Towers of Silence - [16]

I wondered what sort of Christmas Stuart and his family would have? We hadn’t talked about it, silently acknowledging that we weren’t established enough to be a part of each other’s seasonal plans. Would he have his kids for Christmas or would his ex? Would he be on his own or off to visit other relatives? I ought to find out. With Ray and Laura off work and able to look after Maddie there might be a chance of doing something special, a night at a country inn in the Peak District; long walks and home cooking.

“What do you want for Christmas anyway?” I asked Ray.

“Oh,” he groaned and began to load the dishwasher. “You don’t need to bother. We could just give the children things.”

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. “That’s the spirit.”

“Only…”

“You’ve got me something?”

He looked sheepish. “Get me a CD then.”

“Who?”

“Surprise me.”

“Okay.” What on earth had he got me? And why so soon. I was curious and I felt a hint of excitement. Maybe it was something good, something perfect for me. There I was, letting my expectations get the better of me.

The doorbell rang and I went to get it, Maddie and Tom came out of the playroom to see who it was. A shaky, giggly version of ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ came from outside. I opened the door to two small boys, both with close cropped hair and tatty clothes. The smaller was missing his front teeth.

“Wait there,” I said.

I gave them fifty pence each.

“Fifty pence!” Maddie observed, when they’d gone. “They weren’t very good. Can we go carol singing?”

Oh, please no. Trailing round knocking on doors with Maddie coming all over shy. I knew who’d end up doing the singing. “Maybe when you’re bigger.”

“You keep the money, don’t you?” she checked.

“Some people do it for charity, to help other people.”

She thought about this. “You could give half of it to charity”

“You could.”

“Look,” Tom interrupted to show me his wobbly tooth. “I ‘an do ‘is,” he spoke with his mouth open and one finger pulling said tooth forward to expose the hole in his gum.

“Gross,” said Maddie.

He turned to give her a better look.

She covered her eyes.

“I bet it’ll come out soon,” I told him, “and you can put it under your pillow.”

“For the tooth fairy.”

“Yep.”

He waggled it a bit more.

“Do you remember losing your first one?” I asked Maddie. “You walked around for weeks with it just hanging by a thread and you wouldn’t eat or brush your teeth or do anything that might bring it out.”

She grinned at me. “Mummy,” she looked serious again. “Who’s Noel?”

“Noel? Which Noel?”

“Is it Jesus? It’s on this card at school.”

“No-el,” I smiled. “It means Christmas, about the nativity when Jesus was born. Now, it’s nearly bedtime, you’ve got another half hour and then it’ll be time to get ready.”

They ambled back to play.

There was a scream and whispering from outside and then a ragged chorus of ‘Away In A Manger’ started up. The lads must have told their mates.

Chapter Fourteen

On Tuesday morning I was up for seven and on my way to spy on Adam Reeve by seven forty-five. The traffic was building up already. I parked a few doors down from the house and waited for him to emerge. It was just getting light when he appeared, a bulky rucksack slung over one shoulder. He was taller than his mother with blond hair cut short all over. I noted the time and when he’d reached the end of the avenue in a quick loping stride I got out of the car and locked it and set off after him.

There was a steady stream of pupils walking down Kingsway, the dual carriageway, in the direction of the school and college. Some were clustered at bus stops. Adam kept up a brisk pace. He never looked back. The walking made me warm and I unzipped my coat. It was a dry day, cooler with a fresh blue sky. Most of the route was lined with houses, red brick council houses with privet hedging or fences round the front gardens. I amused myself by comparing the plots with the Christmas decorations in the window. Was there any correlation between horticultural and festive style?

The college was behind the large multiplex cinema, bowling alley and bingo hall and opposite Tescos. The place had been rebuilt as part of a private finance initiative. The city council sold off the prime site land in return for a new, state of the art school and sixth form centre. The Millennium school they called it. Adam’s transfer from Burnage Boys would have been before the rebuild. These days he wouldn’t get a look in. It was way oversubscribed and there’d been ructions about who would get to go there. A lot of the other city high schools had poor reputations or they were single sex schools which some parents didn’t want (myself included.) It was still 5 years before Maddie would move up and I hoped by then there’d be a real choice of where to send her.

I made sure that Adam actually entered the college building and then retraced my walk to the car. I reckoned I’d done three miles there and back. I could notch it up as good exercise but I can’t deny that I was disappointed that Adam Reeve hadn’t done a bunk with me hot on his heels.