hand … ‘ Niet stoppen, niet stoppen …’
‘I’m never stopping,’ he assured her, feeling wildly alive.
He didn’t catch her reply, too busy concentrating on his thumb, on her and on that moment when he got to fall apart as well.
CHAPTER 15
Thursday 15 May
1) Four days in a row looking at microfiche leaves you with a pain behind one eye. Perhaps I could borrow Hattie’s eye-patch. But it was the uninterrupted time I needed to reach the finish line. What a lot I learned along the way.
2) 1962 was an interesting year – although studying other people’s wedding photos is not always an uplifting experience.
3) 1963 was another interesting year – and at least now I know how old Mrs Mawson is. And that she is an Aries. This does not surprise me.
4) Charlie Coburg and his wife, Penelope, did not seem like a matching pair. She was carved out of granite while he looked as if someone had squidged him together with their hands.
5) Jamie resembles his maternal grandfather. He definitelyhas his mouth and, like him, appears to be the only one in the family who can move the muscles around it to make a smile.
6) Jamie’s brother, Edward, likes to kill things. Things smaller than he is.
7) Tom’s father died when he was very young – Tom and the father.
8) Tom does not look that different now from how he looked at seventeen in his rugby kit. Except he is about twenty years older, twenty pounds heavier and goodness knows how much more pre-occupied.
9) Charlie Coburg went missing from the newspapers during 1989/1990. Perhaps he was hibernating. (This is a joke, although not the funny kind. And a riddle to which I already know the answer.)
10) The library was very quiet. I suspect that the graveyard, when I can face it, will be even quieter.
CHAPTER 16
‘What about a newt, then?’
‘No. They’re wild, they belong outside.’
‘A parrot? All pirates have parrots.’
‘Definitely not a parrot.’ Tom accompanied the reply with a stern look into the rear-view mirror. It was completely wasted on Hattie who was staring out of the window, no doubt imagining striding over a quarter-deck off the coast of Jamaica with a parrot on her shoulder.
‘Python?’ she said.
‘No. I’d find you missing and the python with a Hattie-shaped lump in it.’
‘Terrapins?’
‘Too snappy.’
‘Rats? Baz keeps rats in his shed.’
‘No. Baz has rats in his shed – as in, it’s overrun. Come on, Hattie, guinea pigs are my best offer. And not till your birthday. And you have to clean them out and feed them.’
Hattie looked unimpressed. Guinea pigs were nowhere near exotic enough.
‘Tarantula?’ she tried, ending with a melting smile.
‘Not in a million years.’ He slowed the car. ‘I did put your PE kit in the boot, didn’t I?’
She nodded vigorously. Good, no need to execute a U-turn and hare back to the house.
Hattie was now practising her karate moves as much as she could while being strapped in, which seemed to signal the end of this particular episode of Pets I Want and You Won’t Let Me Have .
As he parked the car outside school, he was a bit heavy on the brake and a large brown envelope fell from the dashboard into the footwell. It was addressed to his in-laws and contained two sets of photographs – one for Caroline and Geoffrey and one for Steph. There were some of Hattie holding the de-dinosaured bag and wearing the dress (cut down the back and pinned to a vest to make it look as if it fitted and to keep it in place). And some of Hattie in shorts and T-shirt. Tom liked the ones where Hattie was being herself, but he knew Steph would prefer the ones where she was trying to be someone else.
Also winging its way to Steph, via her parents, was a letter asking her, once more, to get divorce proceedings restarted and a briefer note setting out his plans to bringHattie to Italy in December. He wasn’t looking forward to the phone call he was going to get when she read either.
When he arrived in
‘I’m never stopping,’ he assured her, feeling wildly alive.
He didn’t catch her reply, too busy concentrating on his thumb, on her and on that moment when he got to fall apart as well.
CHAPTER 15
Thursday 15 May
1) Four days in a row looking at microfiche leaves you with a pain behind one eye. Perhaps I could borrow Hattie’s eye-patch. But it was the uninterrupted time I needed to reach the finish line. What a lot I learned along the way.
2) 1962 was an interesting year – although studying other people’s wedding photos is not always an uplifting experience.
3) 1963 was another interesting year – and at least now I know how old Mrs Mawson is. And that she is an Aries. This does not surprise me.
4) Charlie Coburg and his wife, Penelope, did not seem like a matching pair. She was carved out of granite while he looked as if someone had squidged him together with their hands.
5) Jamie resembles his maternal grandfather. He definitelyhas his mouth and, like him, appears to be the only one in the family who can move the muscles around it to make a smile.
6) Jamie’s brother, Edward, likes to kill things. Things smaller than he is.
7) Tom’s father died when he was very young – Tom and the father.
8) Tom does not look that different now from how he looked at seventeen in his rugby kit. Except he is about twenty years older, twenty pounds heavier and goodness knows how much more pre-occupied.
9) Charlie Coburg went missing from the newspapers during 1989/1990. Perhaps he was hibernating. (This is a joke, although not the funny kind. And a riddle to which I already know the answer.)
10) The library was very quiet. I suspect that the graveyard, when I can face it, will be even quieter.
CHAPTER 16
‘What about a newt, then?’
‘No. They’re wild, they belong outside.’
‘A parrot? All pirates have parrots.’
‘Definitely not a parrot.’ Tom accompanied the reply with a stern look into the rear-view mirror. It was completely wasted on Hattie who was staring out of the window, no doubt imagining striding over a quarter-deck off the coast of Jamaica with a parrot on her shoulder.
‘Python?’ she said.
‘No. I’d find you missing and the python with a Hattie-shaped lump in it.’
‘Terrapins?’
‘Too snappy.’
‘Rats? Baz keeps rats in his shed.’
‘No. Baz has rats in his shed – as in, it’s overrun. Come on, Hattie, guinea pigs are my best offer. And not till your birthday. And you have to clean them out and feed them.’
Hattie looked unimpressed. Guinea pigs were nowhere near exotic enough.
‘Tarantula?’ she tried, ending with a melting smile.
‘Not in a million years.’ He slowed the car. ‘I did put your PE kit in the boot, didn’t I?’
She nodded vigorously. Good, no need to execute a U-turn and hare back to the house.
Hattie was now practising her karate moves as much as she could while being strapped in, which seemed to signal the end of this particular episode of Pets I Want and You Won’t Let Me Have .
As he parked the car outside school, he was a bit heavy on the brake and a large brown envelope fell from the dashboard into the footwell. It was addressed to his in-laws and contained two sets of photographs – one for Caroline and Geoffrey and one for Steph. There were some of Hattie holding the de-dinosaured bag and wearing the dress (cut down the back and pinned to a vest to make it look as if it fitted and to keep it in place). And some of Hattie in shorts and T-shirt. Tom liked the ones where Hattie was being herself, but he knew Steph would prefer the ones where she was trying to be someone else.
Also winging its way to Steph, via her parents, was a letter asking her, once more, to get divorce proceedings restarted and a briefer note setting out his plans to bringHattie to Italy in December. He wasn’t looking forward to the phone call he was going to get when she read either.
When he arrived in
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