Call of the Penguins by Hazel Prior

Author:Hazel Prior [Prior, Hazel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473597563
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2021-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

30

Patrick

Vancouver

‘HELLO AGAIN!’

Denise’s earrings and her smile are just as bright as last time. She pecks me on the cheek and lets me in. I dump the box on her hall floor. She is keen to go through the routine of dog-petting, tea-drinking and small talk, but I’m not having it. I’ve tried to ring her several times over the last few days and not got through. Now my patience has run out.

‘Was his name Joshua or was it Joe?’ I demand. I know I should say, ‘How are you, Denise?’ first, but this nasty niggle has entered my head that we might have somehow got the wrong person.

Lulu snuffles at my heels. Denise’s smile drops into a frown. ‘Joshua?’

‘Yes, there’s a photo album and loads of pictures, but the writing under them says he’s Joshua,’ I explain edgily.

‘Let me think.’ It’s clearly not an activity she’s used to, judging by the vacant expression in her eyes.

‘Kettle, while Mommy’s trying to work it out.’

I worry for a moment before I realize she’s talking to Lulu. I follow her into the kitchen and she plonks two mugs and a packet of biscuits on the sideboard. I will the kettle to boil fast, which it doesn’t.

Once we are back in the sitting room with our teas, I manage to force the album into Denise’s hands. ‘Look here. It says Joshua.’

She turns the pages. ‘So it does.’ She peers down at the photos, bemused. ‘But I remember him as Joe. It’s definitely him.’

Yes, but is it the right him? I want to scream.

‘I wonder if Emma would remember.’

‘Who’s Emma?’

‘My daughter, the one who’s a lawyer. She’s got a memory like a box of razors. She never knew Joe, of course, but she’s quite up on the family history. I could ring her, after we’ve had our tea, if you like.’

‘Do we have to wait until we’ve finished our tea?’ I ask.

‘Well, Patrick. You are in a hurry, aren’t you?’

She’s noticed!

She isn’t looking so thrilled with me now, but she gets up and wanders to the phone. ‘Emma, darling, it’s me, Mom. Yes, I’m fine, and so’s Lulu … Oh, that’s good to know … Listen, honey, I’ve got that young man with me who was doing the research about the Fullers. He found the Fuller things in the attic and one of them was a photo album, but it seems that Joe … maybe wasn’t Joe? His mother called him Joshua in the notes.’

There’s a long pause. Then she beckons me over and holds her hand over the mouthpiece. ‘She wants to talk to you,’ she hisses.

I take the phone from her eagerly.

A brisk young voice comes at me. ‘Hello, is that Patrick?’

‘Yes, sorry to bother you, er, Emma, but this is important to me.’

‘Understood. He’s your father, after all. Listen, Mom’s a bit vague about these things, I know. She’s forgotten but I do remember looking into it once. He was christened Joshua by the Fullers, but he liked to call himself Joe and changed it officially later.

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