The Girl in the Rug (5 page)

Franklin woke in a sweat, he couldn’t remember his
nightmare but he still felt really scared, he lay in the dark…still and
silent…hardly daring to breathe. The house was really quiet at this time of
night, apart from all the strange unexplained creaks and groans. Mum said they
were nothing to worry about, all old houses made those sorts of noises at
night…something to do with the house getting colder, or something like that.

He lay for a while trying to get back to sleep, until he
began to realise that he was going to have to go and have a pee. He didn’t want
to leave the safety of his bed, but if he didn’t go soon he was going to wet
the bed and that was not an option. The bathroom was only at the end of the
hall, if he ran it would only take a minute…he quickly slid out of bed and sped
down the landing into the bathroom, emptied his bladder and turned to run back
to bed.

It was then that he noticed Mum’s bedroom door was open.
Mum never left her door open at night…maybe she couldn’t sleep either, maybe
she‘d got up to get a drink. Franklin quietly walked into his mother’s room.
The bed was empty; in fact it didn’t look like Mum had been in her bed at all.
There were clothes strewn all over the floor though and a couple of drawers
left open. Franklin decided that he’d better go downstairs and see if Mum was
alright…maybe she was crying down there, she cried a lot lately…maybe that was
it.

He crept down the stairs wincing with every creak that
they made. Downstairs was in darkness, the TV was switched off and the kitchen
light was out…Franklin began to panic, where was Mum?

He started searching every room switching lights on as he
went…Mum was gone…he was alone.

Maybe she had had to go out…that was it, something had
happened and she had had to go out, she wouldn’t have woken him would she, he
had school in the morning. That had to be it, she had gone out for some reason
and she would be back really soon, he just had to be a good boy until she came
back. He decided to make himself a drink to help him get back to sleep…he’d
seen Mum do it loads of times so he knew he could do it.

He pulled a chair over and climbed up to the kettle, it
was already half full so he flicked the switch and reached up into the cupboard
above to get the hot chocolate mix that he knew Mum kept up there. He found a
cup in the sink and a teaspoon and very carefully began to spoon the powder
into the cup, he wasn’t quite sure how many spoonfuls to put in, he counted out
four, then took the cup back over to where the kettle had boiled and carefully
climbed up again.

The kettle was heavier that he had thought so he had to
use two hands to carefully pour the boiling water into the cup…

‘WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING FRANKLIN!’
shouted his mother from the kitchen doorway, startling Franklin so much that he
dropped the kettle. Boiling water splashed down the front of his pyjamas
scorching his skin, he let out a scream of agony, it hurt so much.

Mum was still shouting furiously; her panic making her
more and more angry. Franklin was picked up none too gently by big rough arms
and plonked into a sink of cold water. The pain was immediately soothed
slightly and Franklin looked up at the man that was holding him in the water. He
was very big with not much hair and a very round face; he was talking angrily
at Mum.

‘What do you mean you thought he’d be alright…he’s a
little kid Debbie…you don’t leave little kids on their own…what sort of a
mother are you for god’s sake?’

Mum was shouting back at him, saying he knew nothing
about it, how she’d done it loads of times and no one had ever been the
wiser…if he’d just bloody stayed in bed like he was supposed to everything
would have been ok.

‘That’s not the point you stupid cow,’ said the man. ‘You’re
his mum…you’re meant to keep him safe.’

He turned back to Franklin, ‘Feeling better now are you
lad,’ he said quite gently, Franklin just nodded, so the man wrapped him in a
towel and carefully took his pyjamas off, angry red patches covered part of his
chest and one of his hands.

‘You need to take him to A&E,’ the man said to Mum,
‘it doesn’t look too bad, but he may need to be checked over.’

‘Yeh whatever,’ said Mum sulkily, ‘look you can go
now…thanks for your help and all that but I can take care of my own kid.’

‘Oh…ok then I’ll go…you will take him to the hospital
though won’t you?’ he said as Mum walked him out.

‘Of course I fucking will, what do you take me for Reg,’
Mum shouted angrily as she slammed the front door behind him.

She came back into the kitchen tears streaming down her
face and sat at the kitchen table.

‘I just can’t get a fucking break can I…’ she cried, ‘why
do these things always happen to me…first decent man I meet in ages and you
have to fuck it up for me…oh stop looking at me like that and go back to
bed…you should have stayed in bed then none of this would have happened…GET TO
BED I SAID!’

Franklin turned and ran back up stairs; he tried to get
comfortable on the bed but his chest and hand were hurting him so much, his
teeth started chattering as his little body started shaking in a reaction to
the scalding. He stayed as still as he could for the rest of the night, he must
have drifted off at some point because the next thing he knew Mum was waking
him up.

‘Come on,’ she said with a long suffering sigh as she
lifted him out of bed, ‘we need to get you to the hospital.’

Mum dressed him really carefully and then called for a
cab. On the way she said it might be best if I told them that I had spilt a hot
cup of tea down my front, after all, she said that was nearly true, but there
was no need to mention about being on my own and the kettle and stuff…just keep
it simple, she said. So that’s what he did. Despite that though, the doctors
still looked strangely at him and sent mum out of the room when they asked him
what had happened.

Franklin never got up in the night again, there would be
no point anyway because after that night Mum made sure his bedroom door was
locked tight when he went to bed.

Tracy looked down at her sun kissed legs and sighed, they’d
been home from the Caribbean for just over two weeks and her tan was definitely
starting to fade. She had toyed with the idea of fake tan but dismissed it…it
was just too smelly.

Tracy heaved another big sigh; she was definitely suffering
from post holiday blues. The holiday and wedding had been such a whirlwind;
Simon had surprised her at Helen and Maya’s wedding a couple of months earlier.
Having been together for nearly five years and engaged for a few months, Tracy
and Simon had both decided that getting married abroad was the way to go,
neither of them wanting to compete with their friend’s sumptuous wedding. But
Tracy had never expected to be whisked off to the beautiful island of Antigua
and she had never dared hope that her mum, dad and sister would all be there…it
was the stuff that dreams were made of.

The only fly in the ointment for Tracy at least was that
Simon’s mum had been in attendance also. Simon’s mum Joan obviously didn’t
think that Tracy was good enough for her son, not that she would ever say such
a thing, oh no not the sainted Joan. She just made little comments, always
beginning with, ‘I know you won’t mind me saying dear…’ or ‘you won’t mind me
giving you a little hint Tracy…’ it had driven Tracy mad especially when she
started giving Tracy advice on how to look after her children, three year old
Zack and baby Tilly. Tracy didn’t know how she had managed to keep her mouth
shut, but she had obviously managed to hide her irritation extremely
successfully because Simon hadn’t noticed a thing, even congratulating Tracy on
how well she’d got on with his mum.

‘I am so relieved love I can tell you,’ he had said,
‘because believe it or not some of my previous girlfriends haven’t hit it off
with her at all, I can’t think why, she is such a poppet.’

Tracy just kept quiet and made up her mind to try really
hard not to be irritated next time she saw her.

Having caught up with her friends and had a trip into town
already this week, Tracy had designated today as a housework day. Since getting
back from holiday she had let things slide a bit and the house was looking a
bit muddled to say the least. There was a backlog of washing piling up in front
of the machine in the laundry room and just about every surface in the house
had a thin layer of dust on it. She also wanted to tackle bathing Buster, her
precious but rather stubborn West Highland terrier, at some point because,
quite frankly, he smelt to high heaven.

‘It’s nothing personal darling…’ she had cooed at him
holding him at a distance, ‘but you stink like a latrine…I think Auntie Maggie
must have let you run amuck.’ Maggie had looked after Tracy’s beloved dog for
her whilst they were away, and by all account Buster had had a whale of a time
especially as Duncan’s Labrador Amber was staying with Maggie as well. Goodness
knows what they had got up to but it had obviously involved them rolling round
in something disgusting.

Tracy had just finished loading the washer and, since Tilly
had gone down for her nap, was in the process of dragging a very reluctant
Buster into the bathroom, when the door bell rang.

‘Bugger!’ muttered Tracy as she looked round to see if there
was anything she could tie the squirming Buster to while she answered the
door…nothing…she let go of his collar and sighed as he made a bolt for the back
door. ‘Bugger,’ she muttered again, she would never get him back in now…she
went to get the door.

Obviously Tracy had taken too long to answer the door
because whoever it was seemed to have given up. She was just about to close it
again, when she heard a voice from round the side of the house.

‘Hello…’ a man emerged from the bushes near the side window,
‘oh you are in…um I’m sorry to disturb you…um I’m your neighbour, I live in
Duck Pond cottage? You know, just down the lane a bit?’ Tracy looked at him
bewildered.

‘I’m Tim,’ he went on holding out his hand, ‘Tim Boulter…we
moved in just before you did, but we haven’t been here much, my wife Louisa is
a singer and she has to travel all over the world…so I go with her…’

‘Oh lovely to meet you at last,’ said Tracy shaking his
hand. ‘We knew the cottage had been sold, my husband did call round not long
after we moved in, but obviously you were away…um I’m Tracy by the way and my
husband’s name is Simon…Simon Burton, which makes me Mrs Burton I suppose ha ha
ha…silly me, we’ve only just got married you see, so I haven’t got used to my
new name yet…’ Tracy was aware that she was babbling so she shut up.

‘Well, we’ll all have to meet up properly some time,’ said
Tim smiling kindly at her. ‘The reason I’m on your doorstep today is I was
wondering if you had any idea who owns the large house at the end of the lane?
Their land backs onto ours you see and they’ve got a row of the most enormous
leylandii trees which are so tall they are blocking any sun from our garden. I
was going to ask them if they would trim them back a bit, but I haven’t been
able to speak to them…no one’s ever at home…although there was one hell of a
party going on there the other week, went on till about three in the
morning…did you hear it?’

‘Um no sorry it must have been when we were away…’ Tracy
said with a grimace, ‘and I’m afraid I can’t help you, I have no idea who owns
it. I had actually always thought it was a derelict house; it’s such a long way
from us, even though I know technically their land butts up to ours I can’t
even really see it from ours, not unless I look out of the back bedroom window
anyway. Sorry I can’t be more help…Nora might know, she’s my neighbour on the
other side, she’s lived here for ages…might be better if I ask though, she’s
not terribly good with strangers.’ Tracy said remembering her first encounter
with Nora; she’d had an egg thrown at her. Luckily though that was all water
under the bridge and Nora was now a dear friend, but she didn’t know how she’d
react to Tim.

‘Why don’t I ask her and I’ll let you know,’ Tracy said with
a smile.

‘Oh would you, that would be really kind,’ said Tim
returning her smile with a dazzling one of his own that had Tracy all of a
flutter, the man was seriously attractive in a very smooth, upper class sort of
way. Immaculately dressed in neatly pressed chino’s and polo shirt with a
cardigan casually slung around his shoulders, he oozed wealth and privilege
from his brushed back dark blond hair and tanned face, to his Gucci loafers,
and despite obviously being in his mid-fifties he looked trim and fit.

Tracy realised she’d been smiling inanely for just a bit too
long. ‘No problem at all Tim,’ she gushed, ‘I’ll pop round after lunch, she
should be home by then…’ Tracy broke off at that moment aghast as Buster,
suddenly realising that there was a stranger at the front door, came
(disgusting smell and all) sprinting round as fast as his stumpy little legs
could carry him and launched himself at a horrified Tim, rubbing himself up
against the immaculate chinos and slobbering over the Gucci’s.

‘BUSTER…BUSTER YOU BAD BOY NO…Oh I’m so sorry,’ wailed Tracy
mortified. ‘BUSTER LEAVE THE SHOES…BUSTER,’ Tracy managed to grab his collar
and pull him off Tim, who was brushing himself down and trying not to breath in
the noxious smell.

‘Oh please Tracy don’t worry,’ Tim said his face flushed
with embarrassment, ‘there, there good doggy,’ he said to the now tethered
Buster.

‘Oh your poor shoes, are you sure he hasn’t caused any
damage…please let me know if he has…he doesn’t usually smell this bad, I think
he must have been rolling in something…’

‘Tracy, stop worrying,’ said Tim holding up his hand, ‘it’s
fine, he was just being friendly I’m sure…um anyway if you could ask your
neighbour that would be great.’ And with that Tim made as quick an exit as he
could without being rude.

‘Bloody hell buster!’ exclaimed Tracy when she had closed
the door on her new neighbour, ‘you are the most embarrassing dog in the
world.’ Buster hung his head and gave her a look of shame. ‘Oh no don’t think
I’m going to be fooled by that look either, you are a bad bad dog…and what’s
more you are going to get the bath to end all baths,’ she finished with relish
as she dragged him into the bathroom and firmly shut the door.