Operation Eiffel Tower (14 page)

After about twenty minutes, he noticed Lauren had moved off her bench and was standing by the side of the green.

‘Jack,’ she said, ‘I’m going to the grabber machine.’

‘Why?’ he asked.

‘To see if I can do any better than Ruby. Lend me 20p?’

‘We should really put all our money in the Paris fund,’ he said.

Lauren shrugged, ‘Twenty pence won’t make a difference. Just lend me the money, would you?’

Jack felt around in his pocket. He had a few coins in there. He thought about the jar at home, half-full. There was nearly enough money for one ticket to Paris in there, but one wasn’t enough. ‘It should go in the jar. No one ever wins on the grabber anyway.’

‘Come on, Jack. Don’t be mean.’

‘No.’

Lauren frowned. ‘It’s just 20p. And I can spend it winning something for Ruby instead of putting it in a jar that’s never going to have enough money in it.’

‘Yes it will!’

‘And even if it does – which it won’t – Mum and Dad aren’t talking to each other! They hate each other. Sending them to Paris won’t make a blind bit of difference.’

‘Yes it will!’ Jack felt his eyes sting.

‘Don’t start crying!’ Lauren snapped. ‘I’m only telling you the truth. Grow up, Jack!’

Jack felt a flame of anger burst into life inside him. He wiped his eyes. ‘I’m not crying. And they will go to Paris. We just need to be patient, Paul says. We need to wait for them to calm down.’

‘And then what? They shake little fingers and say sorry? Well, they won’t. Dad’s gone and he isn’t coming back.’

‘He hasn’t gone! He’s just up the road.’

Lauren shook her head. ‘He’s gone and he isn’t coming back and you have to get used to it.’ She spat out the words, then spun round on her heel. She stalked away, heading out of the course.

Jack let his club fall against the Taj Mahal. He pulled a twenty-pence piece from his pocket. Should he have given it to Lauren? Or should it go in the Paris fund with the money he’d won and the rest of their coins? Was there really no point? He shook his head angrily. Lauren was wrong – he was sure she was wrong.

He sat down on the edge of the green. The twenty pence lay in his palm. On one side was the queen’s profile. He flipped it over. On the other side was a rose, its petals opening up to the sun, and above it, a crown. Flowers and Crowns. Hearts and Minds.

He would toss for it.

Heads, he would put it in the Paris fund.

Tails, he would give it to Lauren.

He flipped the coin high into the air, caught it and slapped it on to the back of his hand.

He uncovered it slowly.

Tails.

Tails?

Jack looked out towards the beach. There were families there, building sandcastles, eating ice creams, playing games. He looked away.

There was no sign of Lauren.

He would spend the money on the grabber machine, like Lauren said. If he was giving up, then at least he could try and get something for Ruby while he was at it.

He handed his club and ball back to William. He didn’t bother replying to William’s questions about scores and holes. He just waved and turned away.

He walked along the front until he reached the arcade. He could feel the heat off the ground through the soles of his shoes; it was as though the whole place was burning. At the grabber machine he dropped in the twenty pence into the slot. The lights at the sides of the machine flashed into life; two buttons, forward and sideways, glowed green. He hit the first button carelessly, then thumped the other.

The grabbing arm moved forward over the pile of teddies. It shuddered to the right. It dropped down with its claws open. Then the metal claws closed. They closed . . . right round the head of a pink teddy!

Jack froze.

The arm rose up again, carrying the teddy with it. All the way back to the start. And the teddy didn’t fall, didn’t wobble, didn’t drop.

The claws opened slowly, letting the teddy fall into the wire tray by Jack’s knees.

He had won.

No one ever won.

But he had.

He reached in and lifted the teddy free.

Its pink fur was soft and fluffy. It was smiling and its eyes were open wide. Ruby was going to love it. Well, she was going to love it so long as she didn’t mind that it was Jack, and not her, who had won it.

As Jack walked home, he cradled the bear in the crook of his elbow. Was winning the teddy a sign? Had he been right not to put the money in the Paris fund? He didn’t want to believe it, but maybe Lauren was right.

Chapter 26

Mum had finished cleaning the bathroom when he got in. She was sitting at the kitchen table with her hands wrapped round a cup of tea. There was no sign of Billy. He must still be asleep.

‘Hello, love,’ she said softly. ‘Did you have a nice time?’ She reached out and pulled him into a hug.

Jack nodded and held up the teddy bear. ‘I won this for Ruby,’ he said.

‘Oh, that’s nice. She’ll like that. Listen, I’m sorry about before. I didn’t mean to snap at you.’

Jack shrugged. It didn’t matter now.

‘Where’s Lauren? We need to go to the hospital in a bit.’

‘I don’t know. We had a fight.’

‘Oh, Jack. What about?’

Jack pulled away from Mum’s arm and sat down opposite. He stood the bear up on its back legs and made it do a little dance.

Mum frowned. ‘This is all hard for you, isn’t it?’

Jack pirouetted the bear.

‘It’s for the best though,’ Mum continued. ‘I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but you’ll see. When you’re a bit older, you’ll understand.’

What?
Jack opened his mouth to argue, but just at that moment, the phone rang.

Mum pushed aside her cup and stood up.

Jack heard her speaking from the hallway.

‘Yes, speaking. She did what? Where is she? Yes. Of course. No, I’ll be there. No, don’t do that. I’ll be there.’

Mum stormed back into the kitchen, her lips pressed together in fury.

‘Mum?’ Jack asked. ‘Mum, what is it?’

‘Lauren! She’s been arrested!’

Jack gasped. ‘Arrested?’

‘Well,’ Mum was pulling on her cardigan and pushing her feet into her trainers, ‘not arrested. Held. At the chemist. They say she was stealing lipsticks. I have to go.’ Mum looked at Jack straight in the eye. ‘Lauren wouldn’t do something like that, would she?’

Jack couldn’t answer. He felt his face flush red.

Mum groaned. ‘Oh, Jack, what’s happening?’

Jack concentrated hard on the pink bear.

Mum put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. ‘I won’t be long. Wake Billy, will you? And take him to the launderette. Wait there with Joyce till I get back.’

Jack nodded.

Then Mum was running out of the front door.

Jack was left alone.

He thought about going upstairs to wake Billy. He knew that was what he should do. He went up the first step, then the second. Then he stopped. That wasn’t what he wanted to do at all. What he wanted was Dad.

He jumped down back into the hallway. He opened the address book and found Dad’s mobile number. The phone rang a few times, then clicked into Voicemail. Jack reached for the Yellow Pages from the cupboard under the phone. He looked up Bed & Breakfast. There! There was Dad’s one. He dialled the number.

‘Hello, The Larches,’ a raspy woman’s voice said.

‘Hello, I need to speak to my dad. Gavin. Gavin Dempsey. Please,’ Jack added.

‘OK, I think he’s in. Hold on.’

Jack heard the clatter of the receiver being dropped on to a desk. Then he heard the woman yell, ‘Gav! Gav! Phone!’

There was a long wait. Then Jack heard his dad’s voice. He felt a sudden rush of warmth and longing at the same time.

‘Hello,’ Dad said.

‘Dad.’ Jack couldn’t manage any more.

‘Jack? Is that you? What is it? Has something happened to Ruby?’

‘No,’ Jack said quickly, ‘she’s fine. It’s Lauren. Oh, Dad, she’s been stealing things from shops. She got caught. Mum’s gone there now to get her out. But me and Billy are on our own. Can you come? Please?’

‘What about your Auntie Joyce?’

‘What about her?’

There was a pause on the other end of the line. The plastic handset felt slippery in Jack’s hand – his palms were sweating.

‘Jack, pal, I can’t just come over. Your mum would have a fit and she’s already got enough on her plate. It might be better if you called Joyce.’

‘But Dad, I want you to come!’

‘I can’t, son. It’s not that I don’t want to, but it would be like pouring petrol on the fire.’

‘But what about Lauren? Aren’t you cross with her? Don’t you want to come and tell her off?’

‘I expect your mother is doing enough of that for the both of us. Maybe what Lauren needs is for me to listen when all the drama has blown over.’

Jack couldn’t reply. It felt as though Dad were a hundred miles away, not just round the corner. And he wasn’t coming any closer.

He heard a noise behind him. He looked round. Billy stood about halfway down the stairs, dragging Teddy Volvo behind him.

‘Billy’s awake,’ Jack said.

‘Good. Do you want me to call Joyce for you?’

Jack shook his head, then remembered that Dad couldn’t see. ‘No,’ he said. ‘We’ll be OK.’

‘OK, then. Bye, Jack.’

‘Bye, Dad.’

Jack dropped the phone gently back into the cradle. Dad wasn’t going to help. He stared at the phone for a second. Things were getting worse, not better, whatever Mum said.

He turned to look at Billy. ‘You know something, Billy? I think it’s about time that we did some of the deciding, don’t you?’

Billy lifted Teddy Volvo and began chewing on his ear.

‘Exactly,’ Jack said.

Chapter 27

Mum and Lauren came home about an hour later. Jack had spent the time thinking and thinking. Now he was waiting by the front window, impatient to see Lauren. They wouldn’t send her to prison, would they? Billy sat in the middle of the floor watching the telly.

Finally they walked up the front path, Lauren in front, her head hanging down. Mum walked behind. Jack could see her mouth moving nineteen to the dozen, but he couldn’t hear what she was saying until Lauren opened the front door.

‘. . . whole life been so ashamed. I can’t believe it of you. A daughter of mine. Well, you can forget about going out on your own. Grounded until I can trust you again.’

Jack stepped carefully into the hallway.

‘Jack?’ Mum’s furious eyes turned to him. ‘Why aren’t you at the launderette? I told you to wait there for me!’

Jack shrugged, but Mum’s attention didn’t stay on him for more than a second or two. ‘Lauren, you go up to your room and you stay there until I tell you different!’

Lauren didn’t need telling twice. She ran up the stairs. Jack heard her give a strangled sob. Then her door closed.

‘I’m losing my grip,’ Mum muttered, then walked into the kitchen. Jack heard her switch on the kettle.