Spirit Level by Richy Craven

Author:Richy Craven
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eriu

Chapter 19

‘And we’d get the movie channels with that as well.’

They were in Danny’s parents’ back garden. It was the morning of Buster’s christening and Danny had escaped outside to take a discreet swig of his flask and also to escape the chaos that seemed to go hand in hand with getting a toddler ready to leave the house.

‘For the last time,’ Danny said firmly. ‘We are not upgrading to Sky.’

Danny had started leaving the television on for Nudge, set to a channel of his choice, while he slept or hadn’t drunk sufficiently to connect yet. The increase in his electricity bill seemed like a small price to pay for some much-needed alone time. Unfortunately, Nudge was no longer satisfied with Danny’s terrestrial channels and wanted him to pay for the upgraded TV package.

‘I bet Sven has Sky,’ Nudge grumbled.

‘Go haunt him then,’ Danny replied. He sipped his whiskey in irritated silence. This had been happening more and more. Things had cooled down since they’d had their talk after the therapy session but there was a very good reason he and Nudge had never lived together while he was alive: they would have got on each other’s nerves, like they were starting to do now.

‘There you are!’ Danny’s dad said from the back doorway. ‘Some godfather you are, hiding.’

‘What are you doing out here then?’ Danny countered, guiltily hiding his flask behind his back.

‘Also hiding,’ the older man admitted.

‘How’s it going inside?’

Joe sat down beside his son on the bench opposite the back door, Luna trailing after in case anyone spontaneously produced sausages. It had never happened before but the dog lived in hope.

‘There’s been some progress,’ his dad reported. ‘Steff has stopped crying and your mum is helping her get changed.’

The early morning sun was startlingly bright, and the two men watched their breath crystalise in front of their faces in silence for a moment.

‘It feels as if her Communion was only last year,’ Joe said wistfully. ‘She was a demon before that as well,’ he added, somewhat less so.

‘I remember,’ Danny said. Steff’s Communion outfit had included a parasol, something he recalled vividly because he’d received a smack across the back of his head with it after making fun of her dress.

‘You’ll be sick of aul’ fellas saying things like this, but you watch! You’re acting as Buster’s godfather today and, before you know it, he’ll be starting school.’

Danny tried to imagine this. He hoped that Buster’s rate of growth would have slowed down somewhat by then, or else they’d be escorting a seven-foot behemoth to the gate of the local primary. ‘That kid is going to go through some amount of school uniforms,’ he said.

‘What I mean to say,’ Joe continued, although Danny thought he saw a brief look of pain flash across his face as he anticipated that particular expense, ‘is that life moves on quicker than you think. A lot of the time, it’s bittersweet, like when I watched you two grow up so quickly, but it also takes us further away from the bad times.

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