The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (21 page)

And the man in the little shop said, "Are you going to buy it or not?"

And I said, "I don't know."

And he said, "Well, you can get your dirty fingers off it if you don't mind," and he took it back from me.

And I said, "Where is 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG?"

And he said, "You can either buy the A-to-Z or you can hop it. I'm not a walking encyclopedia."

And I said, "Is that the A-to-Z?" and I pointed at the book.

And he said, "No, it's a sodding crocodile."

And I said, "Is that the A-to-Z?" because it wasn't a crocodile and I thought I had heard wrong because of his accent.

And he said, "Yes, it's the A-to-Z."

And I said, "Can I buy it?"

And he didn't say anything.

And I said, "Can I buy it?"

And he said, "Two pounds ninety-five, but you're giving me the money first. I'm not having you scarpering," and then I realized that he meant £2.95 when he said Two ninety-five.

And I paid him with my money and he gave me change just like in the shop at home and I went and sat down on the floor against the wall like the man with the dirty clothes but a long way away from him and I opened up the book.

And inside the front cover there was a big map of London with places on it like Abbey Wood and Poplar and Acton and Stanmore. And it said KEY TO MAP PAGES. And the map

was covered with a grid and each square of the grid had two numbers on it. And Willesden was in the square which said 42 and 43. And I worked out that the numbers were the numbers of the pages where you could see a bigger-scale map of that square of London. And the whole book was a big map of London, but it had been chopped up so it could be made into a book, and I liked that.

But Willesden Junction wasn't on pages 42 and 43. And I found it on page 58, which was directly under page 42 on the KEY TO MAP PAGES and which joined up with page 42. And I looked round Willesden Junction in a spiral, like when I was looking for the train station in Swindon, but on the map with my finger.

And the man who had shoes that did not match stood in front of me and said, "Big cheese. Oh yes. The nurses. Never. Bloody liar. Total bloody liar."

Then he went away.

And it took me a long time to find Chapter Road because it wasn't on page 58. It was back on page 42, and it was in square 5C.

And this was the shape of the roads between Willesden Junction and Chapter Road.

And this was my route

So I went up the staircase and over the bridge and I put my ticket in the little gray gate and went into the street and there was a bus and a big machine with a sign on it which said English Welsh and Scottish Railways, but it was yellow, and I looked around and it was dark and there were lots of bright lights and I hadn't been outside for a long time and it made me feel sick. And I kept my eyelids very close together and I just looked at the shape of the roads and then I knew which roads were Station Approach and Oak Lane, which were the roads I had to go along.

So I started walking, but Siobhan said I didn't have to describe everything that happens, I just have to describe the things that were interesting.

So I got to 45 lc Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG, and it took me 27 minutes and there was no one in when I pressed the button that said Flat C and the only interesting thing that happened on the way was 8 men dressed up in Viking costumes with helmets with horns on and they were shouting, but they weren't real Vikings because the Vikings lived nearly 2,000 years ago, and also I had to go for another wee and I went in the alleyway down the side of a garage called Burdett Motors, which was closed, and I didn't like doing that but I didn't want to wet myself again, and there was nothing else interesting.

So I decided to wait and I hoped that Mother was not on holiday because that would mean she could be away for more than a whole week, but I tried not to think about this because I couldn't go back to Swindon.

So I sat down on the ground behind the dustbins in the little garden that was in front of 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG, and it was under a big bush. And a lady came into the garden and she was carrying a little box with a metal grille on one end and a handle on the top like you use to take a cat to the vet, but I couldn't see if there was a cat in it, and she had shoes with high heels and she didn't see me.

And then it started to rain and I got wet and I started shivering because I was cold.

And then it was 11:32 p.m. and I heard voices of people walking along the street.

And a voice said, "I don't care whether you thought it was funny or not," and it was a lady's voice.

And another voice said, "Judy, look. I'm sorry, OK," and it was a man's voice.

And the other voice, which was the lady's voice, said, "Well, perhaps you should have thought about that before you made me look like a complete idiot."

And the lady's voice was Mother's voice.

And Mother came into the garden and Mr. Shears was with her, and the other voice was his.

So I stood up and I said, "You weren't in, so I waited for you."

And Mother said, "Christopher."

And Mr. Shears said, "What?"

And Mother put her arms around me and said, "Christopher, Christopher, Christopher."

And I pushed her away because she was grabbing me and I didn't like it, and I pushed really hard and I fell over.

And Mr. Shears said, "What the hell is going on?"

And Mother said, "I'm so sorry, Christopher. I forgot."

And I was lying on the ground and Mother held up her right hand and spread her fingers out in a fan so that I could touch her fingers, but then I saw that Toby had escaped out of my pockets so I had to catch him.

And Mr. Shears said, "I suppose this means Ed's here." And there was a wall around the garden so Toby couldn't get out because he was stuck in the corner and he couldn't climb up the walls fast enough and I grabbed him and put him back in my pocket and I said, "He's hungry. Have you got any food I can give him, and some water?"

And Mother said, "Where's your father, Christopher?"

And I said, "I think he's in Swindon."

And Mr. Shears said, "Thank God for that."

And Mother said, "But how did you get here?"

And my teeth were clicking against each other because of the cold and I couldn't stop them, and I said, "I came on the train. And it was really frightening. And I took Father's cashpoint card so I could get money out and a policeman helped me. But then he wanted to take me back to Father. And he was on the train with me. But then he wasn't."

And Mother said, "Christopher, you're soaking. Roger, don't just stand there."

And then she said, "Oh my God. Christopher. I didn't. . . I didn't think I'd ever. . . Why are you here on your own?"

And Mr. Shears said, "Are you going to come in or are you going to stay out here all night?"

And I said, "I'm going to live with you because Father killed Wellington with a garden fork and I'm frightened of him."

And Mr. Shears said, "Jumping Jack Christ."

And Mother said, "Roger, please. Come on, Christopher, let's go inside and get you dried off."

So I stood up and I went inside the house and Mother said, "You follow Roger," and I followed Mr. Shears up the stairs and there was a landing and a door which said Flat C and I was scared of going inside because I didn't know what was inside.

And Mother said, "Go on or you'll catch your death," but I didn't know what you'll catch your death meant, and I went inside.

And then she said, "I'll run you a bath," and I walked round the flat to make a map of it in my head so I felt safer, and the flat was like this

Dining Room

L

c

Stairs

Bedroom

D

Fire Escape

no

EU

£ I

^

Kitchen

^J

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Hallway

DO

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A 3

And then Mother made me take my clothes off and get into the bath and she said I could use her towel, which was purple with green flowers on the end. And she gave Toby a saucer of water and some bran flakes and I let him run around the bathroom. And he did three little poos under the sink and I picked them up and flushed them down the toilet and then I got back into the bath again because it was warm and nice.

Then Mother came into the bathroom and she sat on the toilet and she said, "Are you OK, Christopher?"

And I said, "I'm very tired."

And she said, "I know, love." And then she said, "You're very brave."

And I said, "Yes."

And she said, "You never wrote to me."

And I said, "I know."

And she said, "Why didn't you write to me, Christopher? I wrote you all those letters. I kept thinking something dreadful had happened, or you'd moved away and I'd never find out where you were."

And I said, "Father said you were dead."

And she said, "What?"

And I said, "He said you went into hospital because you had something wrong with your heart. And then you had a heart attack and died and he kept all the letters in a shirt box in the cupboard in his bedroom and I found them because I was looking for a book I was writing about Wellington being killed and he'd taken it away from me and hidden it in the shirt box."

And then Mother said, "Oh my God."

And then she didn't say anything for a long while. And then she made a loud wailing noise like an animal on a nature program on television.

And I didn't like her doing this because it was a loud noise, and I said, "Why are you doing that?"

And she didn't say anything for while, and then she said, "Oh, Christopher, I'm so sorry."

And I said, "It's not your fault."

And then she said, "Bastard. The bastard."

And then, after a while, she said, "Christopher, let me hold your hand. Just for once. Just for me. Will you? I won't hold it hard," and she held out her hand.

And I said, "I don't like people holding my hand."

And she took her hand back and she said, "No. OK. That's OK."

And then she said, "Let's get you out of the bath and dried off, OK?"

And I got out of the bath and dried myself with the purple towel. But I didn't have any pajamas so I put on a white T-shirt and a pair of yellow shorts which were Mother's, but I didn't mind because I was so tired. And while I was doing this Mother went into the kitchen and heated up some tomato soup because it was red.

And then I heard someone opening the door of the flat and there was a strange man's voice outside, so I locked the bathroom door. And there was an argument outside and a man said, "I need to speak to him," and Mother said, "He's been through enough today already," and the man said, "I know. But I still need to speak to him."

And Mother knocked on the door and said a policeman wanted to talk to me and I had to open the door. And she said she wouldn't let him take me away and she promised. So I picked Toby up and opened the door.

And there was a policeman outside the door and he said, "Are you Christopher Boone?"

And I said I was.

And he said, "Your father says you've run away. Is that right?"

And I said, "Yes."

And he said, "Is this your mother?" and he pointed at Mother.

And I said, "Yes."

And he said, "Why did you run away?"

And I said, "Because Father killed Wellington, who is a dog, and I was frightened of him."

And he said, "So I've been told." And then he said, "Do you want to go back to Swindon to your father or do you want to stay here?"

And I said, "I want to stay here."

And he said, "And how do you feel about that?"

And I said, "I want to stay here."

And the policeman said, "Hang on. I'm asking your mother."

And Mother said, "He told Christopher I was dead."

And the policeman said, "OK, let's. . . let's not get into an argument about who said what here. I just want to know whether —"

And Mother said, "Of course he can stay."

And then the policeman said, "Well, I think that probably settles it as far as I'm concerned."

And I said, "Are you going to take me back to Swindon?"