A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon [28]
But David had just been phoning his daughter.
His grandson was going into hospital for an operation. David wanted to go up to Manchester to help out. But Mina had got in first. So the kindest thing he could do was to keep his distance. Which Mina would doubtless chalk up as further proof of his failure as a father.
And Jean realized that everybody had a messy life. Except Ursula, maybe. And George. And if you were going to have any kind of adventure it was going to be uncomfortable now and then.
So she put her arms around David and they held each other, and she realized that this was the third thing she couldn’t quite put her finger on. This was the thing which made it all right.
22
“The Derby Hotel story,” said Katie. “It’s not actually true, is it?”
“Of course not,” said Sarah. “Though I was so sick it came out of my nose. Which I seriously do not recommend.”
“Ray’s not usually like that,” said Katie.
“Glad to hear it.”
“Come on.” Katie was a little peeved that Sarah wasn’t showing the requisite sisterly support. “You’re not usually like that either…Hang on a second.” Katie got up and went over to the toy box to resolve a dispute between Jacob and another child over a one-legged Action Man.
She came back and sat down again.
“Sorry,” said Sarah. “That was out of order.” She licked her teaspoon. “And this is probably out of order, too. But, sod it, I’m going to ask anyway…This is the real thing, right? Not just a rebound relationship?”
“Jesus, Sarah, you’re meant to be my best woman, not my mum.”
“So your mum doesn’t like him,” said Sarah.
“Nope.”
“Well, he’s not the consultant pediatrician with the Daimler.”
“Oh, I think they gave up on that long ago,” said Katie.
Sarah tried to balance her teaspoon on the rim of her mug.
“He’s a good person,” said Katie. “Jacob loves him. And I love him.” That was the wrong way round, somehow. But changing it would have made her seem defensive. “He’s also made Ed promise to show him the speech beforehand.”
“I’m glad,” said Sarah.
“About Ray? Or Ed?” asked Katie.
“About Ray,” said Sarah, “and you.”
She put her teaspoon down and they waited for the atmosphere to warm up again.
“Incidentally,” said Sarah. “How’s your little brother doing these days? I haven’t seen him in yonks.”
“Fine. Bought himself a place in Hornsey. Haven’t seen him much myself to be honest. Proper boyfriend, too. I mean, like, an actual pleasant well-adjusted human being. Of course, you’ll meet them at the wedding.”
They sat for a few moments watching Jacob direct some kind of aerial combat between the disabled Action Man and an octopus made of blue felt.
“I’m doing the right thing,” said Katie.
“Good,” said Sarah.
23
Jean came back at four. Her extended lunch with Ursula had worked its usual magic. The Jamie debacle was forgotten and George was grateful for a supper of Irish stew over which they were able to commiserate amiably with each other about the forthcoming union.
“Does anyone like their children’s spouses?” He ran a triangle of crust around the bowl to mop up the remaining liquid.
“Jane Riley’s husband seemed nice.”
Jane Riley? George was repeatedly amazed by the ability of women to remember people. They walked into a crowded room and drank it down. Names. Faces. Children. Jobs.
“John and Marilyn’s party,” said Jean. “The tall chap who’d lost his finger in some kind of machine.”
“Oh yes.” It came fuzzily back. Perhaps it was the retrieval system men were missing. “The accountant.”
“Surveyor.”
After doing the washing up he retired to the living room with Sharpe’s Enemy and read the last twenty pages (“Two bodies marked this winter. The one whose hair had been spread on the snows of the Gateway of God, and now this one. Obadiah Hakeswill, being lifted into his coffin, dead…”). He was tempted to start another of his still-unread Christmas presents. But you had to let the atmosphere of one novel seep away before launching into the next, so he turned the television on and