The Honeymoon Sisters (20 page)

Dad is usually very good at hiding what he’s thinking – his poker face, Mum calls it. Today he seemed to be turning several thoughts over in his head, until finally he said, ‘Your mother was like a breath of fresh air to me when we first met, Poppy. She was so young and pretty and sweet and the least cynical person I’d ever met. And yes – I suppose I thought she was “the one”.’

‘She told me she loved
you
with all her heart,’ I said.

Dad just nodded, avoiding my gaze, and I suspected he already knew that.

‘Dad, why did you and Mum split up?’ I said softly. It was the first time I’d ever felt brave enough to ask him.

He waited a few more moments before answering. ‘Sometimes a relationship that isn’t working can’t be mended.’

‘But did you even
try
?’ It sounded like I was accusing him – maybe I was.

His whole face seemed to freeze. ‘Did your mother tell you I didn’t try?’

I bit my lip. What should I say? My heart started to race and I could hear my own pulse beating in my ears. I couldn’t look at him as I whispered, ‘Mum told me she wanted to try marriage counselling but you didn’t want to …’

There was a horrible, tense silence. I was so nervous I felt all trembly inside. If he got angry and rejected me because he thought I was siding with Mum I wasn’t sure I could stand it.

‘Poppy, look at me, please.’ Both his tone of voice and the expression on his face were deadly serious.

I gulped. Perhaps I had gone too far? ‘Dad, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean –’ I began, but he stopped me.

‘Poppy, don’t apologise. You have every right to ask questions of the adults in your life – especially me. In fact, I sometimes think you don’t do that enough.’ He paused, then continued, sounding like he was trying hard to explain something to me in a way I’d understand. ‘Poppy, I admit I stuck my head in the sand when things first started to go wrong between your mother and me. I was busy with my career and I put all my energy into that instead of investing the time and effort I should have in
our marriage.’ He paused. ‘Your mother and I grew further and further apart, and by the time she suggested marriage counselling, I … well, I just didn’t think there was enough of our marriage left
to
save.’ He sighed. ‘But I did of course still love
you
– and that will never change. I’m very proud of you, Poppy. You do realise that, don’t you?’

I swallowed, feeling all emotional inside. ‘Yes,’ I murmured.

Because I did now.

Dad smiled at me warmly. ‘Good. Now … let’s prepare our case for the defence, shall we?’

‘Huh?’

‘I presume you want to persuade your judge and jury at home that you actually
need
those glasses …’

For the first time in forever, Dad actually came inside our house to back me up as I presented my case to Mum. I wore my new glasses as I delivered the apologetic speech I’d rehearsed in the car, and I gave Mum my best pleading look as I begged her to let me keep them. ‘Please, Mum … just putting them on makes me feel more confident!’

Mum sighed at that, and I knew I had won her over. She’s always telling me how important confidence is, and
how she wishes she’d had more of it herself growing up. Besides, she might be prepared to give Dad the icy-cold treatment to punish him, but when it comes to me she’s much more forgiving and soft-hearted.

‘All right, Poppy,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want you going behind my back like that again, understand?’

I promised her that I wouldn’t.

‘I think they suit her rather well, don’t you, Kathy?’ Dad said carefully, having stayed pretty silent until now.

‘Yes, Peter, they do,’ Mum replied quietly.

And as they stood side by side admiring me in my new glasses I realised this was the first time in ages that I’d actually heard them agreeing about something.

Dad didn’t stay long and Sadie arrived home from school just as he was leaving. Sadie gave me a thumbs up as soon as she saw my glasses. ‘Cool specs, Poppy.’

As Mum and Dad talked for a few moments on the doorstep, Sadie said in a low voice, ‘Well, this is progress, isn’t it? Your dad actually crossing the threshold!’

I nodded happily. ‘I know.’

‘Maybe next time we can get her to offer him a cup of tea and a biscuit. Speaking of biscuits …’ She started towards the kitchen.

As she raided the biscuit tin and I put a piece of bread
in the toaster she said, ‘You know how my social worker keeps asking me if I want her to take me to see my dad?’

‘Yeah.’ I turned and gave her my full attention.

‘Well, I’ve been thinking about going.’ She added in a rush, ‘But do you think your mum would take me instead?’

I was a little taken aback. ‘I don’t really know,’ I replied honestly. ‘Why don’t you ask her?’

‘I will. It’s just … well … she’s never exactly been Dad’s biggest fan, has she?’

‘Well, things are a lot different now,’ I pointed out. ‘For starters, he’s just given her what she always wanted!’

Sadie looked confused. ‘What do you mean?’

I grinned. ‘
You
, of course!’

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Do you ever have that feeling that what you’re doing isn’t really happening? As if instead of actually
doing
it you feel like you’re standing back and
watching
yourself do it?

Well, that’s how I felt on Friday afternoon as the assembly hall began to fill up. The two debating teams were seated behind two tables on the stage and I had a chair to sit on at one side.

At lunchtime Sadie, Sean, Josh and I had met for a last run-through of how we were going to hijack the debate, and we had also told Anne-Marie (but not Katy or Julia) what we were planning.

‘If you join us you won’t get into any trouble. We’ll take all the blame,’ Sean promised her as he handed her a sheet of paper he’d prepared outlining all the positive points about keeping animals in zoos.

Anne-Marie was grinning. Like I said before, she really enjoys public speaking, and I could tell she didn’t want to miss out. ‘
OK
,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll do it.’

So now Sadie was sitting with Josh and Katy on the
AGAINST
table, while Sean, Anne-Marie and Julia were sitting on the
FOR
table. I saw Mum come into the hall. I gave her a wave as she came to find a seat near the front.

I could see the ‘against’ team leaving their seats and that both teams were now huddled together talking. Josh beckoned to me urgently so I went over to join them.

‘You must be kidding,’ Julia was saying, having just been told the new plan.

Katy sounded equally dismissive. ‘It’s crazy. We’re just going to get in a heap of trouble. Come on, Julia. Let’s go and tell Mrs Smee what they want to do.’

‘Don’t you dare.’ Sadie was glaring at her ferociously. ‘Listen, this will be much better than a boring debate about school uniforms that nobody even cares about! We’ve got stuff prepared for you to use if you still want to be part of it – or you can just opt out. But you have to stay on the stage until we get started or Mrs Smee will guess something’s wrong.’

‘Fine … I’m opting out, then,’ Katy said.

‘Me too,’ Julia agreed. ‘You’re not getting
us
into trouble over this.’

They were both angry but I didn’t really care. Anyway I had promised Sadie, and I couldn’t back out now.

As I returned to my seat I spotted Dad and nearly had a heart attack when I saw where he was sitting. He had sat himself down next to Mum! Thankfully she also had Josh’s mum next to her for support. For a few moments I just stared at the unlikely sight, wishing I could take a photo or something to mark the occasion. Mum and Dad were actually sitting
together
to watch me!

Meanwhile Mrs Smee was making her way up on to the stage, completely oblivious to what was about to happen. The tops of her popsocks were alarmingly visible under the hem of her skirt, allowing the audience a brief glimpse of white hairy leg as she stood on stage to introduce us.

As I stood up to do my bit, I felt my legs trembling. I really couldn’t do this! Why had I even thought that I could? I glanced at Sean and Anne-Marie, who were both smiling at me encouragingly, then at Josh and Sadie, who were doing the same. Sadie looked full of excitement and energy … like she was about to jump out of her seat and take off like a rocket.

I turned towards the audience, remembering what Dad had told me when he’d found out how scared I was of public speaking. Nerves are normal, he said. If you feel nervous, it means you’ve got lots of lovely adrenalin in your bloodstream, which is just the thing you need to get you through.
So don’t get nervous about feeling nervous.

It’s a pity adrenalin doesn’t seem to make your voice any louder, because I have a very quiet one that doesn’t usually carry very far. But Dad says that’s what microphones are for and today, for the first time ever, I was actually getting to use one.

‘Thank you all for coming to our debate,’ I heard my embarrassing, not-very-human-sounding voice blast out as all eyes in the room fixed on me. I swallowed and concentrated on remembering the words I’d been rehearsing repeatedly in my head all day. ‘And now we have a surprise for you – and also for Mrs Smee. We’ve decided to change our debate topic this afternoon to a subject we feel especially passionate about. So we’re going to pose the question:
Is it right to keep animals in zoos?
’

As I sat down the audience applauded, and I avoided looking at Mrs Smee or any of the other teachers in the room. I knew no one would stop us now as Sean jumped up and began to present the ‘for zoos’ side. I felt my
heartbeat gradually slowing as I listened to him. I knew I could rely on him and Anne-Marie to do a good job as they talked sensibly and intelligently about saving endangered species and educating the public and so on. Next Josh put forward a sound argument about how humans have no right to keep animals in captivity, managing to appear calm and rational and reasonable throughout.

And then it was Sadie’s turn …

That’s when my mouth went bone dry and I started to feel my heart thumping again. Because if anyone was going to get carried away and say something offensive that would get us all into trouble it would be Sadie.

I’m not sure what I expected her to say, or how I expected her to say it, but she totally surprised me. ‘This is a subject very close to my heart,’ she began in a clear but passionate voice that seemed to capture the attention of everyone in the room straight away. ‘Because in my opinion, zoos are quite simply
prisons
for animals.’ She paused and looked around at all the parents’ faces. ‘I want you to think about it this way for a moment – if we put a
person
behind bars … keep him captive in a confined space away from his home and his family … if we do this to a human, then it is widely acknowledged as a severe
and terrible punishment … So why do we think it’s no big deal to take away the liberty of animals who have done nothing wrong?’ She paused. ‘Imagine being taken away from your home and your family, never knowing why, and being locked up, never to see them again.’ She glanced around the room. ‘I ask you, what person would
choose
that as a life? What
animal
would? Surely
any
living creature would rather its species
did
become extinct if the only alternative was for themselves and their children and their children’s children to lead a miserable life in captivity with no privacy, permanently on display to crowds of people – people like us who pay their captors to come and have a fun day out observing these poor creatures’ unnatural and unhappy existence … and call it a trip to the zoo …’

Sadie’s speech continued over her allocated time, but I didn’t stop her. When she finally finished she got a big round of applause. She sat down in her seat, looking flushed.

It took me a few moments to make myself heard in order to kick off the questions from the audience. The Q & A session passed in a blur until finally it was time for the audience to take a vote.

I wasn’t all that surprised when the anti-zoo argument
won. After all it was Sadie who had given the most convincing speech. And the whole prison angle had set
me
thinking about more than just zoos.

Finally it was all over. The hall emptied and only a few parents remained. Mr Jamieson gave us a brief ‘Well done’ before disappearing off. Mrs Smee looked flustered as she hurried after him. Mr Anderson came to give Sean a high five and congratulate the rest of us, before whisking Sean off to some science presentation his sister was doing. Josh’s mum and my mum came to gush over all of us, then Mum put her arm around Sadie and led her to the door, saying she wanted to see her artwork. Josh and his mum went with them … which left Dad alone with me.

‘So what did you think?’ I asked him nervously.

‘Well, let me see …’ He pretended to consider it. ‘What did I think of the way you and your friends changed the debate topic to discuss something you clearly cared more about than school uniforms? What did I think of the way you spoke out so clearly, even though you were nervous?’ He was smiling now. ‘I think, Poppy, that I have probably never been so proud of you!’ And he pulled me towards him and planted a kiss on my forehead.

And that was the best moment of all.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

After school Sean and Josh came to find me and Sadie in the art department, where we were helping Miss Hodge tidy up. The boys had just been getting told off by Mrs Smee, who assumed it had been their idea to change the debate.

‘Apparently she can’t imagine sweet, innocent Poppy ever doing such a thing,’ Sean said, raising an eyebrow. ‘She thinks we must have led her astray!’

‘Oh yeah? And what about me?’ Sadie asked.

‘Oh well, you’re a different matter. I think everyone agrees that
you
don’t need leading anywhere!’ Sean said.

‘Well, the debate was much better than it would have been if we’d stuck to Mrs Smee’s plan,’ Sadie protested.