Mum On The Run by Gibson Fiona

Author:Gibson, Fiona [Gibson, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2011-03-16T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

I wait for him to come back in and say he didn’t really mean it. But he doesn’t. The house is horribly still and quiet. A pale yellow glow spills into our living room as he turns on the caravan’s light.

I grab the duvet from the sofa bed and shroud myself in it. It smells stuffy – of sleepovers and illicit midnight feasts. A few crisp crumbs are stuck to it. Shuffling to the window, I peer out at Vitesse. In our early days, Jed would amuse me with stories of bleak caravan holidays with his parents in Southend and Bournemouth. ‘You were lucky, having Kate to hang out with,’ he said, and I realised I was, despite our eight-year age gap. It couldn’t have been much fun being an only child, trapped in Vitesse with his mum and dad.

You’d think the wretched thing would have fallen apart by now. One window is cracked and held together with thick silver tape. Mottled marks have spread up from its bottom, like a sinister rash. I feel hollow inside, staring out at it. The stark fact is that Jed would rather spend the night with mildewed curtains and a pongy chemical loo than in here, with me.

Maybe, I think, brightening slightly, Vitesse will be stolen during the night. Isn’t Pauline always keen to point out how crime-infested small North Yorkshire market towns are, compared to the serenity of Peckham? Jed could wake up with a start, realising too late that it – and he – is being towed away by dastardly thieves on the motorway. Serves him right for trying to taunt me with his cheesecake. I gaze out, trying to cheer myself up by picturing him, flailing wildly at the window and clad only in his underpants. Then the caravan’s light goes off. Great – so he really is sleeping out there. Brilliant end to a birthday. Pauline and Brian will come down in the morning – plus the kids, of course – and I’ll have to concoct some elaborate lie about Jed wanting to spend the night in Vitesse just for fun, as a reminder of those fabulous childhood holidays.

They’ll all know, of course. And Pauline will probably mutter something about it all being my fault, ‘because she’s going through the change and her hormones are all over the place.’ And Jed’s out there, oblivious, while I’m worrying about how to explain all of this to the children.

Perching on the sofa bed’s edge, I pull the duvet tightly around my body and try to calm my urgent breathing. Of even more pressing concern is the fact that I’m still trapped inside the Reducer. Still swaddled in duvet, I waddle upstairs to the bathroom and bolt the door firmly behind me. Despite some desperate pulling and tugging, I can’t get the Reducer to budge. I glimpse my reflection in our mirrored cabinet. I look pale and fearful, like someone on the run from the police. In the hope of achieving maximum shrinkage, I bought the smallest Reducer in the shop.

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