Page 25 of A Long Way Back
“In between watching porn?”
Tay shrugged.
“Do you take any medication?”
“Painkillers. I can handle my own meds.”
“What do you do when you’re not working? Apart from the porn.”
“Not much. I try to exercise. My dad mended my wheelchair, so I’ll be back to using that if I want to go any distance. I should be walking more, but as you saw, I couldn’t even make it back from the high street.”
“But you walked all the way there. I could take you out in your wheelchair and you could use your crutches for a while, then ride when you were tired. We could go to the river or one of the big parks. How much of London have you seen?”
“Not much.”
Ink frowned. “Why did you want to come here?”
“That’s my business. You’re annoying me now. Level eight.”
Ink laughed. “That didn’t take long.”
“How much of London haveyouseen?”
“Most parts that are free. A few that weren’t and I was able to sneak in. I’ve ogled meteorites in the Natural History Museum, pressed lots of buttons in the Science Museum, spent a day getting wet in Kew Gardens, walked by the side of the Thames until my feet were sore, spied on deer in Richmond Park, slept under the stars, played my guitar everywhere I could.” He paused. “Would you like to go out for lunch?”
Tay’s head was aching. Too much noise and it was hard to concentrate. He needed his pills. Not that they’d make his headache go, more that they’d take him to a place where he felt…right. He wanted to say no, but thought of his mother’s final words.Say yes not no.
“How many times should I ask a question before you’d like me to accept that you’re not going to answer?”
Tay just stared at him. The pain was a deep throb right over his eyes.
“Do you need anything right now?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“For you to fuck off.”
Ink pushed to his feet. “I’ll go and do my laundry. Call or phone if you want me. I don’t really want to annoy you. I only want to help, but I do get you’re proud and don’t want to admit to needing anyone, let alone me. But I’d like to help, so I hope you’ll let me.”
“Take your dog with you. And find out who it belongs to.”
“Dog! Come!”
The dog didn’t move.
“Looks like he prefers your company.” Ink took Tay’s empty mug to the kitchen sink with his and walked out.
Tay pushed to his feet and made his way to his room. A couple of tablets and he’d feel better. As soon as his parents’ ship had sailed, he was getting rid of Ink and his bloody dog. Except Dog followed him into his bedroom, jumped up on the bed and was wagging his tail. Tay had just pulled open his bedside drawer to get his tablets when the noise started upstairs and he groaned.
Whoever lived above him often banged around and had the TV on too loud, but Tay didn’t have the energy to climb the stairs to ask them to quieten it down. He’d left a polite note in the hall, but it hadn’t made any difference. To be fair, he was ultra-sensitive to noise and always felt on the edge of a headache.
He slumped on his bed with the bag of pills in his hand, then lurched when he saw Ink at the door.
“What the hell is that racket?” Ink asked. “Are they teaching rhinos to dance?”
“TV, I think.”
