Saving Danny (17 page)

‘Come and meet George,’ I called to Toscha from the lawn.

She took a couple of steps towards us as George sat nibbling the grass, but as soon as he moved, Toscha’s back arched and her hackles rose. Turning, she fled back inside through the cat flap. I guessed it would take time for them to be friends.

When George finally collapsed exhausted on the grass with his legs spread out in front and behind him I assumed he’d had enough exercise, so I enticed him back into his hutch with the carrot. It was only a couple of hours before Danny would be home from school, and then George would have another run.

Fifteen minutes before I had to leave to collect Danny from school, the telephone rang. I answered it and a familiar but unsteady female voice said, ‘Cathy?’

‘Yes. Is that you, Reva?’

‘It is … I hope you don’t mind me phoning,’ she said, slurring her words, ‘but I need to talk … and you’re a good listener. Cathy … my husband is having an affair … and I think I’m going to divorce him … What do you think of that … Cathy?’

Not a lot, and even less that Reva was blind stinking drunk.

Chapter Fourteen

Traumatic

‘I’ve suspected he’s been up to something for a while …’ Reva continued haltingly. ‘But now I have proof. You’ll never guess what I found … A receipt, tucked in the pocket of his best jacket … a receipt from a jeweller for a very expensive necklace … He hasn’t given me a necklace, so who the hell has he given it to?’

While I could sympathize with Reva – I’d also discovered a jeweller’s receipt when my husband had been having an affair – she wouldn’t be interested in what I had to say. Having tried to anaesthetize her pain with alcohol, she was now wallowing in self-pity and just wanted to talk and unburden herself.

‘What have I done to deserve this?’ she said with a small sob. ‘I’ve always been faithful to him, honestly I have … I’ve had my chances … I used to be attractive. I gave up a good career to have his child. I’ve always put myself second, and this is how he rewards me! The bastard. I hate him!’ There now followed a diatribe against Richard and all he’d done to hurt her and not done to help her, culminating in his rejection of Danny. ‘It’s his fault as much as mine that Danny is like he is … He’s never been a father to Danny … At least I tried to be his mother.’

While I appreciated Reva was upset and needed to talk, I was mindful of the time. ‘Reva, I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I’m going to have to phone you back. I have to leave soon to collect Danny from school.’

‘Oh, silly me, of course,’ she slurred. ‘Time has become a bit meaningless with nothing to do all day. You go … No need to call me back though … I’m going to bed to sleep this lot off before Richard gets in.’ She hung up and the line went dead.

I left the house with my concerns for Reva mounting. She was obviously upset at discovering her husband’s infidelity, but it had also sounded as though she resented having to give up work to parent Danny. Her comment about being attractive once showed just how low her self-esteem had sunk. But drinking herself into a stupor wasn’t going to help, and she’d now placed me in the unenviable position of having to tell Terri of this incident as well.

Thankfully, in contrast to his mother, Danny had had a good day.

‘I’m so pleased with Danny,’ Yvonne said. ‘He’s done a lovely piece of writing on our topic, The Great Fire of London. He also joined the other children for story time.’

‘Well done, Danny,’ I said, smiling at him.

‘George,’ Danny replied, flapping his arms in excitement.

Yvonne laughed kindly. ‘He’s been so looking forward to seeing George when he gets home.’

‘I’m sure George is looking forward to seeing you too,’ I said to Danny.

Yvonne and I wished each other a nice weekend and said goodbye. Danny held my hand nicely as we walked to the car.

George wasn’t the only one looking forward to Danny’s arrival. When we got in, Adrian, Lucy and Paula had their coats on ready to go with Danny when he took George for a walk in the garden. They appreciated George was more than a pet to Danny and he was Danny’s responsibility, so they wouldn’t take the initiative in looking after George but would follow Danny’s lead. Danny was immediately at the back door, and as soon as I opened it he rushed out. However, just at that moment a large raindrop fell, quickly followed by another and another.

‘House,’ Danny said as he opened the hutch door.

‘Can we take George in the house?’ Paula asked me excitedly.

‘Yes, that’s what Danny does at home,’ I replied.

‘Oh, great!’ Paula said.

‘But we’ll have to make sure Toscha is all right,’ I added. ‘She’s a bit unsure of George at present.’

‘I’ll look out for Toscha,’ Lucy said.

‘House,’ Danny said again, this time to George.

Danny turned and headed in through the back door with George at his heels like a well-trained puppy.

‘Look at the size of him!’ Lucy exclaimed, seeing George out of his hutch for the first time.

‘I bet he does massive poops,’ Adrian declared.

‘Hopefully not too many,’ I said.

But there was a feeling of light-heartedness and gaiety as we followed Danny through the kitchen with George hopping beside him. When it comes to cute animals and adorable pets we’re all children at heart, and George was truly in a category of his own. Even Danny, whose movements were often slow and cumbersome and who had difficulty expressing emotion, had a lightness about him, now clearly far more at ease with George beside him. In the living room Danny went to the Lego still on the floor and, squatting down, began telling George about it in some detail.

‘I change my Lego pattern every day,’ Danny said clearly. ‘This is a yellow brick and this is a green brick. This is a red brick. I have made a yellow, green and red pattern.’

George put his nose to the bricks and sniffed them as though understanding Danny’s narrative.

‘I’ve done well,’ Danny told George. ‘I’ve done a good job. I’ve made an interesting pattern.’ I was amazed. These were some of the phrases I’d used to praise Danny, yet he’d given no indication at the time that he’d even heard them – let alone remembered them.

Adrian, Paula, Lucy and I stood watching Danny in awe as he continued telling George about the sequence of colours while stroking and petting him. The improvement in Danny’s language skills while talking to George compared to people was remarkable. Danny was using phrases to converse and was interacting with George, so why didn’t he talk to children at school and try to make friends? What had made him so fearful of interacting with his peer group? George, for his part, sat still with his head cocked slightly to one side as though listening to what Danny was telling him.

After some minutes Danny stood and said to George, ‘It’s warm in the house. In the house I take my coat off. I hang my coat on the coat stand.’

‘Yes, well done, Danny,’ I said, completely bemused.

Danny went out of the living room, with George at his heels and us following, to the coat stand where he told George, ‘I undo the zip on my coat like this.’

Danny began drawing down the zip, as usual finding it difficult but wanting to do it himself. ‘It’s a zip fastener, not the end of the world,’ he told George, using the exact phrase I’d used when his zip had stuck. I hid a smile.

He took off his coat and then told George, ‘I can’t reach to hang up my coat. I have help.’

I went forward ready to lift him up so he could reach, but he turned and held up his arms to Adrian, wanting him to lift him up. We watched, touched, as Adrian lifted Danny high into the air, higher than I did and making it into a game. Danny looped his coat over the stand and actually smiled. When Adrian set Danny on the floor again he said to George, ‘Shall I show you around the house now?’

I was speechless. When I’d asked Danny previously if he’d like to see the other rooms in the house, which I’d done quite a few times, he had always shaken his head. Until now he had followed the same route from the front door to the living room and kitchen-cum-diner, and upstairs to the toilet, the bathroom and his bedroom. Now with George beside him he was braver and more inquisitive.

‘Shall we go in the front room first?’ I asked Danny.

He nodded.

Lucy opened the door to the front room and we all went in. ‘This is the front room where the computer is,’ Danny told George, which is what I’d said to Reva when I’d showed her around. Although Danny hadn’t been with us, he must have heard.

George paused, sniffed the air and then hopped up and down the room, depositing some pellets behind him.

‘Oh, gross!’ Lucy exclaimed. Adrian and Paula laughed loudly.

Danny looked worried, as though he’d done something wrong.

‘It’s all right’ I said. ‘They’ll easily sweep up.’

I thought it best to clear up the pellets straight away before George or one of us trod in them, so I fetched the dustpan and brush from the kitchen. The droppings were firm and were swept up easily, but not before Lucy had uttered another ‘Gross!’

‘It’s all right,’ I reassured Danny. ‘Do you want to show George upstairs now?’ For this seemed a good opportunity to show Danny around.

‘Would you like to go upstairs?’ Danny asked George.

I guessed George said yes, for Danny began leading us out of the front room and upstairs.

‘Look! George can climb stairs!’ Paula declared.

‘And poop at the same time!’ Adrian said, dissolving into more laughter.

‘Arghh!’ Lucy cried dramatically. ‘I nearly trod it in!’

‘It’s one pellet,’ I said, brushing it into the dustpan. ‘Stop making such a fuss, and be grateful George isn’t an elephant.’ Which made Adrian laugh even more.

Upstairs we followed Danny and George into Danny’s bedroom.

‘This is my room,’ Danny said to George. ‘This is my bed. This is toy George. You know him.’ He took soft-toy George from his pillow and held it to George to sniff and then set it on his pillow again.

George spent some time hopping around Danny’s room, sniffing various items, without leaving any more droppings.

‘Would you and George like to see the other bedrooms?’ I now asked Danny.

‘Yes, come and see my room,’ Lucy said. ‘But don’t let him poop.’

‘He hasn’t got control over it, you muppet,’ Adrian said affectionately to Lucy. ‘He isn’t human.’ Although from the way George was behaving with Danny you could almost believe he was.

‘This way,’ Lucy said to Danny. ‘Tell your rabbit to follow.’

‘He’s George,’ Danny said indignantly. ‘Not rabbit.’

‘That told you,’ Adrian said.

With George beside him Danny was clearly far more confident in expressing himself. We were seeing a very different side to him, and it was good.

The novelty of having a large rabbit hopping around her bedroom overrode any thought of it pooping – Lucy was like a little child as George explored, sniffing the objects he came across, sticking his head into corners and then under the bed.

‘I think George likes my room,’ Lucy said, pleased.

Then George began trying to nibble a flower off the pattern on the duvet and Danny gently pulled him away. ‘Naughty boy!’ he said firmly. ‘Don’t do that. You’ll go to your room if you do it again.’ I wondered where he’d heard that, as I didn’t use those words.

‘Come and see my room now,’ Paula said.

We filed out of Lucy’s room and into Paula’s. George went straight to her school bag, left on the floor, and began scratching at it, trying to get into it. Danny rushed to stop him.

‘He can smell my apple,’ Paula said.

‘Is that the apple you were supposed to eat with your lunch?’ I asked. I was always trying to encourage the children to eat more fruit and vegetables.

‘Yesterday’s,’ Paula said. ‘It’s bruised. Can I give it to George?’

Danny looked worried and then said, ‘George makes a mess. George eat in his hutch.’ Which I guessed was a rule in his house.

‘We won’t feed him in the house,’ I said to Paula. ‘But if it’s all right with Danny, you could give George the apple when he goes back in his hutch.’

Danny nodded and Paula took the apple from her bag while George had a good sniff around the rest of her room. Then we all went to Adrian’s room. Danny looked around with interest; it was very much a boy’s room, with model aircraft and large posters showing scenes from
The Lord of the Rings
and various action movies. George had a good look too, and under the bed he discovered a pair of Adrian’s socks that hadn’t found their way into the laundry basket. He sniffed and then tried to nibble them.

‘Oh no! Gross!’ Lucy cried as Paula held her nose. The girls often teased Adrian about having sweaty feet. He didn’t mind and gave as good as he got.

My bedroom was next and George showed his appreciation by depositing half a dozen pellets in quick succession on my carpet. My children found it hilarious – ‘He likes you, Mum,’ Paula giggled – but Danny was looking worried. I quickly swept up the pellets but thought that in future when George came into the house we’d limit his run to downstairs, for hygiene’s sake.

‘Does your mum let you have George in your bedroom?’ Paula asked Danny, almost reading my thoughts.

Danny shook his head.

Good, I thought, that helps. ‘George is upstairs this once,’ I clarified. ‘So Danny can show him the rooms. But in future, if it rains and he has to come into the house, we’ll keep him downstairs. He can have plenty of exercise running up and down the hall.’

Danny didn’t object, but Lucy did. ‘It’s fun having him up here,’ she grumbled.

‘So perhaps you’d like to clear up his mess?’ I said, offering her the dustpan and brush. She took my point.

After my bedroom Danny showed George the bathroom. ‘This is my towel,’ he said, taking the opportunity to straighten it. ‘This is the bath. This is the tap. The water is hot. Hot water can burn.’ So Danny had been listening when I’d told him that.

Once George had seen the bathroom we went round the landing ready to return downstairs.

‘You haven’t shown George the toilet,’ Paula said.

Danny stopped and his face grew serious. He was quiet as he struggled to find the words he needed. I knew the signs now: the furrowed brow, the element of panic as his body tensed and he tried to think of what to say. Sometimes he flapped his arms in agitation. Eventually he said, ‘George scared of that room.’