We Can Be Heroes (22 page)

Then Jed lunges for her and, for a second, I think she's going to fall out of the window. But he pushes her to one side, grabs the handle and slams the window
shut. Priti is sent flying on to the bed below.

‘What the hell are you doing? Trying to kill me and break the window at the same time?' she shouts.

‘Just close the curtains,' says Jed. I notice that his hands are shaking. I jump up and pull the curtains shut.

‘Why do we need to close the curtains?' says Priti. ‘What's going on?'

‘Because I don't want her to see me.'

‘Why? What's going on? Who is she?'

‘Just how thick are you?' says Jed.

Priti looks at me with a confused expression.

‘That's Auntie Karen,' I say quietly. ‘She's Jed's mum.'

‘Oh!' says Priti, eyes as wide as saucers. ‘I see.'

None of us says anything for a moment.

‘She doesn't look much like you,' Priti blurts out. ‘I guess your dad cut your mum out of your gene pool as well as your life.'

Jed doesn't reply.

I peek through the curtains. Auntie Karen has stopped shouting. She sits on the wall and cries. I wonder if she knows all the neighbours are watching
her and how that makes her feel.

‘She looks all right to me,' says Priti, peering out from behind me. ‘Nice shoes.'

‘What would you know?' says Jed, who is sitting on the bed, refusing to look out.

‘She looks well upset too. Can't say I'd be that gutted if I never got to see you again.'

‘I wish,' says Jed.

‘If you want to go out and see her, I'll go with you,' I say.

‘No thanks,' says Jed.

‘We wouldn't tell anyone,' says Priti. ‘I could run down and tell her to go meet us in the park then keep lookout in case your granny and grandad come back. Like with Zara and Tyreese.'

‘I said, no thanks,' says Jed again.

‘But don't you want to see her even a little bit?' she asks.

‘No.'

Priti doesn't seem like she's going to drop it even though Jed is getting really annoyed, but then I spot Granny and Grandad's car turning into the cul-de-sac.

‘Shh!' I say. ‘Granny and Grandad are back.'

Priti turns her attention to what's happening outside and even Jed comes to see what's going on.

The little car turns into the drive and I'm not sure if they've seen Auntie Karen because they get straight out of the car and then there she is, standing right in front of them.

The funny thing is that Granny and Auntie Karen look quite alike. Granny's older, obviously, and her hair is grey and white while Auntie Karen's is gold and brown, but they're both short and petite and have sweet faces.

Jed draws the curtains and opens the window a little bit to try and hear what's going on.

Granny is trying to say something, but Auntie Karen is talking over her. She takes Granny's hand and holds it in hers.

‘Just get rid of her,' I hear Jed mutter under his breath.

But Granny can't get her hand free and Grandad is coming round from the other side of the car and he is waving his arms and shouting something. But still
Auntie Karen is holding Granny's hand and she seems to be pleading with her. Granny looks like she wants to cry.

Grandad is shouting at Auntie Karen and then he tries to push her away, but it's Granny who trips and falls. Auntie Karen goes to help her, but Grandad blocks her way.

He's really shouting now and we can make out the words, ‘Now look what you've done!' and, ‘Haven't you done enough damage to this family already?'

Auntie Karen steps aside as Grandad helps Granny indoors. ‘I'm sorry!' she's saying, or I think that's what she's saying.

‘Just go away and leave this family alone!' shouts Grandad, slamming the door in her face.

Jed winces.

‘Wow!' says Priti. ‘Your grandad does
not
like her!'

‘He's just looking out for me,' says Jed.

‘What do you reckon she'll do now?' says Priti, still watching Auntie Karen. ‘Bet she falls down on the grass and starts crying. Or maybe she'll chain herself to something so the police have to come and cut her
free. That would be cool! Well, not cool, but . . .' She glances at Jed, who is still staring at the floor. ‘I mean, it's dead sad and I feel totally sorry for her – and for you – but . . .'

‘Well, don't,' says Jed.

‘I just reckon if I were her, I wouldn't go down without a fight,' says Priti.

But Auntie Karen doesn't fall down weeping or chain herself to anything. She just picks up her bag and takes something out of it – something small and white – an envelope maybe. Then she glances up at Priti's house. Right up at the window from where we're watching. We all dart down quickly beneath the windowsill.

‘Did she see us?' asks Jed.

‘I don't know.' I peek over the windowsill then duck down again quickly. ‘She's still looking up here.'

‘What's she doing now?' asks Jed.

I lift my head a little and watch as Jed's mum bends down and places the envelope beneath a bush, where it can only be seen from our vantage point – not from Granny and Grandad's house. She keeps glancing up at the window. Jed has raised his head a bit so he's
watching her too and as she turns to go, she blows a kiss up at him.

‘She saw us then,' says Priti as we watch Auntie Karen walk off down the cul-de-sac.

I nod. Jed doesn't say anything. He's watching his mum walk away. At one point she glances back at the house. Me and Priti duck, but Jed stays standing, watching her. For a moment, I almost think he's going to wave. But he doesn't.

He does go and get the letter though. Or rather he sends me to go and get it. Priti wants him to open it there and then, but he won't. He says he's not going to open it at all; he's just going to bin it, and the only reason he wants to get it is to stop someone else snooping into his business.

We go back home and Grandad makes the lunch because Granny has hurt her hand in the fall. Grandad doesn't make us food very often, and he tells me and Jed we have to help too. For once, Jed is really helpful, clearing the table and doing the washing-up without moaning. Nobody mentions Auntie Karen, but everything is weird and different.

After lunch, I go upstairs to our bedroom to draw. I'm sitting on my bed, trying to come up with the next frame for the Bomb-busters cartoon, but for some reason I can't think of anything. I stare out across the room, and that's when I notice something peeking out from under Jed's pillow. It's the letter from his mum – he hasn't thrown it away after all. I wonder if he's read it.

It makes me think about my mum, and the cards, and her not calling, and all that other stuff that I try not to think about most of the time.

1. What's it like – the hospital she's in? Is it like a hospital with beds or more like a hotel only with nurses? Does she lie in bed all day or can she walk around and read and draw and do stuff (she hates having nothing to do)? She's not really wearing a straightjacket is she?

2. Does everyone there have the same thing as her or is it full of people with other sorts of problems? Are
any of the other people scary or dangerous?

3. Who is making sure she eats? And how do they do it? Do they force her to eat? Because I don't think she'd like that. Or do they let her do it the way she needs to?

4. Why isn't she desperate to see me, like Jed's mum is with him? Is that part of her being ill? And will it ever change?

5. What if she never gets better?

6. Where will I go if she dies?

7. Can I catch her illness? I think I read somewhere that kids are more likely to get it if their parents have had it.

8. Is her hair still falling out?

9. Why can't I remember her face properly? Does that mean I've stopped loving her enough?

10. Why doesn't she write the cards herself?

When I go back downstairs, Granny has gone for a lie-down and Grandad sends me and Jed to the parade
with money for ice creams. Nobody mentions what happened this morning, but then I suppose Grandad doesn't even know that we saw.

When we get back from the parade, I see a white van in the driveway.

‘Your dad's here then,' I say to Jed.

‘No shit, Sherlock,' says Jed irritably.

Uncle Ian is chatting to Grandad in the sitting room.

‘Go and tell your gran her son is here,' is the first thing he says to Jed.

But Granny must have heard him arrive because she comes downstairs in her slippers, still looking pale and shaken.

‘You all right?' says Uncle Ian. ‘You don't look it.'

‘Just one of my headaches,' says Granny, glancing at Grandad, who just shrugs. ‘I'll make us all some tea. If I'd known you were coming, Ian dear, I'd have made some of your favourite lemon cake.'

I help Granny make the tea, but it's like she doesn't even notice me. She lays the tray in silence and it's only when it's all done that she seems to see me. ‘I'm sorry, Ben. I was miles away,' she says. ‘Thank you.'

‘That's OK, Granny.'

‘I'm sorry we have to keep things secret,' she says. ‘About Jed seeing his grandmother. I mean, I know a mother shouldn't keep secrets from her children, but I think it's for the best. Or at least I hope so.'

She looks at me and I feel like I should say something, but I can't think what. She picks up the tray and carries it into the sitting room.

‘What's all this about extra appointments with the counsellor?' says Uncle Ian, turning round as she comes in.

Jed looks at Granny and so do I.

‘She suggested we fit in some extra sessions over the holiday period,' says Granny, putting the tray down on the stacking tables, little pink spots appearing on her cheeks.

Last time she talked about the counsellor she said it was a man, but Grandad doesn't seem to notice.

Jed, who is sitting astride the sofa fiddling with an elastic band, goes bright red and starts stretching the band more ferociously.

‘I never got a letter about it,' says Uncle Ian.

‘We sorted it all out at the appointment. I made a note of all the times,' says Granny, handing him a cup of tea. ‘She probably didn't think she needed to write.'

‘You might have mentioned it,' says Ian.

Jed pulls the elastic band over his nose so that his features are all distorted.

‘I'm sorry,' says Granny, her hands fluttering a little as she speaks. ‘I thought I had mentioned it actually, but I must be getting forgetful in my old age.'

Jed pulls the band so taut it looks like it's going to break.

‘Do you remember when you had to go to the hospital to have your verruca burned off?' says Granny, sitting down on a pouffe which makes her look even smaller than usual. ‘What a fuss you made!' She laughs softly and Jed releases the tension in the band for a moment.

‘That was Andrew, not me,' says Uncle Ian flatly.

Granny looks as if she's about to disagree with him, but then doesn't. ‘Why don't I get some biscuits,' she says, getting up.

‘I don't want some counsellor sending him the same way as his loopy mother,' Uncle Ian calls after her.

Jed's elastic band goes flying across the room, landing on Grandad's paper. Grandad looks up and glares. ‘That Paki lad getting stabbed has stirred things up a bit round here,' he says.

‘I bet it has, Dad,' says Uncle Ian.

‘I was at the parade the other day and I thought there was going to be a fight.' (Grandad's told us this story about seventeen times already, but he's obviously glad to have a new audience.) ‘Boys on bikes and Asian lads in their robes shouting at each other. Not sure which is worse.'

‘At least the yobs are British!' says Uncle Ian.

‘That young lad from across the road was there,' says Grandad.

I look up. So does Jed. Grandad hasn't mentioned this before.

‘He was shouting at the lads on bikes about how they'd get what was coming to them for stabbing his cousin.'

‘Which brother?' I ask.

‘Can't say as I recall,' says Grandad. ‘I get their names muddled up.'

‘Even if you could tell one from the other!' Uncle Ian laughs and so does Grandad and, for a moment, they look a lot alike.

‘Are you going to meet your army friends again?' Jed asks suddenly.

Uncle Ian nods.

‘Can I come?' asks Jed.

‘Isn't he a bit young for that?' says Grandad and I wonder for a moment if Ian has told him about the bomb squad.

‘Never too young to start learning to be a man,' says Ian. ‘Sure you can, son! Just don't tell your gran, eh!'

Jed smiles, but he doesn't actually look that happy.

‘I hear Karen's been making a nuisance of herself again,' says Uncle Ian when Granny returns with the biscuits.