The More You Ignore Me (33 page)

‘Do you
know what?’ said Keith, very tipsy and very happy ‘It’s not even ours and we’ve
paid too much rent for the place over the years. It’s probably insured, so yes,
why not?’

So the
assembled party stood there and watched the enormous bonfire, all of them
overtaken by a kind of celebratory madness. Bighead and Wobbly, fuelled by beer
and wine, whooped round it like children. The orange glow could be seen for
miles around and some elderly people wondered if a war had started and the
beacons had been lit.

Alice
stood with her arms round Mark, wondering whether the physical destruction of
her home could wipe out all the bad times in her head. There was nothing there
that she really cherished. The Morrissey letter was inside her mother, the only
thing of real value that couldn’t be replaced.

Mark
stood next to her wondering when, if ever, he would tell her that the letter
had been from him.