Page 84 of The Flowers of Bay C
Kat and I help Barbara into the front seat. She is less sparkly than she was just moments ago, fading by the second. A wave of heat hits us as we open the door, and it feels good. ‘Ah,’ she says. ‘Now we just need a cuppa and everything’ll be right as rain.’
‘Or snow,’ Amina says.
I stash the oxygen cylinder in the footwell next to Barbara and then wheel the chair over to the driver, the wheels that were never meant for anything more than hospital corridors and outdoor concrete walkways faltering on the rough-surfacedroad. ‘Here you go.’
He spins round and glares at me. ‘Get out of my way. Get into the car. I’ll do this.’
‘I can lift it up to you,’ I say.
He bares his teeth at me and suddenly his eyes are more than a watery bulge of unpleasantness; now they are terrifying great orbs of menace.
‘Okay. Okay.’ I show him my palms and back away slowly. I try and see what’s behind him in there, what he’s being so precious about, but it’s in heavy shadow and I can only make out vague shapes. He steps out of the van and grabs the chair, then tries to shove it in, but it doesn’t want to fit. With a great deal of drama and huffing and puffing, he pushes it through the door, a little at a time, shouting curses at it and back at us. I hold out the frog chair, and he snarls so much I feel like his mouth will crack in two.
In the car it is so warm the windows have steamed up. I clamber into one of the back two seats, with Jodie in the other, and Amina, Violet and Kat in the middle row of three. We let out a big collective sigh of relief as we sink into the ancient seats, where, despite rusted springs poking up through the tatty fabric, it’s like we’ve suddenly landed in great luxury. The bulge-eyed man slams the boot down over me and Jodie and we look at each other and giggle. ‘It’s like I’m a kid again,’ Jodie says, ‘sat in my dad’s boot when he had too many of us kids in the car to fit. That’s before he naffed off and left us all alone with Mum, though.’
He climbs into the driving seat and thumps his hands down on the wheel. He mutters to himself and does a whole lot of sighing and tutting. ‘Why I agreed to this madness I’ll never know.’
‘Because you have some heart underneath all that lot,’ Kat says.
‘Shut up. Shut the hell up. You’re not making noise in my car, if you want me to take you any further at all.’
Jodie whispers, ‘Your prayers suck, Kat. You pray for rescue and we get Dodgy Caravan Dude after like about half-an-hour waiting.’
‘Yeah,’ Kat says, ‘but he has a seven-seater car.’
Jodie laughs. ‘Touché.’
‘What’s your name, young man?’ Barbara says to Dodgy Caravan Dude. Kat turns to Jodie and me and we splutter.
‘Do you not understand shut up?’
‘Well,’ Barbara says, ‘how rude.’
DCD starts driving painfully slowly up the road.
‘Go faster, man,’ Barbara says, seemingly oblivious to the livid air of rancour pervading the car.
‘Will someone shut her up, or I’ll do it for you.’
‘Barbara, dear,’ Amina says, putting her hands on Barbara’s shoulders, ‘just close your eyes. Have a little sleep while we drive. Let the nice gentleman drive in peace.’
‘Pah,’ Barbara says, but buttons her lips together and closes her eyes, leaning back into the seat.
The warmth of the car begins to lull me back into hope and tiny sparks of energy ping through my body, creeping slowly into my bones and weaving through my mind. I feel sleepy, all of a sudden, but sleepy in a good way, like when I have managed a walk and I feel good for being able to exercise.
I wonder to myself why this car and caravan will not go any faster, but I don’t dare say a thing. I am desperate to get back – Jake might be there by now, turning up for visiting hours at four o’clock, and the staff on the ward will be getting increasingly concerned. If only we could call them.
I tap Kat on the shoulder and lean forward to whisper into her ear. ‘Is it worth checking your phone, see if it’s got any reception yet?’
She nods and pulls it out, then her face falls. ‘Not one bar. This thing is useless. Kept saying to Nate I need a new one but never got round to it.’
‘Did you tell Nate, where we were going?’
She shakes her head. ‘Not specifically, no. He knows we’re out for a walk though. But he’ll be worried we’re not back. I wish I’d told him more, but I kind of thought he’d say I shouldn’t go, and then I’d feel bad about going.’
I swallow and grab hold of my nerve. ‘Umm, hi,’ I say loudly, to get the attention of our reluctant driver. ‘Could we possibly borrow your phone? I mean, we won’t call the police or anything, if you don’t want that, but can I just call my son, so he can let the nurses know we’re okay and everything?’
DCD brings the car to a screeching halt, slewing it into the verge and half into a bush. The caravan lurches from side to side, and now he’s really angry. He turns round and gives me that glare again. ‘No phones. No one is calling anyone. Do you want me to let you out here?’
