A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon [151]
When he entered the kitchen the conversation stopped and everyone turned to look at him. Katie, Ray, Jamie, Tony, Jacob. He had planned to take Katie quietly to one side. Clearly this was not going to be possible.
“Hi, Dad,” said Jamie.
“George,” said Ray.
They sounded rather stiff.
He girded his loins. “Katie. Ray. I want to apologize for my actions yesterday. I’m ashamed of myself and it should not have happened.” No one spoke. “If there is anything that I can do to make amends…”
Everyone was looking at Katie. George noticed that she was holding a bread knife.
Ray said, “You’re not planning to stab your father, are you?”
No one laughed.
Katie looked down at the knife. “Oh, sorry. No.”
She put the knife down and there was an awkward silence.
Then Tony got out of his chair and pulled it back so that George could sit down and folded a tea towel over his arm, waiter-style, and said, “We have fresh coffee, tea, orange juice, wholemeal toast, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs…”
George wondered whether it was some kind of homosexual joke, but none of the others were laughing so he took the offer at face value, sat down, thanked Tony and said that he would like some black coffee and scrambled eggs if that was not too much trouble.
“I’ve got a dog made of toast,” said Jacob.
Slowly, the conversation began again. Tony told a story about how he had fallen off his moped in Crete. Ray explained how he had organized the firework display for Katie. Jacob announced that his toast-dog was called Toasty, then bit his head off and laughed like a drain.
After twenty minutes or so the men headed off to pack bags and George found himself alone with his daughter.
Katie tapped her forehead and asked how he was doing “up there.” He tapped his forehead and said he was doing rather well “up there.” He explained that the events of the previous day had blown the cobwebs away. Obviously there were some problems he would still have to deal with, but the panic had subsided. He was suffering from eczema. He could see that now.
She paused and rubbed his arm and looked suddenly rather serious. George was worried that she was going to start talking about Jean and David Symmonds. He did not want to talk about Jean and David Symmonds. He would be more than happy to avoid talking about the subject for the rest of his life.
He took Katie’s hand and squeezed it briefly. “Come on. You’d better get your stuff together.”
“Yes,” said Katie. “You’re probably right.”
“You go,” said George. “I’ll do the washing up.”
Half an hour later Jean finally woke. She seemed bruised and exhausted, like someone recovering from a hospital operation. She said very little. He asked if she was OK. She said that she was. He decided not to interrogate her any further.
Mid-morning they gathered in the front hall to say their goodbyes. Katie, Ray and Jacob were heading off to Heathrow and Jamie and Tony were driving back to London. It was a slightly somber occasion, and the house seemed unnaturally silent when they had gone.
Thankfully the caterers came to retrieve their equipment ten minutes later, followed by Mrs. Jackson and a young woman with an earring in her lip, who set about cleaning the house.
When the living room had been vacuumed, he and Jean retired to the sofa with a pot of tea and a plate of sandwiches while the kitchen was scoured. George apologized once more for his behavior, and Jean informed him that she would not be seeing David again.
George said, “Thank you.” It seemed like the gracious thing to say.
Jean started to cry. George was not sure how to deal with this. He put his hand on her arm. It seemed to have no effect whatsoever, so he took it away again.
He said, “I’m not going to leave you.”
Jean blew her nose on a tissue.
“And I’m not going to ask you to leave,” George added, so that she knew precisely where she stood.
It was a ridiculous idea in any case. What would he do if he moved out? Or if Jean moved out? He was too old to begin a new life. They both were.
“Good,” said Jean.
He offered her another sandwich.
The tent was taken down