“Would that be possible?” I reply hopefully.
“Yes, I can fit you in before Mr. Peters gets in at five-thirty.”
“How much do you charge?”
“For you, Rob, I will do it for free. Anyway, I can do with the company if I’m honest.”
“Great, that will be a great help. I wasn’t looking forward to asking Mum for that.”
“I understand,” Mrs. Peters says, giving me a knowing smile. We make our way in and I waste no time in getting started.
I spend about an hour and a half in the Peters house, and I’m packing up as Mr. Peters walks in. “Hi honey, how was your day.” Mr. Peters says as he walks into the lounge. “Oh, hello, Rob. It’s been a while since I came home to find you here.”
“Hi Mr. Peters, yeah, it’s been a while. Mrs. Peters has offered to help me to lift my grade in Biology. Unfortunately, I’m slipping behind a little.”
“I’m not surprised, and Jill here says you’re doing seven A levels.”
“Yeah, it is a bit much.” Whenever I talk to Mr. Peters, he makes me feel like a ten-year-old again. “Right, I better get going and let you relax after your day at work.” I get my last couple of books stuffed into my bag and stand. “Thank you, Mrs. Peters. I will see you tomorrow.”
“Okay, Rob, see you tomorrow.”
With that, I get up and make my way to the front door. I look across the road at the empty house where I live. My parents won’t be home until around six-thirty tonight, so I have plenty of time to get dinner on the go.
I take a deep breath and walk across the seemingly desolate street. Opening the front door, I push the day’s post back against the wall. I flick the light on, pick the post up, and quickly put my bag up in my room. Returning down to the kitchen, I make myself a snack. Peanut butter sandwich always hits the spot.
I sit staring at the envelope and then go into the study to get the letter opener. My mother has this ornate letter opener that looks like a Turkish dagger.
I slice the letter open and pull the single sheet of paper out. Usually, if Jenifer had written, it would have been at least six pages, often written on both sides.
Rob,
As you would have guessed, Jen’s parents have found out about you two again. This time was the worst; she came to school with a bruised face where her mother had slapped her and belt marks across her legs. She has been stopped from coming out after school and is not allowed out at the weekends until she has done her penance. The teachers have been asked to watch her, so writing at school is out. She still seems upbeat and told me to tell you that ‘you’re still going to hell,’ whatever that means. She also said not to forget the full moon next Friday. You two are very strange. They still haven’t worked out your code yet, she won’t even tell me, and I’m supposed to be her best friend.
I can’t think of anything else to tell you and will write again if you need to know anything else.
Your friend
Debbie
Well, now I know. I blow out a breath of frustration and put the letter back in its envelope. I get up and return the knife to the study and then set about putting dinner going. Tonight is liver in onion gravy with mashed potatoes and carrots.
I put the pre-prepared meat in the oven on gas mark five and peel the spuds. Once done and in the big pan, I peel and chop the carrots. These are the last of this season, and we will be using tinned or frozen from now on. I put the washing machine going and transferred the wet wash into the tumble dryer. I clear away an Airfix model I painted the night before and put my Scalextric away.
I have done my homework across the road, enabling me to watch some TV. With only four channels to watch, I decide to watch a video. My parents bought me Monty Pythons Life of Brian for my birthday, and I have watched it a couple of times now. Some of us at school use quotes from the film. my favourite is, ‘you lucky, lucky bastard.’ It’s always good to use when someone has been sporny or jammy. I’m to the part where he runs away from a pursuing crowd. Brian steps on a man who has sworn a vow of silence’s foot and makes him talk. I hope to get to the nude bit before my parents return for obvious reasons.
Some of us in school plan to do a sketch in the school end-of-year sixth form review where we recreate the ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’ scene. Instead of what have the Romans, we will say what have the school. Then we will go through what we have learned at school, both good and bad.
I hear the front door open and my mum telling my dad to pick up the post I put on the telephone table. The car keys are chucked onto the table and coats removed before both walk into the lounge, where I jump up and turn the video off. My parents are famous for their lack of a sense of humour.
“Hello Robert, let me sit down before I fall down.” My mum says as she plops down in her chair. She closes her eyes for a moment and then opens them, “That’s better.”
Dad comes in and sits in his chair while he goes through the post. “Hello, son, had a good day?” he asks. I have long given up answering because he doesn’t listen to the answer.
Mum has recovered enough, “be a love and slip my shoes off, Robert.” I move over and kneel in front of her. I start to take her shoes off but am waiting for twenty questions. “Oh, that’s better. So, Robert, have you started dinner?” I nod. “Homework done?” I nod again, “have you done your chores?” I nod again. She goes through everything I should have done and seems happy with that. She takes a deep breath and gets up to finish dinner. I follow her, knowing that I will be mashing the spuds.
Dinner is done, and I disappear upstairs to put my shoes on. Each night I take our elderly next-door neighbour’s dog ‘Archie’ out for a walk up to The Ridge to get out of the house. The Ridge is the top of a hill that overlooks the town and is my place to think.
As I cross the road, I walk past the Peters house, and they are in the kitchen washing the dishes together. I see the Peter’s as the perfect couple and know that I will find a Mrs. Peters of my own to be as happy with one day.
As I see through the window, they laugh at something and lean in to share a kiss. A smile spreads across my face, and a warm feeling washes over my body. I don’t slow as the dog pulls me, eager to get off the lead. I feel like I am intruding on their privacy anyhow. We make our way up the mile-long path to The Ridge. Once out of the street and through the gate, I let Archie off his lead. He runs off, excited to explore and sniff around but not going too far from me.
I sit on the bench that has been put up there for the older people to catch their breath on. I don’t see a soul this time of night, and I like it that way. Looking out over the town that is lit up like a Christmas tree with that familiar orange glow above. There are no stars out, but that doesn’t make a difference tonight. After a while, Archie comes and sits on the bench next to me, panting away.
My mind drifts to Jenifer; we had this plan to go to Edinburgh University next year, and I wonder if she will be able to pull that off. It occurs to me that because her birthday isn’t until early June, she might not be able to persuade her parent to let her apply. Once she’s 18, she says she will do what she wants.