Magnificent Joe by James Wheatley

Author:James Wheatley [Wheatley, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: debut, childhood, friendship, redemption, working-class, learning difficulty, crime, prejudice, hope, North England
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2013-02-10T16:00:00+00:00

—

I walk up his drive and knock on his door, but I have no idea what I’m going to say to Geoff. In the event, it’s Laura who answers. She wears the same clothes she did when I dropped her off last night.

‘Hello.’ It’s the best opener I can come up with.

‘He didn’t come home.’

‘Shit. Has he called? What did he say?’

‘He hasn’t called. He’s gone. He took a bag. Clothes, his passport.’

‘Fuck. Laura, something bad’s happened.’

‘Oh really?’

‘Let me in. I need to talk to you.’

She shrugs and turns back into the house. I follow her through the front room and into the kitchen. She gestures at the kettle.

‘Tea?’

‘Uh, no, thanks.’

She nods and then closes the door to shut out the noise of the TV. It’s uncomfortably intimate; the kitchen is just a narrow galley at the back of the house and there’s nowhere to sit, no social space for me to occupy. I’m standing right in the middle of her private life. I lean back against one of the worktops and focus on a band of light reflected from the rim of a plate on the draining board. Of her, I can only see the legs now, in the left of my peripheral vision. She has propped herself against the door. I keep the plate front and centre.

‘So?’ Her voice sounds far away.

‘I talked to Barry.’

‘And?’

‘He told him.’

‘Yeah, well, we’d guessed that.’

‘I was still hoping he hadn’t really done it.’

‘Fat chance. He’s a bitter, evil man.’

‘Aye, I’ve been coming to that conclusion myself. Look, that’s not all – he told Geoff there was something going on between you and me.’

She doesn’t say anything. I manage to turn my head and look at her, but she’s completely still and just stares past me, through the window. Then her lower jaw moves, almost imperceptibly, as if it was frozen and she was struggling to form the shape of words. ‘I…I…’ The first sounds come as a faint stutter, and then, ‘I was always afraid that I couldn’t really have this, but it was the truth I was scared of. I never thought anyone would have to make something up, you know?’

‘Aye, I know.’

‘I mean, it’s not much to ask, is it? All I wanted was a normal life, nothing special. He’s hardly the man of my dreams, is he? But he’s sweet to me and I thought I could have a nice life with him, a good life. I just wanted to be like everyone else, and I wanted a proper home. And now the silly fat bastard’s run off and ruined everything.’

Her voice tremors with the approach of tears, and suddenly there’s a twist and lurch somewhere in my own insides and I’m moving towards her and putting my arms around her and my voice is saying stuff that hasn’t even passed through my brain. ‘Come here, pet, it’s not that bad. He’ll be back soon and you’ll get it sorted out. He knows what’s good for him.’

‘He won’t even answer his phone!’

‘Don’t worry about that.

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