Pet by Catherine Chidgey

Author:Catherine Chidgey [Chidgey, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781787704749
Published: 2023-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

Mrs Fong didn’t ask how I was when I rang Amy that evening. ‘I’ll get her,’ was all she said.

‘Yeah?’ said Amy when she picked up the receiver.

‘I thought . . . I thought I’d see how you were doing,’ I said.

‘How do you think?’

‘Um, not very good.’

‘Well, don’t worry,’ she said, ‘you can pray for me.’

‘I walked home with Karl today,’ I said.

‘So?’

‘He held my hand.’

‘He did not.’

But I could tell she was interested. I could tell she was jealous.

‘Karl likes Melissa,’ she said.

‘Do you think?’

‘Duh! It’s so obvious!’ she said. ‘Oh my God – you thought he liked you.’

She couldn’t stop laughing, so I said, ‘Dad’s gone to the movies with Mrs Price.’

‘What?’

‘And he had dinner at her house last week.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I’m telling you now.’

For a moment both of us just listened to the crackle on the line. Then I said, ‘Amy, did you steal all those things?’

She hung up.

The next week, Melissa passed me a note in class. I started to unfold it, but she jabbed me with her elbow and whispered, ‘It’s for Karl.’ I handed it to Amy, who handed it to Karl; he grinned when he read it, wrote something in reply, drew what looked like a spaceman, then returned it to Amy. And so it went for the next few days: muffled laughs, fleeting glances, while Amy and I sat in the middle and passed the messages back and forth.

On Thursday, when I went to Mrs Price’s to clean, she asked me to do the vacuuming. I started in the study, then shut the door for her so she could get on with her work. At the end of the hall I tried the door to the spare bedroom, but it was locked.

When I’d finished, she came out to pay me.

‘Sit down for a minute,’ she said, gesturing to the kitchen table. ‘Would you like some banana cake?’

She cut me a slice and watched as I ate it. She didn’t have a piece herself but ran her finger along the knife blade and licked off the icing.

‘So tell me,’ she said, ‘do you think Amy is going to own up?’

I shook my head; I’d tried to swallow too large a bite of cake.

‘It’s very sad,’ she said. ‘Has she mentioned anything about it?’

‘Not really. Just that she didn’t take the things.’

‘Very sad,’ she said again. ‘I know it must be hard for you. And I know it must be hard seeing Melissa so friendly with Karl.’

She knew everything about us, Mrs Price. She saw everything. I squirmed.

‘It’s all right, my darling,’ she said. ‘Shall I tell you the trick with boys?’

I nodded.

‘The trick is to let them think they’re in control. Don’t show how strong you really are. Don’t wrestle with them, for instance.’ She smiled. ‘Be a bit mysterious.’

‘Okay,’ I said, though I didn’t quite understand what she meant.

‘I can see why you’re drawn to Karl,’ she went on. ‘He’s very handsome, of course – but there was the business with Susan, too, wasn’t there.

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