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‘He needs to be trusted to make his own decisions. He’s a boy, not a dog!’
James glanced over his shoulder towards the house to see, as if on cue, Laurie and Harry coming out of the door. ‘That’s enough now. They’re coming back.’
There was so much more she wanted to say, but now was not the time. Laurie was leading Harry across the front garden, his weekend backpack on his back and a large square of cardboard in his hand. She was carrying a substantial hardbacked book with a picture of an owl on the front cover.
‘Why don’t you show your mummy what you’ve got there?’ Laurie gestured towards the card in his hand.
‘What is it, Harry? Have you been doing some painting?’ Amy plastered on a smile that she didn’t feel.
‘Dad doesn’t like me doing painting,’ he said, ‘not since that time with the dining room wallpaper. This is my Mickey Mouse chart.’
‘Your what?’ Amy tried to catch a glimpse of what was on the piece of cardboard as he waved it around wildly.
‘Ah, well, you see,’ Laurie said, ‘James and I have been discussing Harry’s little … um … behavioural issues, shall we call them? I’ve been doing some research. I have this book, here, Raising Respectful Children. It’s really excellent, if you’d like to borrow it, Amy? Full of helpful advice.’ Laurie had no children of her own, but she did have a large pile of child-rearing manuals.
‘No thanks, I’m good,’ Amy said, quickly. ‘I prefer to rely on my instincts.’
‘The author suggests that to encourage good behaviour you should use a chart, with stickers for whenever his behaviour is acceptable. Here, look, I’ve made columns for each one.’ She took the chart from Harry and proudly showed it to Amy. Like Laurie herself, the chart was meticulous and the column of behaviours for which Harry was to be rewarded was long. In Amy’s imagination they sounded like they should be engraved on slate. Thou shalt not bully other children. Thou shalt not call anyone rude names. Thou shalt not be talking when thou shouldst be listening to thy elders. Thou shalt not answer back when thou art told to go to bed. Thou shalt not get mud on the expensive brand-new white trainers given to thee by thy father.
‘I know all about behaviour charts, and it’s very kind of you, but reward charts like that don’t work with Harry. We’ve tried them before. I’m surprised James didn’t mention it. Usually, within about five minutes of getting out of bed, Harry’s blown his reward for that day, then he’s got nothing left to lose, so it doesn’t help. It very quickly becomes a punishment for bad behaviour, not a reward for good.’
‘Then perhaps you’re not doing it properly!’ Laurie said. ‘Several of the books I’ve read say it’s a great way to encourage good behaviour. I think it would benefit you.’
‘The problem is these theories always seem to apply more to other people’s children than they do to Harry. Perhaps he needs a book all of his own.’
Laurie was opening an envelope which she’d pulled from her pocket, and wasn’t paying attention.
‘So, all you need to do is to make sure Harry gets each column full of these little stickers — look, aren’t they adorable?’ she said, showing Amy the red and gold Mickey Mouse shaped stickers, ‘and then when the chart is full, Harry will win his reward, which is a trip to Florida to meet Mickey Mouse!’
‘And if he doesn’t fill his chart? Who’s going to tell him he’s NOT going to Florida to meet Mickey Mouse?’ Amy muttered.
‘It’s up to you to make sure he does, isn’t it?’ James said, and she remembered why she’d come to hate him. He could be a grumpy, dictatorial, self-righteous git, and if Harry was bullying anyone, she knew where he’d got it from.
‘Thank you, Laurie, for making the chart for him.’ She gritted her teeth as she set a good example for her son. ‘I’m sure he’ll do his best, won’t you, Harry?’
‘Yeah!’ He started chanting the Mickey Mouse song again.
Amy sighed. She could lie about it, and add the stickers anyway, but if Harry had one failing it was unnecessary honesty, and sooner or later he’d let slip what she’d done. Then Laurie would give her a condescending lecture on how she should be bringing him up, according to the latest issue of Step-Parent Monthly, and James would threaten to sue her for custody if she ever did it again. It would be nice to tear Raising Respectful Children from Laurie’s hand and fling it onto James’s expensive wood-burning stove, but that wouldn’t be a good example of tolerance and kindness.
‘Right. We’ve chatted for long enough. Time to get going. Come on Harry, let’s get you into the car, shall we?’ Amy said.
‘And don’t forget the chart!’ Laurie reminded her.
‘How could I?’ Amy placed it on the front seat of the car, with the box of tins and packets of food, and Harry’s backpack. She gave the door an extra hard slam shut, and opened the back door for Harry to climb in.
‘Mam?’ He clambered over the airbeds in the footwell. ‘Do we have to go on holiday?’
‘I thought you wanted to go on holiday?’
‘Well, I do, kind of … to Florida. Do we have to do this holiday too? Couldn’t I stay here?’
‘Now, Harry, don’t be ungrateful. Your mummy has gone to a lot of trouble to take you on this holiday!’ Laurie pointed out, swiftly.
‘Dad says it’s going to be horrible in the Lake District.’ He looked up at his mum. ‘He says it rains all the time and you don’t know one end of a tent pole from another.’
‘Did he now? It certainly does not rain all the time,’ she assured him as she helped him plug in his seatbelt. ‘Your Granny Jen loved the Lake District, and she’d be pleased we were going to the farm where she used to take me on holiday when I was your age.’
‘It’ll be a lovely little holiday, won’t it?’ Laurie said with an emphasis on the ‘little’. Amy bit her tongue.
‘All right then.’ Harry sat back in his seat, surrounded by pillows.
‘We’ll see you next Saturday.’ Amy climbed into the driver’s seat.
‘And you’ll be bringing me a nice, full reward chart, won’t you, Harry?’ Laurie said as she waved goodbye. ‘Then we can all go on our special holiday to Florida!’
Amy crunched the car into gear and set off, taking great care to drive right over James’s carefully maintained verge. They were on their way, and every turn of the wheels took her away from James and Laurie; away from school, away from Oliver Sutherland and Darcey-Mae Fenton, away from everything she hated about her life.
Every turn of the wheels took them closer to freedom.
