sat at a corner next to Tom. At first I was too irritated to feel hungry. When Julie passed me a plate of food I told her I didn’t want it. She said, ‘Don’t be silly,’ put the plate down between my knife and fork, and smiled at Derek. He nodded, understanding everything. While we ate, Julie and Sue did all the talking. Derek sat perfectly upright. He spread a red and blue handkerchief over his lap and when he had finished he dabbed at his moustache with it. Then he folded it up carefully before he put it in his pocket. I wanted to see them touch each other. Julie rested her hand on the crook of his elbow and asked for the salt to be passed. I reached the egg-cup before Derek and as I snatched it across to my sister salt spilled the length of the table.
‘Careful,’ Derek said softly. The girls began a jumpy conversation about throwing salt over your shoulder and walking under ladders. At one point I saw Derek wink at Tom who lowered his head so his curls hid his face. Afterwards Julie took Derek out into the garden, and Sue and I washed the dishes. I did no more than stand about with a dishcloth in my hand. We watched out of the kitchen window. Julie was pointing to the little paths and steps which were now almost invisible under the tangle of brownish weeds. Derek pointed towards the tower blocks and made a wide sweep with his arm as if ordering them to collapse. Julie was nodding seriously. Sue said, ‘He’s got really broad shoulders, hasn’t he? He must have had that suit made specially.’ We stared at Derek’s back. His head was small and round, the hair all the same length, like a brush.
‘He’s not so strong,’ I said, ‘and he’s pretty thick.’
Sue lifted wet plates out of the sink and looked for somewhere to put them.
‘He could beat you up with his little finger,’ she said.
‘Hah!’ I cried. ‘Let him try it.’
A little later Julie and her boyfriend sat down by the rockery. Sue took the cloth from me and started to dry the dishes. She said, ‘I bet you can’t guess what he does,’ and I answered, ‘I don’t give a fuck what he does.’
‘You’ll never guess. He’s a snooker player.’
‘So what?’
‘He plays snooker for money, he’s incredibly rich.’ I looked at Derek again and thought about this. He was sitting sideways on to me listening to Julie. He had pulled up a long stalk of grass and he was biting small pieces off it and spitting them out. All the time he nodded at what Julie was saying, and when at last he spoke he rested his hand lightly on her shoulder. What he said made Julie laugh.
‘And there was something about him in the paper,’ Sue was saying.
‘What paper?’ Sue named the local weekly and I laughed.
‘Everyone gets written about in that,’ I said, ‘if they live long enough.’
‘I bet you don’t know how old he is.’ I made no reply.
‘Twenty-three,’ Sue said proudly and smiled at me. I wanted to hit her.
‘What’s so amazing about that?’
Sue dried her hands. ‘It’s a perfect age for a bloke.’
I said, ‘What are you talking about? Who said?’
Sue hesitated. ‘Julie said.’
I gasped and ran out of the kitchen. In the living room I paused to look for Commander Hunt. He had been tidied away into a bookshelf. I ran upstairs with the book to the bedroom, slammed the door hard and lay down on the bed.
8
More frequently my bad dreams became nightmares. There was a huge wooden box in the hallway which I must have passed a dozen times before without giving it a second thought. Now I stopped to look. The lid that used to be nailed on tight was hanging loose, some of the nails were bent back and the wood around them was splintered and white. I was standing as near to the box as I could without being able to see inside. I knew I was in a dream and that it was important not to panic. Something was in the box. I managed to open my eyes a little and saw the bottom corner of my bed before they weighed shut. I was in the
Mary Pope Osborne
Richard Sapir, Warren Murphy
Steve Miller
Davis Ashura
Brian Aldiss
Susan Hahn
Tracey Martin
Mette Ivie Harrison
V. J. Chambers
Hsu-Ming Teo