Running Shoes (The Shades of Northwood) (4 page)

“Couldn’t wait
for me to start, I see. I need my dinner though and I hate eating
alone so who’s up for ice cream?”

The four of
them had poured out of the burger place an hour later, the car and
the van both had a quick check over and their petrol tanks filled
up and then they were off. Katie found her MP3 player out of the
tiny backpack she’d brought along and pushed the earphones in. She
swiped a thumb over the touchscreen and found a country radio
station. Country music and a handful of blues tunes thrown in were
good travelling sounds. She laid her head back on the back of the
seat and closed her eyes. For the next hour and a half there was
nothing between her and sleep but the music, the feeling of
movement and the growing need to sing. Country songs, especially
those of the 1970s and early 80s, were invariably about women
sticking by husbands that were basically shits or sticking in
crappy mind-numbing jobs or staying home to cook and clean and
raise kids because it was women’s work, but it held the unwavering
sense of going somewhere; of always roaming across wide open plains
and making everywhere you go your home. It was amazing that these
girls from the sticks could speak to souls that deeply.

Just
travelling, sitting here while somebody else did the driving, was
tiring but something was keeping Katie from slumber. She opened her
eyes a crack and peeked at the grey felt roof of the car then
leaned further back to see the bright sky through the back window.
Too bright. She pulled her baseball cap from the door pocket and
jammed it on her head, yanking it far down over her eyes to block
out the light. Her ears were aching from having the earphones in
and she had packed the new cushioned ones away so she turned the
music off and put the tiny music box away. Dan and Mom were
yabbering away in the front seat about something that had happened
at school and Dad was in the van right in front of them. The
rocking of the car was lulling her towards, not exactly sleep but a
state of half-consciousness where she knew what was going on around
her but her mind was powerless to process any of it.

“Wake up,
Katie. We’re nearly there.”

A sign
welcoming them to Northwood flashed by and then they were driving
through the town proper. Not that it could really be called a town.
It barely resembled the city she had left behind. Roads were busy
with people walking around – few people appeared to drive but Katie
had looked on the map – most places were within walking distance of
everywhere else. Worn stone buildings crowded the streets. Patches
of wasteland festered between buildings. Some of the barren land
contained skips or scaffolding and, she craned her neck to see,
further building work seemed to be taking place at the backs of
buildings. A few streets further into Northwood were more modern
buildings; a library, a leisure centre, a few restaurants and
shops. There weren’t any shopping centres like there had been at
home – none that she could see but maybe there was an out of town
one like there used to be years ago.

“Seems like a
nice place. At least no danger of you getting run over. Everyone
walks!”

“Yeah, Katie.
You’re such an alien to exercise.”

“I know I am.
Maybe I should get some of those trainers with the wheel in the
heel to help me get around. Don’t suppose I can borrow yours?”

“Please! As if
I would do something so tragically uncool.” In truth, Dan had not
had a pair of wheeled trainers although she had hounded their
mother mercilessly for some. She had refused for a long time and
then the week she gave in and promised to pick a pair up after work
– surprise surprise – Dan didn’t want them any more because they
were so last year and the next fad had begun – those little
computer pet thingies.

Beyond the few
blocks of retail and eateries was a sprawl of houses, mostly quite
old but there were a few that seemed to have been built this side
of the second world war. It was into this estate that the van
grumbled and coughed, sounding distinctly unhealthy. The car seemed
to be making some strange noises too. Something must have been up
with the petrol they bought at that no-name service station. Been
in the pump too long or something. No, Katie was pretty sure there
must be laws about petrol pumps in case it exploded. As long as the
car had the decency not to turn into a fireball while she was in
it. Or any of her family.

The van took a
right turn, the car followed. Katie stared out at the passing
scenery as the car growled along, twisting and turning. The car
eventually braked and idled there, the engine cooling after two
hundred miles of motorway and country road. The three of them
unbelted and climbed out onto a short, gravelly drive with a few
pushbikes lying on it.

“Healthy way to
get to campus.”

“Come on girls,
let’s meet the housemates and get a drink before we unpack.”

“Okay. Sounds
like a plan.”

Dad took the
keys out of the van door and put them in his pocket. They all
walked up and down the drive a time or two to stretch their aching
legs, Katie’s ankle was stiff and sore again, and then reached up
to the front door. They made Katie knock since it was to be her new
home. Dan was holding hands with her father and Mom had linked her
arm through his. Katie suddenly wished, while she waited for the
door to open, that she could trade places with one of them and be
the one clinging on to Daddy. What if the door opened into darkness
and some shape with only the skeleton of a hand reached out to take
her inside? Where had that thought, so real it was like a memory,
come from? Just as that thought was creeping by the door was flung
wide and a young woman leaned out to gather her in a hug after
seeing her for just a couple of seconds. The young woman looked up
from the embrace at the rest of the family who were looking a
little uncomfortable.

“Hi” she said
far too cheerfully for someone who didn’t know them from Adam. “I’m
Lainy. Well, Elaine, but that sounds like such an old lady name
don’t you think? So… Lainy it is.”

“I’m Katie
Cartwright. My family were helping me move all my crap out
here.”

“Sure, sure, we
understand that. It’s not like you can drive your own stuff out
here. Anyway, come on in and rest for a bit first. No-one wants to
lug all that around on an empty stomach.” She waved everyone inside
and shouted into the house, “Adam, put the kettle on!”

Adam turned out
to be the same as Lainy in terms of his friendliness, although,
thankfully, a lot less touchy-feely than Lainy. The two of them had
known each other since secondary school, had gone to different
colleges and then met again here a few years ago when they had both
attended the academy for their final years of education, fallen I
love, gotten engaged and became house parents. That was more
information than Katie could cope with without a decent meal and a
good nights sleep.. House parents were, apparently, the people who
looked after students.

Teas, juices
and sandwiches rapidly disappeared. Most of Dan’s went down her top
but Lainy cleaned it up without a harsh word and fetched her a
clean top that was far too big for her but clean and dry. While Dan
was changing and Her parents were unloading the van with Adam and
Lainy, Katie peeled the now dry and warm rag from her ankle and
threw it on the bin. It was beginning to smell funky. Besides, the
bruising had all come out now. It didn’t look that bad. Maybe a
little swollen but four or five days would see it right. She poked
it and prodded it.

“Eeww! Must
you?”

“It’s not like
you’re eating. This is a foot. You’re half-naked and if I have to
look at your scrawny little body much longer I may have to bleach
my own eyeballs.”

“I’m twelve.
I’m not old enough to get fat.” All the same Dan slid herself into
the grungy t-shirt as quick as a particularly self-conscious snake.
It hung to her knees.

Katie sent the
girl out to help with the boxes and then followed the instructions
she had been given. The door straight in front at the top of the
stairs was the bathroom if she needed to use it quickly. She
didn’t. They had said to turn left and her room would be the one at
the end. It was the second smallest room, Adam had apologised, but
that was fine by her. If there was a bed, a desk and a chest of
drawers, it was fine. Functional was the key. She walked up the
stairs, noting that two or three of them creaked rather loudly. The
bathroom door was decorated in cracked white paint with a yellow
and black toxic sign stuck to it. She passed it by but reminded
herself she really needed to check it out before her mother did.
The neat freak trait had obviously passed Katie by but she had no
desire to shower in a bathroom that could give her scabies or
something. The door at the end was bare wood and looked freshly
sanded – Adam had said something about doing some repairs to the
house but Katie had hardly listened. Stripping off the thin shirt
she had worn for the drive down, Katie hooked it over the door
handle and pushed it open.

The room was a
little smaller than her old one but the furniture looked new, if
basic and flat-packy, and there was a comfy looking bed.
Floorboards creaked under the cheap maroon carpet. Katie bounced on
her heels and looked around her. Far from over-whelmed and very,
very small, a wave of pride and confidence hit her. This was her
domain. A few years of education stretched out but it was an
education she was choosing for herself.

Katie spent the
next hour flitting from the back of the van to her new room, not
carrying boxes but nervously making sure she had not left anything
behind. Finally, everything was piled up again and she was saying
her last goodbyes.

“Don’t be
scared to come home if it gets too much. And call if you need
us…”

Katie gave her
mother for a few seconds and then tried and failed to peel her off.
“Of course it’ll be too much and of course I’ll want to go home but
I’ll get over it. I’ll never be grown up if I don’t push
myself.”

“Speaking of
pushing, I noticed a great big cliff thing not too far away.” Dan
raised her eyebrows and gave that dark, playful grin that only
sisters really understand. She was next for a Katie hug that
neither really wanted to pull out of. Then it was Dads turn. Dad
the hero. Dad the big cuddly bear.

“Go on, go,
before you start me off.”

None of them
seemed very eager to leave but long, extremely awkward minutes of
staring and not wanting to be the first to show emotion made Dad
put an arm around the two he was taking home and start backing
away. Oh, Katie wished so hard that she was going with them that
she thought she might fall over for a moment. The three of them
climbed into the car - it had been decided earlier that they would
leave the van here for Uncle Billy to pick up whenever he could be
bothered because Dad was not driving another centimetre in that
contraption – started up and screeched away a bit too fast for her
liking. The Fiesta disappeared until it was a dot at the end of the
long road and then it was gone altogether and then it was likely
halfway out of town and still Katie stood there, half-focussed on
something and nothing on the horizon. And then she collapsed.

The ground
rushed up to meet her and then two strong arms grabbed her. She
felt the arms scoop her up and into the air just before she
expected the cement and gravel ground to send her bones into shock.
Were her eyes closed? Had everything in the world suddenly turned
black? Her over-worked mind kept trying to absorb the information
it was picking up but her body refused point blank to even move.
Outside was blue sky, a grey house, only she couldn’t see any of it
so Katie turned her eyes inward instead. There were tiny parts of
her face that stretched and tightened with her breathing. Yes, she
was still breathing. Cords and tubes vibrated as if in some
semblance of a laugh. Vital signs all present and correct – she
traced another, thicker trail up to a mushy looking thing – a
brain. Synapses fired and neurons connected. Little impulses
shivered off into her body shimmering and shiny like something
magical. Ripples of endorphins bulged out and then dripped away,
receptors taking what they needed and returning what they
didn’t.

“Bring her over
here Ad. Watch the step.”

Something
flared behind her eyes. Katie felt as though she were floating. She
tried to drag her eyes open, the total darkness she was seeing was
boring and disorienting.

“Here on the
sofa.”

“Clear it off
then.”

“No, not the
chair. It’s too small and she’ll get all scrunched up. Here.”

“Oh right.”

“I’ll get a
cold cloth.”

“Hang on, help
me get her feet up. She keeps kicking them off.”

Was she
fighting the man keeping her from a very close encounter with the
floor? Katie had no connection to her body. It could be flamenco
dancing for all she knew.

“Better. Now
what?”

Katie tried to
make a sound of thanks but it was a waste of effort. Lainy and Adam
shuffled out of the room and that was it. The loneliness was so
complete but, as she allowed her mind to lose grip on reality and
touch the black she felt, if not happy, less alone.

“You awake
now?”

Lainy was
squeezing a damp cloth over the carpet. It was the spot where Dan
had spilled her juice.

The young girl
had only been passed out for a few minutes. It probably seemed
longer.

“God, I feel
stupid. Dumb little girl can’t even be away from her parents
without fainting.”

“Don’t feel
bad,” Lainy said. “It happens.”

“Some kids come
and go straight home because they can’t make it without Mommy and
Daddy.”

“Afraid I’m
here to stay.”