Breaking the Silence Read Online Free PDF Page B

if she’d been the finest doll from Harrods toy department, complete with fine clothes and tumbling golden hair. It had been quite an arresting thing to witness, to say the least.
    Some kids, of course, had spent time in the care system, and placements with other foster carers usually meant they had a decent amount of clothing and playthings. But Jenson didn’t fall into that category and, given what Marie had said, it seemed clear that he probably didn’t have a great deal to his name.
    But now he did. Because as well as the clothes I bought him a new football, a schoolbag and, best of all, I had managed to lay hands on a nearly new smart DS games console as well. I felt a bit guilty – I even cringed at the thought of admitting all this unscheduled expenditure to Mike – but something about the way his school had seemed to write him off had got to me, and though he’d so far kept up a fairly solid carapace of nonchalance, how did he
really
feel about the fact that his mum had just swanned off and left him? Pretty sad, I’d have thought. After all, he was only 9.
    I don’t know if his ears had been burning or not, but Mike phoned me just as I was putting the new clothes into Jenson’s chest of drawers. Which meant it was his lunch break. ‘How was this morning, then?’ he asked me.
    ‘Oh, you know,’ I said brightly. ‘One or two teething problems when he had to get up for school – no surprises there, then … ha ha … but all in all, fine. I did feel bad for him though, love,’ I added, as a crafty pre-emptive strike. ‘You should have
seen
the state of his school uniform! Those rags he was wearing yesterday? Well, that was the only uniform he had! Can you believe that? Nothing else in there at all! Disgusting, it was, too – God only knows when it last saw some washing powder. You can imagine how happy I was sending him to school in
that
state –’
    ‘So, let me guess,’ Mike said, and I was sure I heard at least a hint of a chuckle. At least I hoped so. ‘You came straight home from school and then went straight back out again. To the shops, to buy him a new set. Am I right?’
    That’s the thing with my husband. He knows me too well. And he took it well, too, bless him. And though he wasn’t half so understanding when he heard about the DS console, I decided I might as well confess now as leave it till that evening, on the basis that it would at least get his rant (and it
was
a rant) out of the way. After all, it could have been worse. I’d nearly bought him football boots as well.
    And I was rewarded, in any case (even if not completely vindicated, given the short time we’d have him with us), by the expression on Jenson’s face when we got in from school and we opened the bag. He was thrilled enough on seeing the football, but when he saw the DS the sheer awe on his face was something else. He didn’t seem to be able to take it in.
    ‘What, this is for
me
?’
    ‘Yup,’ I said.
    ‘What,
just
for me?’
    ‘Just for you, love.’
    ‘What,
only
for me?’ It was as if he really couldn’t believe it.
    ‘Just for you,’ I reassured him. ‘A present for you, from us – from me and Mike. Do you like it?’
    ‘Like it?’ he almost spluttered. ‘It’s awesome! It’s
epic
!’
    ‘There are a couple of games in the bag, too,’ I added. ‘I hope they’re ones you like. If you’ve ever played them before, that is …’
    ‘Oh,
yessss
,’ he said, pulling the games from the bottom of the bag and inspecting them. ‘An’ I’m
proper
good at this one – our Carley used to have this one …’
    ‘Oh, she had a DS, did she?’ I asked, surprised.
    ‘Yeah, she did. Till she stuck it up on eBay to buy stupid girl stuff, anyway. An’ I was never allowed on it. Not ’ficially. I could only play on it when she was out an’ I could sneak up to her bedroom. Oh, Casey, this is awesome! Can I play on it now?’
    ‘Not quite yet,’ I said, grinning. ‘I have some other stuff for you