“Megan”—Forrest hand her a tablet—“have a look at your words. Which ones express how you feel, about Scarborough, about your mum and the sea? Can you put them together in way that reflects your feelings?”
“We are still going Burger King after?” Megan asks.
“As promised, we are all going to Burger King after,” Forrest says as all the kids cheer. Forrest smiles at the audience. “Pray for the local Burger King.”
“All right then.” Megan lifts her chin, looking not at the tablet but at the big screen.
“It’s all shit coloured, most of the time
But the sea is always some kind of blue
Constantly moving, but constant.
She waits for me, never leaving.
One day she knows I will go flying over the edge of the world
To see what’s there.
But even if I go, she will stay.
True Blue, the sea is a better mum to me
Than my mum is. The selfish cow.”
There’s a moment of silence, and then the kids at the back cheer and whoop with a kind of animal recognition of their own feelings, roars of anger and approval. Forrest offers Megan a hand, and she takes it, shaking it. Gradually the adults join in standing one by one. I am the last to stand. Not because I’m not impressed. But because there are tears in my eyes and I don’t want anyone to see.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The kids burst out of the French windows and explode on the perfectly manicured lawn, running as if they have never been outside before, with primal joy. At their centre is Megan, who flops down onto the grass in the middle of a group of friends. They laugh and tease one another with easy affection that makes me smile. I never had that kind of camaraderie at her age, and I’m glad she has it. I’m glad they all do. I had to wait for Rani to find out about friendship, and so much more that life has to offer. Megan is off to a good start, and I have to admit I think Forrest helped her on her way.
“She was excellent, wasn’t she?” Hal says, joining me on the terrace. I’m very conscious of his physical presence next to me, his height and the way his arms fill out those suit sleeves. Hal built himself to be built, which makes sense if he’s based on Kai Raider. There were pages of prose dedicated to how Kai Raider’s arms rippled with muscles, capable of great strength and yet deep tenderness. Shyly, I give Hal a long, slow sideways look from the top of his blond head to his Italian leather shoes. I bet those thighs could master an impetuous stallion with a couple of squeezes too.Turns out I really fancy my bioengineered AI in all sorts of naked-thoughts ways.
“Yes,” I say, the word coming out in a bit of a squeak. “It was impressive actually. To see how Forrest worked with Megan to help her articulate her feelings. It really changed how I saw her and challenged all the assumptions I made about those kids, but more than that it changed how she saw herself, and that’s really special. You can see that affected her friends the same way too. It was like someone was finally paying attention to them as human beings and not just sausages in a sausage factory.”
“I am certain that processing teenage children into food isn’t standard practice,” Hal says, “so I’m going to guess that that’s a colloquial expression that I haven’t heard before. I will add it to the database.”
“This must be so weird for you.” The thought suddenly occurs to me. “To inhabit the world in this way. See and hear and taste... Do you taste?”
Hal turns to look at me and his intense blue eyes darken to navy.
“I do taste. My tongue can do everything tongues are designed to do.”
“Oh... oh.” I turn back to the view. More naked thoughts ensue.
Fortunately, a distracting cheer rises from the kids as a succession of waiting staff march onto the lawn carrying silver platters piled high with burgers and fries, and several carrying a selection of fizzy drinks.
“I thought I’d get it delivered!” Lady B calls to the kids through a megaphone that only someone like Lady B wouldhave lying around her castle. “Enjoy! And please pick up all your rubbish and take it to the recycling afterward!” She lowers the megaphone and smiles at Hal and me. “Our gardeners would have a heart attack if they could see them now. Now, have you two made up?”
“I... oh, I hadn’t realised...” I splutter.
“Nothing gets past these eyes,” LadyB tells me, pointing two fingers at her eyes and then at me. “They’re like a steel trap.”
“We have,” Hal says happily. “It was my fault, but it’s all sorted now.”
“Glad to hear it, and well done today, both of you. Every single project here is truly wonderful. I have no idea how the judges will choose.” She looks out at the kids, scattered all across the lawn like confetti, and waves at them.
“It’s nice to have them here, really,” she says. “They liven the place up. Much less stressful than this month’s Bridezilla.”
