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Laurie is Not That Thirsty After All
‘Ihaven’t been doing anything to Harry. Why, what do you think I’ve been doing? Letting him misbehave, no doubt? Not controlling him well enough?’ Amy said.
‘Quite the opposite. You and your new boyfriend seem to have been controlling him rather too well.’
‘The poor child is miserable and terrified, aren’t you Harry?’ Laurie added.
‘Some of the things he’s been exposed to by you and this new man don’t bear thinking about,’ James said.
‘What new man?’ she said, conscious that if Matt and Oliver were in the campervan they would be able to hear every word.
‘Don’t play the innocent!’ James spluttered with anger. ‘You’re lucky we came in person rather than sending social services!’
Laurie climbed out of the car to stand beside her partner, carefully placing her expensive-looking suede boots to avoid the worst of the mud. ‘I don’t think you understand. This is potentially very serious, Amy. The only reason we haven’t already involved outside agencies is because James wanted to make sure Harry hadn’t got things confused. We all know sometimes he can get the wrong end of the stick, can’t he?’
‘I’m sorry, Laurie,’ Amy said, though she’d never sounded less sorry and more belligerent in her life, ‘but I don’t understand what you’re talking about.’
‘Perhaps you would do if you took the time to read your messages,’ James said.
‘I can’t read my messages. There’s no mobile signal or Wi-Fi, as I pointed out to you when I sent that message from Windermere. I’ve not turned my phone on since Tuesday, and I like it that way. You’ll have to tell me what the problem is.’
‘If there is no mobile signal then how has Harry been able to contact us? He has been keeping us informed of everything that has been happening in this awful place.’ Laurie looked around herself with the same disdain as Mr. and Mrs. Motorhome had shown as they shook the mud of the campsite off their tyres.
James was watching Harry carefully, but his son was attempting to slide away in the direction of the beck and the climbing tree.
‘Harry?’ Amy turned to him. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Going to play in the beck.’
‘Would you go and bring your phone, please, Harry? Where exactly is it, anyway?’ Amy asked, feeling suspicious.
‘Ummm … in my sponge bag.’
‘Why is your phone in your sponge bag? Have you been sending messages to your dad?’
‘Can’t I go and play in the stream?’
‘Not right now. It seems your dad and Laurie have come all this way to see you because of some messages you sent.’ He must have been sending them when they went out for the day, but how had he managed to take his phone with him without her noticing?
‘I don’t know anything. What’s a message? Please can I go and play in the stream while you have a cup of tea or something?’
She glanced over towards the campervan, hoping she might be able to send Harry over to play with Oliver while she sorted out whatever this was, but the campervan was still firmly closed up. Perhaps it was for the best. Whatever was going on she didn’t want Matt to witness it, and with luck she could clear up whatever Harry had done before they got back. She knew he’d done something; she could read him like a book. The more he smiled the guiltier he was, and Harry was grinning like a crocodile.
‘Would you get your phone, please, Harry?’
‘I think Laurie might like a cup of tea,’ suggested James.
‘We have been waiting for nearly two hours. A cup of tea would be very welcome,’ Laurie said.
‘Come over to the tent. I’ll put the kettle on.’ Amy only had two mugs and the milk was warm UHT. She wondered what James and Laurie, who usually swore by Earl Grey, would make of it. There were looks of undisguised horror on their faces as she poured water from the plastic container into the kettle and put the kettle onto the camping stove, kneeling on the ground.
‘Maybe later,’ Laurie said, watching her put the teabags straight into the mugs. ‘I’m not that thirsty after all.’
‘Here.’ Harry had been rummaging around in the inner tent and he showed her the message screen on his phone. He had indeed been messaging his father all week, sometimes more than once a day, even on the days when they hadn’t left Elder Fell Farm. How had he managed it?
‘Harry, how have you been sending these messages?’ she asked.
He smiled, broadly as he put the phone in his pocket. ‘Using the Wi-Fi!’ he announced proudly.
