The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon [9]
But an aneurysm is when a blood vessel breaks and the blood doesn't get to the heart muscles because it is leaking. And some people get aneurysms just because there is a weak bit in their blood vessels, like Mrs. Hardisty, who lived at number 72 in our street, who had a weak bit in the blood vessels in her neck and died just because she turned her head round to reverse her car into a parking space.
On the other hand, it could have been an embolism, because your blood clots much more easily when you are lying down for a long time, like when you are in hospital.
Father said, “I'm sorry, Christopher, I'm really sorry.”
But it wasn't his fault.
Then Mrs. Shears came over and cooked supper for us. And she was wearing sandals and jeans and a T-shirt which had the words WINDSURF and CORFU and a picture of a windsurfer on it.
And Father was sitting down and she stood next to him and held his head against her bosoms and said, “Come on, Ed. We're going to get you through this.”
And then she made us spaghetti and tomato sauce.
And after dinner she played Scrabble with me and I beat her 247 points to 134.
59. I decided that I was going to find out who killed Wellington even though Father had told me to stay out of other people's business.
This is because I do not always do what I am told.
And this is because when people tell you what to do it is usually confusing and does not make sense.
For example, people often say “Be quiet,” but they don't tell you how long to be quiet for. Or you see a sign which says KEEP OFF THE GRASS but it should say KEEP OFF THE GRASS AROUND THIS SIGN or KEEP OFF ALL THE GRASS IN THIS PARK because there is lots of grass you are allowed to walk on.
Also people break rules all the time. For example, Father often drives at over 30 mph in a 30 mph zone and sometimes he drives when he has been drinking and often he doesn't wear his seat belt when he is driving his van. And in the Bible it says Thou shalt not kill but there were the Crusades and two world wars and the Gulf War and there were Christians killing people in all of them.
Also I don't know what Father means when he says “Stay out of other people's business” because I do not know what he means by “other people's business” because I do lots of things with other people, at school and in the shop and on the bus, and his job is going into other people's houses and fixing their boilers and their heating. And all of these things are other people's business.
Siobhan understands. When she tells me not to do something she tells me exactly what it is that I am not allowed to do. And I like this.
For example, she once said, “You must never punch Sarah or hit her in any way, Christopher. Even if she hits you first. If she does hit you again, move away from her and stand still and count from 1 to 50, then come and tell me what she has done, or tell one of the other members of staff what she has done.”
Or, for example, she once said, “If you want to go on the swings and there are already people on the swings, you must never push them off. You must ask them if you can have a go. And then you must wait until they have finished.”
But when other people tell you what you can't do they don't do it like this. So I decide for myself what I am going to do and what I am not going to do.
That evening I went round to Mrs. Shears's house and knocked on the door and waited for her to answer it.
When she opened the door she was holding a mug of tea and she was wearing sheepskin slippers and she had been watching a quiz program on the television because there was a television on and I could hear someone saying, “The capital city of Venezuela is . . . (a) Maracas, (b) Caracas, (c) Bogotá or (d) Georgetown.” And I knew that it was Caracas.
She said, “Christopher, I really don't think I want to see you right now.”
I said, “I didn't kill Wellington.”
And she replied, “What are you doing here?”
I said, “I wanted to come and tell you that I didn't kill Wellington.