not bad for keeping a low profile,’ he said, sucking on his cigar, looking down at her. ‘What’ve you been up to?’