Lifesaving for Beginners (33 page)

Faith’s birth grandfather’s house is legend.
I don’t know if it has ten bedrooms because I haven’t counted all of them but I bet it does.
I reckon Faith’s granny and granddad are bookworms because there’re bookshelves in every room I’ve been in so far, which is four.
Some of the books are really old and look like they might fall apart if you touch them.
If Mam were here, she’d say, ‘Don’t even think about it, Milo.’
It’s too cold to go into the back garden, which is a pity because there are two orchards out there.
Ed says his dad grows tomatoes and apples and pears in one of them but the other one has nothing but orchids.
He says his mam loves orchids but they’re really hard to grow and sometimes they die.
But the tomatoes are dead easy.
Ed says some of them grow as big as baseballs.
I’ve never played baseball.
He says his dad makes tomato juice because Kat loves Bloody Marys.
Whatever they are.

There’s a room called a den and that’s where me and Ed are.
We’re playing Mario Kart.
He’s got a Wii.
I tell him I’m saving up for a PlayStation 3.
Ed lets me be Mario.
He says he doesn’t mind being Luigi.
He’s winning but it’s only because he practises every single day.
He said so.

When I finish the third lap of Luigi’s Mansion, I say, ‘How old are you?’

Ed says, ‘Thirty-four.’

I don’t think Ed is thirty-four because that’s middle-aged.

We look at the results and then Ed presses Start again.
He says, ‘How old are you?’

I say, ‘I’m nine but I’ll be ten really soon.’

Ed says, ‘What’s your mam going to buy you?’

I say, ‘WATCH OUT!’
because Bowser is about to overtake him.

Ed moves his whole body when he’s playing.
Like he’s right inside the game.
That would be cool.
To be right inside the game.

After a while, I say, ‘I go to lifesaving class.
Back in Brighton, I mean.’

Ed says, ‘What’s that?’

‘It’s like swimming only you get to rescue people who are drowning.
And you get to do CPR on them.’

‘What’s CPR?’

‘It’s like the kiss of life.’

Ed laughs.
I think it’s because I said ‘kiss’.
Damo laughs too, when I say that.
He says it would be legend to do CPR on a girl but he’d never do it to a boy.
I say, ‘What about if a boy was drowning?’
but Damo just says, ‘Tough nuts.’

Ed says, ‘I go to swimming classes too.
Kat brings me.
I’m great at swimming.
I came second last time.’

‘Is Kat your sister?’

‘Yeah.
She’s brilliant.
She brings me swimming and loads of other places too.’

‘Why’d you call her Kat?’

‘Because that’s her name.’

‘Oh.’

‘Kat is Faith’s mother.’

‘Her birth mother.’

‘What’s that?’

‘I’m not sure.’

The walls of the den are covered in framed photographs.
Ed is in most of them.

‘Who’s that?’
I point to a picture of Ed, holding up a medal.
He’s standing between a man and a woman beside a swimming pool.
The woman looks like Faith, except she’s old.
She’s got the same black hair and the same green eyes and the same white skin.
She’s smiling like Faith used to.
She’s got her arms round Ed.

Ed says, ‘That’s Kat and me and Thomas.
I only came third that time.
I had a cold.’

‘Is Thomas Kat’s husband?’

Ed says.
‘He’s Kat’s friend.
Except they’re not friends anymore.
They had a fight.
I’d say they’ll make up soon.
That’s what me and Sophie do, when we fight.’

‘Who’s Sophie?’
Faith calls me ‘Twenty Questions’ sometimes but I don’t think Ed minds.
He points to a photograph of a girl wearing tiny round glasses and a tracksuit.
She is holding a medal in her hands but I can’t see if it’s gold, silver or bronze because the photograph is in black and white.
Ed says, ‘She’s my girlfriend,’ but I don’t ask if he French-kisses her, like Damo would.

Ed says, ‘She’s got Down’s Syndrome too.’

I say, ‘What’s Down’s Syndrome?’

Ed says, ‘I’m not sure.’

The grandfather says, ‘Boys, come down for something to eat.’

I’m starving.
We forgot to have lunch, me and Faith.
Well, I had an apple and cinnamon muffin with icing on the top but that doesn’t count.

The table is like a table in a restaurant.
It’s really long so you keep having to ask people to pass this and pass that.
There are napkins that are not kitchen roll.
And there’s a glass beside my plate.
A proper glass, that will break if I drop it.

Faith is sitting across from Leonard and his wife, whose name is Janet.
I know because she said, ‘Call me Janet,’ when I arrived.

The grandfather says, ‘And what genre of music does your band play, Faith?’

‘Well, I suppose you could call it garage rock.’

‘Oh.
Is that a bit like rock and roll?’

‘Sort of.’

Ed sits down and looks at his plate.
‘I don’t like fish.’

The grandfather says, ‘It’s good for your heart.’

Janet turns to Faith.
‘Do you write your own songs?’

Faith nods.
‘Some of them.’

Janet picks up her knife and fork.
‘I write too.’

The grandfather says, ‘Ah, yes, so does Kat, as a matter of fact.
She’s a technical writer, you know.
For a company in Cork.’

Faith says, ‘A technical writer?’
like she’s never heard of it, which is good because I’ve never heard of it either.

Janet cuts a green bean in four even pieces and spears one of the pieces with her fork.
‘Yes, well, we’re not entirely sure what that means, exactly, but it’s something to do with instruction manuals for appliances.
Dishwashers and tumble-dryers.
That sort of thing.’

The grandfather gets up.
‘I’ll try her again quickly.
Before we eat.’
He leaves the room.

I don’t like fish either, unless you count fish fingers.
Mam always said they were more finger than fish.

Janet looks sort of like a ballerina.
She’s got a bun and she’s dead skinny for a granny.
I don’t have any grannies but I’ve seen other people’s grannies and they’re usually pretty fat, no offence.

You never see fat ballerinas on the telly.
They’re like matchstick people that kids draw.
A line for their bodies.
Janet is like that.
She’s quiet too.
Even when she talks, she’s quiet.

She says, ‘So, er, Milo.
What class are you in?’

‘Year five,’ and I get ready to tell her what my favourite subject is (science) and who my best friend is (Damo), except I won’t say ‘Damo’, I’ll say ‘Damien Sullivan’.
That’s usually the kind of stuff adults want to know.

But she doesn’t ask me any of that.
She takes a drink of water.
The bones in her neck stick out when she swallows.
I know I’m not supposed to stare but it’s hard sometimes.

The grandfather comes back.
Sits down.
Janet asks Ed to say Grace and he says, ‘GRACE!’
and roars laughing, and so do I because it’s pretty funny when you think about it.
Faith gives me daggers and Janet says, ‘EDWARD!’
and then everybody starts eating their dinner and nobody says anything for a while.

Then, the grandfather says, ‘I’ve left another message for Kat.
I’d say she’s .
.
.’
He looks at his watch.
‘Well, she should be home by now but she could have been delayed.
The traffic .
.
.
it can be bad at this time of the day.
Anytime of the day, really.’

I think he’s talking to Faith.
She puts her knife and fork on her plate the way people do when they’ve finished eating, except I don’t think she’s eaten anything yet.
I’m nearly finished.
The fish isn’t all that bad.

He pours wine into Faith’s glass.
She shakes her head and says, ‘No, thank you.’

He stops pouring.
Puts the bottle down.
He says, ‘Are you all right, my dear?’

Faith nods her head.

He says, ‘Look, I know this isn’t easy but when Kat gets here .
.
.’

Faith says, ‘She’s not coming.
I know she’s not coming.
She didn’t make contact with me before.
Why should she bother now?’

I don’t know the answers to any of those questions so I don’t say anything.
I don’t think anybody else knows either.
It’s pretty quiet round the table.

Faith says, ‘If my .
.
.
my adoptive mother hadn’t died, I would never have known.
About Kat.
Katherine.
Whatever you call her.
I would never have known.
Would I?’

Then she changes her mind about the wine because she picks up the bottle and pours it into her glass.
Right up to the top.
She takes a big, long drink out of it.
When she puts her glass back on the table, she has wine stains at the top of her mouth, like fangs.

The grandfather picks up his napkin.
Wipes his mouth, even though there are no wine fangs at the top of his.
He says, ‘I .
.
.
I don’t know, Faith.
I’m sorry.
I can’t speak for Kat.
But I know that she will regret not coming here today.
She’s just .
.
.’
He looks at his wife but she keeps chewing and chewing and chewing and not looking back at him.
I’ve never seen anyone chew as much as she does.
I really haven’t.

The grandfather looks at Faith again.
‘She just needs a bit of time, that’s all.
It’s been a bit of a shock for her, I suppose.’

Faith says, ‘It’s been a bit of a shock for me too.’
Her voice sounds funny.
High and tight.
I cross my fingers and toes.
I know Faith wouldn’t want to cry.
Especially not in front of strangers.

Leonard says, ‘Of course, of course, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean .
.
.
I’m sorry.’

No one says anything.
There’s just silence.
Even Janet has stopped chewing.
Ed has finished his dinner and has left the table.
I don’t know where he’s gone.
I want to finish my dinner so I can leave the table too but I don’t want to make any noise.
That’s how quiet everything is.
Even my breathing sounds loud.

After a while, Faith looks up.
She looks at Janet.
She says, ‘Why don’t you say something?’
Her voice is mostly back to normal.
I keep my fingers crossed, though.
Just in case.

Janet takes a long time to answer.
Finally, she says, ‘That’s the thing, Faith.
We’ve never really said anything.
Afterwards, I mean.
Katherine was fifteen years old.
She was just a girl.
Things were different then.
I thought .
.
.’
She nods at the grandfather.
‘We all thought .
.
.
it was for the best.’