Wilderness (15 page)

 

 

The plane had landed – it was up on the screen:
LANDED
– but her father still looked worried. Gráinne
wanted to say something. She felt sorry for him, and
embarrassed. There was a ketchup stain on his
jumper and a bit of hardened shaving foam on the
lobe of one of his ears. He watched the people coming
through the arrivals gate. He moved again, and
Gráinne had to follow him. Two boys walked through,
but they weren't Tom and Johnny.

“What's keeping them?” he said.

“Do you want a cup of coffee or something?” said
Gráinne.

“What?”

He shouted it. Then he smiled.

“Sorry,” he said. “Did you say something about
coffee?”

“Yes.”

“No,” he said. “I'd better not.”

He looked at the arrivals gate again, and so did
Gráinne – and they were there. Johnny and Tom.
They were looking at the waiting faces.

Gráinne laughed.

She was surprised. She'd wanted to see them, but
she hadn't expected it to fill her like this. She watched
her father rush at them. They disappeared behind
him – Gráinne couldn't see them for a second. Then
she could, because her father was on his knees with
his arms around them, and she could see them both
talking before she could hear them, telling him about
the holiday, and the snow, and the accident.

And then she saw her stepmother. Gráinne didn't
know her at first, the woman in the wheelchair, in the
big bubble jacket. Then it made sense, and she saw it
was her stepmother. She watched her father stand up
and walk to her stepmother, and he bent down, and
they hugged. The crowds of people coming out had to
go around them. There was a woman there who'd been
pushing the wheelchair; and she stood, and waited, and
looked a bit embarrassed. Then her father straightened
up. He said something to the woman who'd been
pushing the wheelchair. She shook hands with
Gráinne's stepmother, and her father started pushing.

Gráinne waited.

Her brothers had seen her, and they were charging
at her. Tom was holding something out. He stopped
right in front of her and pushed it into her stomach.

“Here.”

“What is it?” said Gráinne.

“Your present,” said Tom. “It's cool.”

“Hi, by the way,” said Gráinne.

“Yeah, hi.”

It was a small toy dog, wearing a T-shirt with
“Where's The Beach?” on it.

“It's a husky,” said Tom.

“Cool.”

“It didn't cost that much,” said Tom.

“Fine,” said Gráinne.

She looked at Johnny.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Good time?”

“Yeah, cool.”

“Mam broke her leg in two places,” said Tom.

“I know,” said Gráinne.

“Two places,” said Tom. “And I burned my thumb.
See?”

Her stepmother was looking at her. She smiled. She
looked tired.

“Hi, Gráinne,” she said.

“Hi,” said Gráinne.

“Thanks for coming,” said her stepmother – Sandra.
“It's lovely to see you.”

Gráinne shrugged. She nodded at the leg, the way it
was stretched out stiff in front of Sandra.

“Is it sore?” she said.

“No,” said Sandra. “Actually, yeah. It's bloody killing
me.”

But she smiled. And Gráinne smiled. She tried to
keep looking at Sandra.

“Hey, Gráinne. Guess what?”

It was Tom.

“What?”

“We're getting a husky.”

Gráinne held out her toy dog.

“Like this?”

“Yeah, but real.”

Gráinne said nothing.

“Real, Gráinne,” said Tom. “We're getting a real
one. For Christmas.”

Gráinne spoke.

“Big deal,” she said.

And she heard her father laughing.

First published in the US in 2007 by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.
First published in the UK in 2007 by Scholastic Ltd
This electronic edition published in 2011 by Marion Lloyd Books, an imprint of Scholastic Ltd

 

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Text copyright © Roddy Doyle, 2007

 

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eISBN 9781407131078

 

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