Page 66 of The Flowers of Bay C
Chapter 20
The cold afternoon hits me in the face, stealing my breath, the late November sun peeking through the low-lying layers of cloud. It’s captivating, the wide grey sweep of the sky, drawing my gaze up away from the mass of cars and the ambulances and all the people. I stand there for a moment, allowing the few feeble rays of sunshine to caress my face.
Jodie pulls at my arm. ‘There,’ she says, pointing over at a confusion of cars and vans and a hospital minibus all jostling for position near the entrance. Kane is there in the centre, leaning on a beat-up old minibus with the words ‘Oak Green Primary School’ in faded green Comic Sans, and an equally faded image of an oak tree in full bloom across the battered, filthy panelling. I wonder how he got hold of it, and then decide not to wonder too much. He’s parked it across two of the disabled parking bays and stands there with his arms folded and a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, with Barbara next to him in her chair, her eyes sparkling in their pale reflections of the patchy blue of the sky peeping through the grey. He spots the three of us as we make our way over, threading between two taxis. He grunts and slides the door open.
‘How are we getting her in?’ Jodie says, staring at the gap between the ground and the step. ‘Thought you had a ramp?’
Kane shakes his head. ‘I can lift her. I told you that. Just need a bit of a hand.’ He grasps the bar at the front of the chair, underneath Barbara’s maroon-slippered feet. ‘Come on. Get the back.’
‘Me?’ Jodie says.
‘Who else? Them lot don’t have the strength, right?’ He peers over at me and Kat, then shades his face with his hand, staring at us and the entrance behind us. ‘Where’s that other one? That grumpy old bint?’
‘She’s coming,’ Kat says. ‘And Amina, too. We’ll just have to wait.’
Kane shakes his head. ‘Nah. See, I’m not waiting round here anymore. That jobsworth over there already gave me a load of lip, an’ I says to him I’ll just be five mins, an’ that was ages ago. Said he’d fine me, and I says I’m picking up a handicapped lady, an’ he swore at me, I’m not even joking. Those people taking up these here spaces’ll be out any sec.’ He sweeps his arm round at the disabled bays, a look of disdain creasing his face. ‘So help me up with her, babe.’
Jodie breathes in.
‘Now.’ He says the word quietly, softly, but it’s loaded with menace, and it reminds me too much of Marcus.
Jodie grips hold of the handles on Barbara’s chair. ‘I’ll help,’ Kat says, shoving Jodie aside and taking hold herself.
‘We’ll do it together.’ Jodie grabs one handle and the bar at the side, and they lift together, Jodie’s breathing rapid and sputtering.
‘Let me,’ I say. I’m going home on Monday, after all. I’m much better than I was. I grab the bar at the back, and we all heave Barbara and chair into the van together. I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, but it doesn’t feel as though Kane does much of thework at all. Sweat prickles at my brow and I breathe hard at the exertion. Kane looks down at me from his position in the van, eyebrows slightly raised, mouth all sardonic and contorted.
‘Get in then.’ He grabs Jodie’s hand and yanks her into the minibus, so hard she’s almost flying, tripping up over the plate as she lands on the floor next to him. He laughs. ‘Stupid cow.’
‘Don’t talk to her like that,’ Kat says.
‘You want me to take you, or what?’
Kat shrugs.
‘You okay, Barbara?’ I say, climbing into the minibus and sitting down. ‘You warm enough?’
It’s chilled in here, the air sagging in a sense of worn-out hopelessness around us, as if the vehicle has given up on life, yearning for the days when squealing children bounced on its seats and threw up on its floor. A musty aroma coils through the dusty air and makes me cough.
Barbara stares around her suspiciously. ‘There’s rats in here.’
She’s probably right.
‘We should get her in one of the seats,’ Kat says. ‘Belted up.’
Kane shakes his head. ‘We gotta go. No time for that faffing around. She’s fine as she is.’
Kat stares up at him, tilting her head to the side. ‘No she’s not. We get her in the seat. Do you not care about safety? What if there was an accident? It’d be your fault if she got hurt.’
‘As if there’d be an accident,’ he says, his mouth all twisted up with a great big scoff. ‘I’m an experienced HCV driver, actually.’
‘Well, then, actually, you should know all about safety protocols,’ Kat says, head tilted even further over.
He doesn’t reply to this.
‘Come on,’ Kat says to Jodie. ‘Let’s get her in the seat.’ She leans in closer to me and whispers, ‘Goslow.’
We lift Barbara, gently and so exaggeratedly slowly Kane begins to turn purple. He jumps out of the minibus, kicking at the wheels and then slamming the sliding door closed so hard the whole thing judders. He flips his cigarette on the ground and then clambers in through the driver’s door. ‘Take your time, why don’t you.’
