The Soul Room Read Online Free PDF Page A

others before her own. Of course, the decision is yours.’
    ‘Yes it is.’
    He nodded gravely. ‘This is not the only reason I come to talk to you
today.’
    I put my hands on my hips. ‘No?’
    ‘I also came here to tell you that your brother has gone missing.’
    My heart skipped a beat. ‘Missing?’
    ‘Yes, your father told me.’
    ‘Why hasn’t he told me himself?’
    ‘He didn’t want to worry you.’
    ‘Dan’s always going missing, it’s a habit of his.’
    ‘I cannot be sure, but I think this time it might be different.’
    ‘I think me and Dad are the ones to decide that.’
    ‘Indeed, indeed you are.’ Amarena sighed and reached over and took my
hand. ‘Either way Maddie, your work here is almost done.
    ‘I’ll call Dad tonight. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.’
    ‘No, no of course not.’

Brighton
1982
     
    I don’t believe
it. Mum and dad have said we’re not going to the Amarena’s in Italy for our
holiday again! That’s four years in a row now that we’ve had to go to
boring, stupid Wales. Well we did Spain once, but that’s two years ago now.
Dad’s on my side, but Mum won’t have it. She keeps saying we haven’t got the
money, but we’d only have to pay for flights, we don’t have to pay for a hotel
or anything like that. When we go to Wales we even stay in a tent. Mum tried to
make it better by saying she’d found a campsite with a swimming pool but it’s
not the same. Collette writes to me every Summer asking me to come. She says
they’ve got a little pony now, just the right size for Dan to ride. Mum says Dan’s
happy with the Donkeys at Portmanath Cove, but how can she say that if she
won’t even let Dan try the pony too? Our French teacher in school said
it’s a real shame we don’t start to learn languages younger in this country,
that your brain gets more set, or something as you grow older, so it’s harder
to learn. I tried to say that to mum, that it would be good for Dan, the
Amarenas could teach him some Italian but she just got cross and said I was
being selfish and lots of my friends in school don’t ever get to go abroad.
    I still remember some of the Italian Collette taught me when I was only
six so that just proves that my teacher is right. I remember buon giorno and buona serra and ciao and andiamo , and Tsoro is
darling, and Collete taught me some rude words too, like merda , which
means the ‘s’ word.  Mum’s really nice most of the time, and I always feel safe
with her, but sometimes she gets in this way that means she just isn’t going to
change her mind, and there’s no point trying to argue with her when she’s like
that. Dad’s tried too, but it’s just the same for him.
     
    Mum and dad are
in the living room arguing, again. Me and Dan are sitting near the top of the
stairs so if one of them comes out of the living room we can get back to our
bedroom quickly and they won’t know we’ve been listening. There’s a siren going
off in the distance.
    ‘Perhaps someone’s going to hospital?’
    ‘It’s the wrong kind of siren Dan, woowoowoo is a fire engine.
Ambulances go neenawneenaw .’
    ‘What do police cars do?’
    ‘You know, they go, I don’t know, mmwaaw mmwaaa or something.’
    ‘Why does it always have to be about what you want?’ Dad’s voice is
suddenly clearer, like he’s nearer the door. ‘Why does it always have to be so
bloody mysterious with you? I always argued with my mates when they said that
women were a different species…I was always so bloody right-on…but with you
it’s true, it’s really fucking true. I just don’t understand you anymore Jane,
you’re a mystery to me, you really are.’
    Dan reaches over and takes hold of my hand. I don’t like him hearing
this, especially the swear words. I didn’t know what the F word was till I was
8. I can’t stop Dan though. We both know when they’re arguing and wake up. It’s
like a psychic ability or something.
    ‘And why can’t you