The Start of Everything by Emily Winslow

Author:Emily Winslow [Winslow, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780345534583
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2013-01-07T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

GRACE RHYS

Katja elbowed me in the chest as she ran past, chasing the children. Her wellied foot stamped on my white trainers.

I stood stunned for about four seconds. I know it was four because Caitlin was chanting a hide-and-seek countdown. Caitlin is six. She has long hair and sucks on it whenever she isn’t talking or eating. She and Danny are Katja’s responsibility, but I’m the one who combs that hair.

Caitlin finished the countdown and pounded the pathway paving stones with her running. The garden was vast enough for the other kids to hide effectively, so I had a few minutes to lean against the lip of the dry fountain. The nose of a stone dolphin chilled my cheek.

“Grace!” Katja called.

I turned my head away. She called again, striding back across the frosted lawn. She’d helped them get well hidden and wanted a break.

“You didn’t answer,” she accused me.

“I was …” There was no ready end for that sentence. I used to say to Gran, Sorry, I was studying.

Katja stabbed a cigarette between her lips and cupped her hands to light a match. The kids had gone round the house, but we could still hear them. Caitlin found Brent and Lizzy, the toddler twins I look after, quickly. Too quickly. They must have given themselves away. Running. Laughing. Squealing. Screaming.

“Katja!” Caitlin bellowed. “Katja!” Someone was crying. Danny.

“You go,” Katja said. That happened a lot. “I’ll finish this.” She inhaled deeply, then blew a line of white smoke that curled around the edges.

I didn’t respond at first, but Caitlin yelled for Katja again. I pushed off from the edge of the fountain and took off around the house.

“Katja! Danny fell!” His quiet crying became more evident as I ran across the lawn.

He was under the climbing frame, shocked but unhurt. I bent to get under it with him. His sister and the twins crowded around. A dark patch spread across the front of his corduroy trousers. The smell wafted up to my face.

Mum had cleaned Gran whenever she wasn’t at work, but after school was my time. I’d got used to the smell as a cue for action, ignoring the sourness of it. But since Gran had died I’d regained my sensitivity. I reared my head back to get away from it, and banged into the underside of the slide.

Katja sidled up, close enough to see the wet spot. “Daniel!” She’d thought she got the better part when I ended up with the littler ones, but Danny was the one with repeatedly wet trousers.

He started to cry again. “I’ll get him fresh clothes,” I said. Katja scowled. Getting the part of a job that didn’t involve the children themselves was always the win. Funny, I’d thought I liked kids, just like I’d thought I liked maths. Now I didn’t know what I liked.

I went inside and up the stairs. Knock-knock. “Mrs. Finley …?”

I only got the door cracked open. Her footsteps thudded then the door was shoved shut. “I told you, Katja, I’m wrapping presents!” Mrs.

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