The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon [66]
And Mother said, “Where's your father, Christopher?”
And I said, “I think he's in Swindon.”
And Mr. Shears said, “Thank God for that.”
And Mother said, “But how did you get here?”
And my teeth were clicking against each other because of the cold and I couldn't stop them, and I said, “I came on the train. And it was really frightening. And I took Father's cashpoint card so I could get money out and a policeman helped me. But then he wanted to take me back to Father. And he was on the train with me. But then he wasn't.”
And Mother said, “Christopher, you're soaking. Roger, don't just stand there.”
And then she said, “Oh my God. Christopher. I didn't . . . I didn't think I'd ever . . . Why are you here on your own?”
And Mr. Shears said, “Are you going to come in or are you going to stay out here all night?”
And I said, “I'm going to live with you because Father killed Wellington with a garden fork and I'm frightened of him.”
And Mr. Shears said, “Jumping Jack Christ.”
And Mother said, “Roger, please. Come on, Christopher, let's go inside and get you dried off.”
So I stood up and I went inside the house and Mother said, “You follow Roger,” and I followed Mr. Shears up the stairs and there was a landing and a door which said Flat C and I was scared of going inside because I didn't know what was inside.
And Mother said, “Go on or you'll catch your death,” but I didn't know what you'll catch your death meant, and I went inside.
And then she said, “I'll run you a bath,” and I walked round the flat to make a map of it in my head so I felt safer, and the flat was like this
And then Mother made me take my clothes off and get into the bath and she said I could use her towel, which was purple with green flowers on the end. And she gave Toby a saucer of water and some bran flakes and I let him run around the bathroom. And he did three little poos under the sink and I picked them up and flushed them down the toilet and then I got back into the bath again because it was warm and nice.
Then Mother came into the bathroom and she sat on the toilet and she said, “Are you OK, Christopher?”
And I said, “I'm very tired.”
And she said, “I know, love.” And then she said, “You're very brave.”
And I said, “Yes.”
And she said, “You never wrote to me.”
And I said, “I know.”
And she said, “Why didn't you write to me, Christopher? I wrote you all those letters. I kept thinking something dreadful had happened, or you'd moved away and I'd never find out where you were.”
And I said, “Father said you were dead.”
And she said, “What?”
And I said, “He said you went into hospital because you had something wrong with your heart. And then you had a heart attack and died and he kept all the letters in a shirt box in the cupboard in his bedroom and I found them because I was looking for a book I was writing about Wellington being killed and he'd taken it away from me and hidden it in the shirt box.”
And then Mother said, “Oh my God.”
And then she didn't say anything for a long while. And then she made a loud wailing noise like an animal on a nature program on television.
And I didn't like her doing this because it was a loud noise, and I said, “Why are you doing that?”
And she didn't say anything for while, and then she said, “Oh, Christopher, I'm so sorry.”
And I said, “It's not your fault.”
And then she said, “Bastard. The bastard.”
And then, after a while, she said, “Christopher, let me hold your hand. Just for once. Just for me. Will you? I won't hold it hard,” and she held out her hand.
And I said, “I don't like people holding my hand.”
And she took her hand back and she said, “No. OK. That's OK.”
And then she said, “Let's get you out of the bath and dried off, OK?”
And I got out of the bath and dried myself with the purple towel. But I didn't have any pajamas so I put on a white T-shirt and a pair of yellow