Polly Samson by Polly Samson

Author:Polly Samson [Samson, Polly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Short stories
Publisher: Hearst Magazines UK
Published: 2013-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

“Can I see my room now, dad?”

Sometimes Hal wished he had his own bedroom in London. At home, his bed was in the corner of his mum’s room because it’s only a one-bedroom flat, and he’s supposed to sleep in a dark space between the wall and the bookcase that Anna’s pulled across the room to divide his space from hers. Because of bad dreams, he usually slept in Anna’s bed with her: she never seemed to mind too much. He preferred her side of the room because of the window. The good thing about his part is that she lets him draw on the wall, but the bad thing is that he’s already used up most of the bits he can reach. Some of his drawings make him cringe they’re so babyish. Silly smiling figures with legs growing straight out of potato heads, instead of having bodies which is how he can draw people now. It’s good that she lets him draw on the wall though: normal pictures can be taken down and thrown in the bin, even if you use lots of sellotape and Blu-Tack.

“So what do you think?” Christopher stands at the door and waves his arm into the small room, like a salesman. “Do you like your bedroom?” Hal catches sight of Bob the Builder smiling at him from a poster and thinks: How long is it since I’ve seen you, dad?

“I like the curtains,” he says. “Did you get them just for me?”

“Yeah, I thought they were kind of like Action Man’s curtains,” says Christopher.

Hal notices that they don’t quite reach the bottom of the window, but who cares? They’re made of green and grey camouflage material. And the bed!

“Oh, dad, cool! It’s Action Man’s duvet.” Hal bounces on his knees because of the sloping ceiling.

Christopher says to Anna: “I got the stuff from Army Surplus and had Tamsin from the café run it all up for him.”

Anna nods, smiling. “You’ve done well, Chris,” she says.

“Do you want your mum to sleep in here with you?” asks his dad. “I think the bed’s just about big enough.”

“Where else?” Anna’s smiling, her head on one side, her face shining in the late light from the West. Hal’s sure he’s never seen her look so beautiful. With her long golden hair and pink lips she’d pass for a mermaid any day.

“Sofa?” suggests Christopher, and Hal glances at his dad and catches him wink.

They’re both laughing now, and although he doesn’t know what the joke is, Hal joins in when Anna punches Christopher lightly on the arm.

“You don’t change do you? Shouldn’t you take the sofa? I’m your guest.”

Anna looks so happy that Hal decides to try to make his parents laugh at every opportunity. He pulls silly dinosaur faces while they eat cheese on toast and sliced red apples. “Has he gone mental, or what?” says his dad.

Hal takes off most of his clothes, and dances in his pants in front of the telly when they curl on the sofa with mugs of tea to watch Top of the Pops.

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