Yours Truly (20 page)

“
Calm down,
”
she replies in a soothing radio presenter type voice.
“
You are feel
ing caaaalm. You are at the sea
siiiide…
”

I take in Dionne’s animal print and sequins decorated living room. No
. I’m definitely not at the sea
siiiiide.

“
…The subconscious part of your miiiiiind that is under hypnotic traaaaance will only respond to the voice that put you into that traaaaance. My voice, or anyone else’s, wouldn’t be able to terminaaaaate the suggestions locked into your braaaiiiin. And if we tried… it could just make things wooooooorse.
”

Worse? Surely it's impossible for this to be worse.

“
Worse how?
”

“
Well, complications can include side effects such as nausea, irritability, guilt, identity crisis…
”

I can handle those! I
am
handling those!

“
…Vomiting, hallucinations, sexual acting out…
”

Sexual acting out?

“
I could go on?
”

“
No, no need. Thanks a million. Bye.
”

I slam the phone down. Sexual acting out…
I wonder what that involves. I think back to Riley in the kitchen. Shit. I wonder if that was me sexually acting out.

I wearily put my head onto the laptop keyboard. I can feel the keys pressing into my head. They’ll probably leave a mark. Natalie keyboard head.

What the bloody hell am I going to do now?

I can’t just sit around and wait around for Brian to appear. What if he doesn’t? My entire life is at stake. Telling people exactly what I think ALL the time is only going to leave me with nothing and no one.

Exasperated, I click the search engine tab on the laptop once more. I’m about to do a search for ‘sexual acting out’ but without really thinking about it my fingers fly over the keyboard to spell out ‘Riley Harrington + The Old Whimsy
’
.

The first result is a news article relating to the death of Mary Harrington. I click onto the item, my heart lurching with sorrow as I take in the details of how Riley’s mother was killed two years ago in a car accident in Little Trooley. How awful. Poor Riley. I examine the picture of Mary in the article. She’s standing outside The Old Whimsy and she’s beautiful. Rosy chee
ked and smiling -
her wavy yellow hair plaited and tied with a bright red ribbon. Beside her are two young boys. One is skinny and dark haired, the other is chunky and blonde, very clearly Riley. He’s shielding his face from the sun, but it’s definitely him. Poor guy, losing his mum like that.

As I click off the computer, Jean-Paul Gaultier trots over from the basket he’s been lying in and licks my knee.

I smile in spite of myself, and pick him up, burying my face into his soft white fur.

And then the doorbell goes.

Olly! Please be Olly. I pull the anaesthetic condom from the dressing gown pocket and clutch it in hope.

I race to the door. Jean-Paul Gaultier follows me, jumping up and running around in circles of excitement.

I pull open the door with a rush of optimism.

“
So, the Queen of Sheba has returned.
”

It’s M
um. She’s wrapped up
against the cold in a huge hand
knitted mustard coloured scarf and a long black wool coat. Her cheeks are flushed from the cold and her long dark brown hair is all messed up and windswept. It’s not Olly, but the disappointment fades quickly. I realise I am pleased to see mum. Mums make things better.

“
Well let me in then,
”
she tuts.
“
Or should we just stand here looking at each other like a couple of plebs?
”

“
No. I mean, yes. Of course. Sorry.
”

I open the door and follow her through to the kitchen.

“
Cup of tea?
”
I ask.

“
I’ll make them. Yours are too weak.
”

I perch at the breakfast bar and wait for her to finish preparing the drinks. She lays the teapot out on a tray, and pulls a packet of biscuits from the cupboard,
fanning them out onto a saucer - mum
style.

“
Dionne texted me, said you were here,
”
she says, carrying the tea tray into the living room.
“
Down boy!
”
she scolds Jean-Paul Gaultier who is trying to climb up her leg with impressive commitment.

“
Yes. I made it!
”

“
Only just, I hear.
”

She leans forward and sniffs at my hair.
“
You know…
you smell like a Sunday Roast. Have you been eating a Sunday Roast? On a Saturday?
”
She gives me a disapproving glance.

“
No…
No Sunday Roast.
”
I shake my head, thinking. I wish I
had been eating a Sunday Roast.

She sniffs again.
“
Well, what’s that smell? It’s like…
Rosemary and Thyme. Have you been cooking?
”

Rosemary and Thyme…
The shampoo at Little Trooley! I’d forgotten about that.
“
No,
”
I say running my hands through my hair.
“
It’s this fabulous shampoo I used. Some herby thing.
”

“
I don’t like it. Where’s Olly?
”
she asks.
“
Dionne said he was here.
”

“
Oh. He left.
We had a row. It was horrible, M
um.
”

Mum shakes her head and tuts. It occurs to me to ask her not to ask me any questions. But knowing how she is, that’ll only encourage her to ask more. It’s fine. It’s not like she’s going to ask me anything that I can’t answer.

“
You need to be careful, love,
”
she says stroking Jean-Paul Gaultier, who has nestled comfortably in her lap.

“
About what?
”
I ask, sipping my tea.

“
Olly. You mustn’t nag him.
”

The anger from before makes another reappearance. She assumes that it’s me who has caused the problem. That a row with Olly must surely be my fault.

In this case she’s right, of course. But that isn’t the point.

I decide not to reply. Just stare into my tea.

“
Did you read the checklist?
”
she asks, breaking the silence
.

This is safer ground.

I smile.
“
Yes. Yes, I read it. Thanks
.
”

“
Well? What do you think?
”

“
I hate most of the ideas.
”

I cover my mouth with my hand. Oh no. I didn’t mean to say that. I didn’t even know I hated the ideas they’ve come up with. I’ve really not thought this truth-telling through. How could I be so lax?

“
Sorry. Shit. Just kidding,
”
I say, hoping this works. But pretending that I'm the kind of person who says mean things and then claims to be joking about it for my own amusement doesn’t work. It didn’t work with Olly, so why on earth would it work now, eh?

“
What do you hate?
”
M
um asks.

She's far calmer than I expected. Nevertheless, I feel terrible as the truth-telling does what it does best and causes me a whole heap of shit.

“
The cake is going to be a replica of a sleeping swan. Do you not think that’s creepy? It’s
so
creepy. And I don’t like the dress you chose. It’s not what I wanted at all. I’m grateful that you bought it, but it’s so far away from what I wanted, you may as well have dressed me in a sparkly pink cat suit and I’d be more comfortable in it.
”

Mum stares at me, her mouth opening and closing like a stuttering guppy. But I have a lot more to say, it seems.

“
I feel sad that you and Dionne are planning it all and I’m not involved. And I don’t like diamante.
”

Mum reels.

“
How on earth can you not like diamante?
”

“
I don’t. It’s too shiny and distracting. Diamante is Dionne’s thing. Not mine.
”

Mum puts her cup of tea down on the table.

“
Why the bloody hell didn’t you say anything?
”

This one takes me longer to answer. I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t say anything. Because I’m a wimp? Because I can’t bear to offend anyone. The answer eventually comes out.

“
Because you need this. You need something to do. After Dad.
”

Oh dear. I sound like a patronising bitch. I
am
a patronising bitch.

Mum’s face crumples, her chin jutting outwards with wounded pride.

“
Let’s get just one thing straight, young lady,
”
she sniffs, eyes steely.
“
I might be having a bad time of it at the moment. But I do not need to plan my daughter’s wedding to cheer me up. Believe it or not I do have a life outside of this family. I’m a working woman with friends of my own. I don’t need your pity.
”
She presses her hand to her chest and grimaces. Quickly she fishes an antacid tablet from her purse and chews it angrily.

“
But…
”
my voice fades off. I don’t even know what to say. I feel horrible.

Mum gathers her bag and her coat. And for the second time in one night someone I love leaves me behind.

Email From:
stone
_chutneys

To:
nattyb

Subject: Just Say No

Dear Natalie,

I tried to call the rehab clinic to check up on how you were doing, innit. They told me no one by your name was there, but they were probably just trying to protect you. They're very protective in rehab. I know from experience, kidda.

I just wanted to say that you can do this. You can beat the drugs. I'm rooting for you. When you make it out of the dark and into the light your job will be waiting for you.

Best,

Stone.

P.S Is Marie married?

The trouble with truth-telling against your will is that you can absolutely not trust in what you think you believe. Half of the truths that slip out of my mouth are a complete surprise to me. I think I'm in a relatively safe situation. A situation in which I've got nothing to hide - like a simple conversation with my mother. And then bam, I'm asked a question and out pops some horrible opinion of mine that is so far down in my subconscious that I didn't even know it existed!

And for this reason, until I can locate Brian, I have had to take it upon myself to become a complete hermit. I cannot trust myself not to say something that will either embarrass me or someone else or cause someone's feelings to get utterly trampled on. I've warned everyone off with a mass email giving details of a fake and very icky bout of the lurgy and over the past few days I have been a prisoner in my own home.

The one time I dared venture into the outside world was to get a much needed bottle of milk from the corner shop. Only the shopkeeper, Irene, asked me what I thought of the jumper she was knitting for her husband and I told her that even if I was stranded, stark bollock naked in deepest Alaska with only a perverted old Eskimo with skin disease to keep me warm through intimate cuddling, I would still refuse to wear it. To be fair it had a Siamese cat knitted into it and its whiskers were actual pieces of silver wire sewn onto the cat's cheeks to look like real whiskers. But still. It was incredibly rude and clearly hurt her feelings. So going out? Not such a grand idea.

I’ve been a slave to my mobile phone. Waiting for someone from Operation Locate Brian to call and tell me Amazing Brian has returned and can't wait to unhypnotise me out of this mess. But the phone has been resolutely silent. Oh, except for on Wednesday afternoon when I answer my phone to a marketeer trying to sell me brand new PVC mock stained glass windows. Now I should first tell you that as much as I abhor telephone marketeers, my general thoughts on them as human beings has always been that they are unlucky to be in such an annoying job but it's not their fault. And for that reason I usually feel bad for them and end up buying w
hatever it is they're selling - t
his is the reason why I have an extortionate mobile phone contract and am the adoptive mother o
f an Australian goat named Cujo
. So it surprises me when my conversation with the telemarketer goes a little something like this...