The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon [65]
But Willesden Junction wasn't on pages 42 and 43. And I found it on page 58, which was directly under page 42 on the KEY TO MAP PAGES and which joined up with page 42. And I looked round Willesden Junction in a spiral, like when I was looking for the train station in Swindon, but on the map with my finger.
And the man who had shoes that did not match stood in front of me and said, “Big cheese. Oh yes. The nurses. Never. Bloody liar. Total bloody liar.”
Then he went away.
And it took me a long time to find Chapter Road because it wasn't on page 58. It was back on page 42, and it was in square 5C.
And this was the shape of the roads between Willesden Junction and Chapter Road.
And this was my route
So I went up the staircase and over the bridge and I put my ticket in the little gray gate and went into the street and there was a bus and a big machine with a sign on it which said English Welsh and Scottish Railways, but it was yellow, and I looked around and it was dark and there were lots of bright lights and I hadn't been outside for a long time and it made me feel sick. And I kept my eyelids very close together and I just looked at the shape of the roads and then I knew which roads were Station Approach and Oak Lane, which were the roads I had to go along.
So I started walking, but Siobhan said I didn't have to describe everything that happens, I just have to describe the things that were interesting.
So I got to 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG, and it took me 27 minutes and there was no one in when I pressed the button that said Flat C and the only interesting thing that happened on the way was 8 men dressed up in Viking costumes with helmets with horns on and they were shouting, but they weren't real Vikings because the Vikings lived nearly 2,000 years ago, and also I had to go for another wee and I went in the alleyway down the side of a garage called Burdett Motors, which was closed, and I didn't like doing that but I didn't want to wet myself again, and there was nothing else interesting.
So I decided to wait and I hoped that Mother was not on holiday because that would mean she could be away for more than a whole week, but I tried not to think about this because I couldn't go back to Swindon.
So I sat down on the ground behind the dustbins in the little garden that was in front of 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG, and it was under a big bush. And a lady came into the garden and she was carrying a little box with a metal grille on one end and a handle on the top like you use to take a cat to the vet, but I couldn't see if there was a cat in it, and she had shoes with high heels and she didn't see me.
And then it started to rain and I got wet and I started shivering because I was cold.
And then it was 11:32 p.m. and I heard voices of people walking along the street.
And a voice said, “I don't care whether you thought it was funny or not,” and it was a lady's voice.
And another voice said, “Judy, look. I'm sorry, OK,” and it was a man's voice.
And the other voice, which was the lady's voice, said, “Well, perhaps you should have thought about that before you made me look like a complete idiot.”
And the lady's voice was Mother's voice.
And Mother came into the garden and Mr. Shears was with her, and the other voice was his.
So I stood up and I said, “You weren't in, so I waited for you.”
And Mother said, “Christopher.”
And Mr. Shears said, “What?”
And Mother put her arms around me and said, “Christopher, Christopher, Christopher.”
And I pushed her away because she was grabbing me and I didn't like it, and I pushed really hard and I fell over.
And Mr. Shears said, “What the hell is going on?”
And Mother said, “I'm so sorry, Christopher. I forgot.”
And I was lying on the ground and Mother held up her right hand and spread her fingers out in a fan so that I could touch her fingers, but then I saw that Toby had escaped out of my pockets so I had to catch him.
And Mr. Shears said, “I suppose this means Ed's here.”
And there was a wall around the garden so Toby couldn't get