Читать книгу The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer, Nathan Filer - Страница 12

Mum pulled open the quilt at the entrance and peered inside, ‘I’ve forgotten the password again.’

‘You can’t come in then.’

‘Will you tell me it one more time?’

‘Nope.’ I pulled the quilt back against the radiator, gripping it tightly with my fist.

‘Bully.’

‘I’m not a bully, I’ve told you once already.’

‘Super Mario?’

‘Close.’

‘Hmm. What’s his girlfriend called?’

‘Princess Peach.’

‘Ah, yes. That’s not it either, is it?’

‘Uh-uh. Actually, she isn’t Princess Peach in this game. And you’re getting warmer. Sort of.’

‘Cryptic clues, eh?’

‘What does cryptic mean?’

‘It means if you don’t tell me the password I’ll cry.’

I opened a small gap and watched as she made her pretend sad face, with bottom lip trembling. It was hard not to laugh.

‘Oh, charming. Here I am, pouring my heart out, and my own son and heir is smirking at me.’

‘I’m not smirking.’

‘What’s this then?’ Her arm crept in, through a gap I hadn’t noticed. She did that thing when you make a bird’s beak with your hand, pecking up my arm until she found my face. She propped up the corners of my mouth. ‘Ah-ha. I knew it!’

It’s good being a bit ill when you’re a kid, isn’t it?

It’s better if you go to a proper school, because then when you stay home for the day it’s a treat. If you have your lessons at home anyway, there isn’t anywhere to go. Unless you’re allowed to build your own den.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I’ll give you a clue.’

‘Go on then.’

‘I’m playing it right … now.’

I let the entrance fall open and quickly picked up my Game Boy Color. Mum tilted her head, squinting at the cartridge. ‘Donkey Kong!’

‘You may enter.’

It was really just the space between the back of the couch and the wall, but I stretched a quilt over the top, tucking it behind the radiator. It was nice to hide away in there, playing games or watching TV through the gap beside the curtains.

Mum crouched on all fours and crawled inside. ‘Show me how to play it then.’

‘Really?’

‘What, you don’t think mummies can?’

There wasn’t much room, but that made it better in a way. It was cosy. ‘Hold it like that, with your thumbs on the buttons. See him at the bottom?’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘He’s Mario. You need to make him climb to the top, without the barrels hitting you.’

‘What’s at the top?’

‘His girlfriend.’

‘Not the princess?’

‘She’s in other games. It’s started, you need to concentrate—’

When the first barrel hit her, she said it wasn’t fair because she was about to get good.

‘It’s still your go. You have more than one life. Shall I tell you when you need to jump?’

She didn’t answer.

‘Mum, shall I tell you when to jump?’

She kissed me on the cheek.

‘Yes please.’

I’m not a mind-reader. I can’t tell you what my mum was thinking. Sometimes I worry people might be able to place thoughts in my head, or take my thoughts away. But with Mum, there’s nothing.

‘You’re better than Dad.’

‘Really?’

‘He can’t get past Level One.’

My mum is made of angles, and sharp corners of bone. She isn’t great to cuddle. But she put a cushion on her lap for me to rest my head, and that was comfortable.

At lunchtime she made vegetable stew.

Usually we ate at the table, but this time we took our bowls into the den. I was starting to feel floppy and useless.

‘Try and eat up, sweetheart.’

‘It hurts to swallow.’

She looked in my throat and said my tonsils were still swollen, that she’d make a Lemsip after we’d eaten. She picked up my spoon, and fed me a mouthful, scooping a bit of spillage off my chin like you would for a baby. Then she said, ‘Why more than one life?’

‘What?’

‘In computer games. It doesn’t make sense, having lots of lives. It makes no sense at all.’

‘It’s just the way they are.’

She shook her head. ‘I’m being silly, aren’t I? Shall we play Snakes and Ladders next?’

I opened my mouth, and she fed me another spoonful. It wasn’t a plastic spoon or anything. It wasn’t for babies. It was a regular spoon.