Page 35 of Somewhere Only We Know

I sat down on my bed to get my breathing back in check and pressed my hands to my eyes so that I wouldn’t cry. Granddad’s precious things were irreplaceable, not of particularly great value, but priceless to me. Once my heart had stopped racing, I went back down to confront her.

‘How could you do that, Mum?’ My throat burned with emotion, and it took all of my strength not to yell at her.

‘Oh, darling.’ Mum put a plate in front of me. ‘They were up there gathering dust. No good to anyone.’

‘They were mine. Granddad left them to me. You had no right.’

It was the fact that she was so blasé about what she’d done – not a shred of remorse – that made me so angry.

‘I haven’t sold them, anyway; I’ve pawned them, which is not the same thing.’ She gave me a fond smile, as if to imply I was overreacting.

‘It is, if we don’t have the money to get them back!’ I blurted at her.

She flapped a hand. ‘Something will turn up.’

‘And my bike? Does that mean I can get that back too?’ Kat piped up.

‘Well?’ I glared at my mother. ‘Answer her.’

Kat’s bike had disappeared to help with last month’s bills. My sister was the sweetest girl, genetically wired to see the best in everyone, and hadn’t questioned it when Mum had told her the news. I vowed to get it back for her. As soon as I could. I’d take on another job if I had to, to pay for it.

‘Look, Magnolia, I had the opportunity to get in on something which could make us a fortune, all I needed was—’

‘Stop!’ I jumped up from the table, jamming my hands over my ears. ‘I can’t listen to any more of your fairytales, Mum. Kat and I depend on you, we’re kids, we need you to be responsible with money. This, this … easy-come, easy-go lifestyle of yours isn’t working. Why can’t you look for a proper job instead of gambling your way from one bill to the next?’

‘A proper job? I’d die if I was stuck in an office. I’m a free spirit. I wasn’t born to labour.’ Mum pouted and pushed her chair back from the table. ‘Thanks to you, I’m not hungry now. You’ve ruined dinner. And you complain that I waste money.’

In that moment, I’d never hated anyone more. I knew it was wrong to hate, but she was a parent, she was supposed to put the welfare of her kids before anything and certainly before the latest dubious deal that came her way. Mum never wanted to earn money the hard way. It was always a quick fix, instant gratification. I was never going to be frivolous with money like her. I’d save so I always had enough for emergencies and to look after Kat, and when I had my own family, I’d instil those values in them too.

I put my hand out. ‘Give me the rest of the money. You can’t have spent all of it. It’s mine and I want it back.’

Mum’s face contorted with rage. ‘Don’t you speak to me like that. Have some respect.’

‘I’ve got respect for Granddad, and he didn’t earn those medals for you to fritter it away on sweet-and-sour pork.’ I kept my hand held out.

‘Ridiculous,’ Mum muttered angrily, reaching for her purse.

‘That Kat and I can’t trust you to look after us?’ I jutted out my chin defiantly. ‘I agree, Mum. It is.’

Chapter 11

Nepal

Thump thump thump.

‘Wake up, Maggie, I think I’ve got something to say to you,’ sang a strangely youthful Rod Stewart.

‘What, what?’ I mumbled, waking with a start.

I sat bolt upright, only to regret it. My head spun and my stomach pitched wildly as if I was on a sinking ship. I lay down, gripping the edge of my narrow bed, nausea rising up my throat as I closed my eyes. That was weird, dreaming about Rod Stewart.

‘Maggie!’ There was another thump on the door. I clutched my head to stop the banging. ‘Let me hear you say whoah, whoah, yeah, yeah! Come on, Maggaroo, you were singing it last night.’

Was I? I groaned as fragments of my antics came back to me. Who called me Maggaroo? What the hell was happening? ‘What do you want?’

‘I’m opening the door now, okay?’

I checked my boobs were still inside my nightie. They had a habit of trying to escape during the night. All good. I found a gap in the mosquito net and poked my face out. ‘You may enter.’