Downtime - Marc Platt [36]
‘Good for you, Victoria,’ he muttered aloud. Tut that doesn’t solve your other little problem, does it!’
7
The Watch
ordy sat on the bed and edged his head round the curtain.
GHis mum was on the phone and too busy to notice. She had told him not to look, but that made it much more exciting.
It was no good her telling him that it was all over, because he could still hear the sound. Even when it got dark, he could hear it. It went on and on.
Sshp, sshp, sshp, sshp without stopping, and it was starting to make him cross. He wanted to break something or throw something. Sshp, sshp, sshp.
He couldn’t sleep either, so his mum had got cross too and shouted at him and he shouted at everything because he hated it and he could shout much louder than she could. So she started to cry.
He was looking again now, when her arms slid in behind him for a hug. He snuggled back into her long yellow hair, but she wasn’t looking at him anyway: she was looking out of the boat window too.
They were still there across the water. Kate could see the two figures in yellow and green, sitting motionless on the boats at the other side of the basin to the Mananda. That damned tinny beat from their headphones went on and on, driving her crazy.
‘No, Gordy.’ She pulled him away from the window and plonked him down on the floor of the cluttered cabin. She took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. ‘I told you to play down there while I’m talking.’ She tugged the curtain shut and gave him a book to look at. Then she picked up the phone again.
‘Sorry, Beth. Distractions.’
Her friend Beth, another one-parent family, was probably used to these phone calls by now. All Kate expected was to hear sympathetic noises from the other end of the line, but at least Beth was a listener.
‘Look, Beth, they’re still there!’
‘Who’s that?’
For God’s sake, thought Kate. I’ve told you before. ‘Two of those New World weirdos.’
‘Chillys?’
‘Yes, whatever they’re called.’ She wasn’t sure that Beth believed her. Her voice had taken on a terribly patient tone.
‘Now what about the police? Have you tried calling them?’
‘Of course I’ve called the police again. And the council.
They think I’m crazy.’
‘Now come on...’
‘But the Chillys just vanish when anyone comes.’
There was a pause. ‘I see,’ said Beth.
‘But they’re soon back. I mean, why pick me?’
‘Are you really sure it’s you? You have been under an awful lot of pressure lately.’
‘Of course it’s me,’ Kate snapped. ‘I’m not imagining it!’
She remembered Gordy and moved further down the boat to the bathroom. ‘I don’t know what they want. And I don’t know what to do, Beth. I’ve no one else to talk to.’
‘Right.’
Kate looked through the window. The Chillys were still there, staring across the basin at the boat. Sshp, sshp, sshp.
Then she realized that Beth was saying something. There was an inordinate burst of crackling on the line.
‘...if you’re that desperate.’
‘What? Sorry, this line’s terrible.’
‘I said, your father. Maybe he’s the person to get something done.’
The idea brought Kate out in a cold sweat. ‘My dad? Oh God, no. I couldn’t do that.’ She groped for excuses. ‘It’s at least six years since I even spoke to him.’ She sat down on the closed loo seat and started to wallow. ‘Look, the computer keeps crashing, so I can’t work from home. And that damn noise all the time from their headphones. It’s just wearing me down.’ She lowered her voice. ‘And it’s disturbing Gordy. He can’t stay here.’
‘Oh, well that’s simple enough,’ said Beth. ‘He can come here for as long as he likes.’
Kate hadn’t even hoped for anything other than a little moral support. ‘Would you? I mean really, Beth?’
‘Course. The demolition duo’ll be made up. They love sleepovers. For as long as it takes. No worries.’
‘You’re wonderful, Beth. But soon, please. He can’t stay here. He