Page 36 of The One Plus One
Mum’s face was all pale, and she kept chewing her lip, like she wanted to say a lot more than she did. Nicky didn’t look at her once.
And then, when lots of doctors and people arrived in his room, Mum told Tanzie to wait outside and she walked up and down the long antiseptic corridors, reading her papers and working on her algebra. Numbers always made her feel better. If you treated them properly they always did what they were meant to do – like there was a magical order all around that you could unlock if you had the right key.
Nicky was dressed when she went back in. He walked out of the room really slowly, and he remembered to thank the nurse.
‘Nice lad, isn’t he?’ she said. ‘Polite.’
Mum was gathering up his things. ‘That’s the worst bit,’ she said. ‘He just wants to be left alone.’
‘Doesn’t really work like that round here, though, does it?’ The nurse smiled at Tanzie. ‘Take care of your brother, eh?’
As she walked towards the main entrance behind him,Tanzie wondered what it said about their family when every single conversation they had now seemed to end with a funny look and the words ‘Take care.’
Mum made dinner and gave Nicky three different-coloured pills to take, and they sat watching television on the sofa together. It wasTotal Wipeout, which normally made Nicky pretty much wee himself laughing, but he had barely spoken since they returned home, and she didn’t think it was because his jaw hurt. He looked weird. Tanzie thought about the way those boys had jumped on him and the woman who had dragged her into the shop so that she wouldn’t see and she tried to block out the thought because the sound of them hitting him still made her stomach go a bit funny, even though Mum said she would never, ever let it happen again, and she was not to think about it, okay?
Mum was busy upstairs. Tanzie could hear her dragging drawers out and going backwards and forwards across the landing. She was so busy she didn’t even notice it was way past bedtime.
She nudged Nicky very gently with her finger. ‘Does it hurt?’
‘Does what hurt?’
‘Your face.’
‘What do you mean?’ He looked at her like he didn’t know what she was talking about.
‘Well…it’s a funny shape.’
‘So’s yours. Does that hurt?’
‘Ha-ha.’
‘I’m fine, Titch. Drop it.’ And then, when she stared at him, ‘Really. Just…forget it. I’m fine.’
Mum came in and put the lead on Norman. He was lying on the sofa and didn’t want to get up and it took her about four goes to drag him out of the door. Tanzie was going to ask her if she was taking him for a walk but then the really funny bit was on where the wheel knocks the contestants off their little pedestals into the water and she forgot. Then Mum came back in.
‘Okay, kids. Get your jackets.’
‘Jackets? Why?’
‘Because we’re leaving. For Scotland.’
She made it sound perfectly normal.
Nicky didn’t even look round from the television. ‘We’re leaving for Scotland.’ He pointed the remote control at the screen, just to check.
‘Yup. We’re going to drive.’
‘But we haven’t got a car.’
‘We’re taking the Rolls.’
Nicky glanced at Tanzie, then back at Mum. ‘But you haven’t got insurance.’
‘I’ve been driving since I was twelve years old. And I’ve never had an accident. Look, we’ll stick to the B roads, and do most of it overnight. As long as nobody pulls us over we’ll be fine.’
They both stared at her.
‘But you said –’
