Inbetween Days Read Online Free PDF Page B

box. You haven’t paid the bill. Again .’ I wanted a fight.
    But all she said was, ‘I was worried about you.’
    ‘You don’t need to be.’ I stomped off to my room.
    I was lying on my side with my eyes squeezed shut. I sensed she was there, standing in the doorway.
    ‘Jack, I want to tell you…’
    ‘Go away,’ I hissed, but I didn’t mean it.
    ‘You know when I left? Do you remember the fight I had with Ma?’
    I opened my eyes and shook my head. ‘I only remember you driving away.’
    ‘I kept looking in my rear-view mirror and waiting for one of you to come after me.’
    ‘I didn’t know you weren’t coming back. Not right away.’
    ‘When did you realise?’ she asked.
    I tried to remember. ‘A few days, I think. Nobody said it out loud. I was standing in the hallway and I just knew. It seemed like every time there was a fight, Ma took another picture down.’
    Trudy sighed. She looked around my spartan room. ‘You need something on the walls in here.’
    I sat up and pulled my knees to my chest. ‘I’m starting over. You know what Ma’s like. I wasn’t allowed to change anything…’
    ‘…couldn’t pick your own colours…’
    ‘…leave the furniture where it is…’
    ‘…Blu-Tack marks the walls!’
    We laughed.
    Trudy picked at her fingernail. ‘So. What’s happening with…him?’
    ‘I don’t want to talk about it if you’re going to tell me I’m stupid.’
    ‘I won’t. I won’t say that.’
    ‘You don’t know him.’
    She folded her arms. ‘Jack, it took me a long time to figure this out and I’m giving it to you for free: it never works if you love him more. It just won’t. And if it happens that you do love him more, and he knows it, it’s over. The beginning is as good as it will ever be. The rest is trying to avoid the end.’
    I smiled but I wanted to burst into tears. ‘That’s some speech, Gertrude,’ I said. ‘So, what do I do now?’
    ‘If it doesn’t make you feel good, don’t do it. It’s as simple as that.’
    ‘It all feels good, even the stuff that hurts.’
    ‘Yeah,’ she snorted. ‘That’s one of life’s great mysteries. ’Night.’ She turned to leave.
    ‘Trudy?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘I missed you. I’m glad you came back.’ I turned on my side again and rested my head on my hand. ‘You’ve never told me much about your trip. Tell me the best thing and the worst thing.’ It was the question Ma used to ask us both after school. She didn’t allow shortcuts or general answers, like ‘Good’ or ‘Terrible’. She always wanted to know why and she never gave up until we told her everything.
    Trudy’s gaze flickered. ‘Not that stupid game. I wouldn’t know where to start.’
    ‘Start at the beginning.’
    ‘It’s a long story and not much happens.’ She moved her hand as if to brush me away. ‘And Jack? Next time, leave me a note.’
    ‘I can take care of myself,’ I said, flopping onto my other side.
    ‘That’s exactly what I said.’ She closed the door.

CHAPTER FOUR
    The new supermarket in Burt, a twenty-minute drive away, was bigger, cleaner, and they discounted dented cans and threw out soft fruit. In the roadhouse, Alby left everything on the shelf until it either sold or rotted away; he relied on customers who only ever bought enough goods to fill a handbasket, or locals who didn’t drive, or pensioners who had never shopped anywhere else. The population of Mobius was about six hundred and falling, so that amounted to an average of nineteen customers per day, which meant I had to serve approximately one person every thirty-six minutes. And that was only if Astrid called in sick, which she did that Tuesday and Wednesday.
    It gave me plenty of time to think about things I didn’t want to think about.
    Alby popped in and out. The rattling of the metal staircase always told me he was coming well before I saw his tired gnome-face. Upstairs, Mr Broadbent would occasionally shriek and Alby’s soothing tone would