The Switch (16 page)

The police had decided to overlook Bob’s part in the kidnapping and the break-in at the house of Lord Roven. He had, after all, been under Finn’s influence and Finn had now paid for his crimes. It was quickly decided that Bob should be put into a group home. But Tad too had no parents and nowhere to go. His was a more difficult case in that he did have relatives who could look after him, but unfortunately they had all disowned him, not wanting to be involved in the scandal. His file had been passed around from committee to committee, but eventually he had been put into a home as well.

Both boys had been sent to the St. Elizabeth Institute. They had arrived on the same day.

Now Tad waited for Bob to speak. Bob gazed at the other boy. His face was blank, neither hostile nor friendly. “You aren’t so fat anymore,” he said.

Tad shrugged. “I’ve been doing more exercise. And I don’t eat so much now.”

“And you’ve ’ad your ear done.”

“Yes.” There was a silver stud in Tad’s right ear. He rubbed it gently. “I got to like having one.” He paused. “There were quite a lot of things I liked about being you, Bob.”

“Well, you’re not me anymore,” the other boy snapped. “So why ’ave you come looking for me? Come to ’ave a good laugh?”

“I’ve got nothing to laugh about,” Tad replied. “I’m the same as you now. My parents are gone and it looks like I’m stuck here.” He sighed. “Bob, I came to say I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“It was me who Spurling came to kill. And it was me who should have got shot. I suppose I did. But it was you who had all the pain, the hospital, all the rest of it. I didn’t know we were going to switch back again . . .”

“It certainly couldn’t ’ave happened at a worse time,” Bob agreed. He swung around—but slowly. “So you’re stuck here, are you?”

Tad nodded. “I don’t care,” he said. “I couldn’t have gone back home anyway, even if Snatchmore Hall hadn’t been put up for sale.”

“Didn’t you ’ave uncles? Aunts?”

“They didn’t want me.” Tad looked around him and sighed. “I might as well stay here as anywhere,” he said. “It’s only for two years. Then I’ll be sixteen and they’ll have to let me out. And then I can start again.”

Tad fell silent. There were a few trees near the yard, their leaves turning gold with the arrival of autumn. Behind them he could see the sun, already beginning to set.

“So what now?” Bob Snarby asked.

“I hoped we could be friends,” Tad said.

“What? You ’n me?”

“Why not?” Tad sat down next to Bob. “Nobody’s ever known each other as well as you and I have. I mean, we’ve actually
been
each other.”

“Did you ever tell anyone?” Bob Snarby asked.

“About the switch?” Tad shook his head. “No. I didn’t think anyone would believe me.”

“Me neither.”

“It’s only two years,” Tad went on. “And then we’ll be on our own. No parents. No Finn. Nobody to tell us what to do or turn us into what they want us to be. In some ways, maybe that’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Yeah? And what then?” Bob wasn’t convinced. “What do you think will happen to us then? You say you’re the same as me now. Well, what chance do you think people like us ever have?”

“I think we can be anything we want to be,” Tad replied. “If we stick together. And if we want it hard enough. With what you know and what I know . . . together we can take on the world.”

Bob smiled for the first time. “Listen to you!” he said. “I bet you was never like this before you was me.”

“I bet you’ve changed too.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Bob shrugged ruefully—the movement made him wince. “You know, in the end I didn’t much like being you,” he admitted. “It was lovely to start with. Like having Christmas every day. But can you imagine Christmas every day? How bored you’d get? I was beginning to feel like I was drowning. No wonder you were the way you were. You were spoiled rotten.”

“Eric and Doll weren’t great parents either.”

“That’s true.”

Bob stood up. Tad helped him get to his feet, then held out a hand. “Friends?” he asked.

Bob Snarby took the hand. They shook.

A bell rang inside the institute and together they began to walk back.

They had been each other and now they were themselves. But best of all they were together, and as they slowly crossed the exercise yard, walking side by side, Tad was filled with hope and with happiness, knowing in his heart that the adventure of his life had only now begun.