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‘It’s fine,’ I shrug, my shoulder crashing against my phone and bashing it against my ear. I wince. ‘I mean, some of them are headless though so I’m not sure who they’re supposed to be.’
‘Headless cartoon characters?’ Aiden laughs. ‘Jesus, Kayla, what kind of kids’ hospital is it?’
I laugh too. ‘Not decapitated, you eejit. Just here years and the paint is flaking off. It’s kind of gross.’
‘All hospitals are gross,’ Aiden reassures me. ‘Do you have your own room, at least?’
‘Yeah,’ I nod, looking up at the closed door. It’s kind of lonely. ‘But, I think that’s ’cos I’m contagious or something.’
‘Cancer isn’t contagious,’ Aiden says. ‘It’s probably so you don’t pick up the vomiting bug or something rotten like scabies.’
‘Right, I gotta go,’ I say, suddenly.
‘Ah, Kayla. I was only joking about scabies. I don’t even know what scabies are,’ Aiden says.
I giggle. ‘My mam is outside the door. I can hear her in the corridor taking to the doctor. I’m not hanging up because you tried to give me scabies.’
‘Oh okay.’ Aiden sighs, relieved. ‘It’s just?—’
‘Seriously,’ I begin to whisper, ‘I really gotta go. I want to pretend to be asleep when they come in so they don’t start talking treatment crap to me again. Bye. Bye. Bye.’
I hang up, stuff my phone under my pillow and lie down with my eyes closed.
‘Hey, you,’ Mam’s voice washes over me as the door creaks open.
I breathe deeply for effect.
‘Kayla,’ Mam says gently.
I breathe some more. A little louder.
‘I know you’re not asleep,’ Mam says. ‘I just heard you on the phone to Aiden.’
Damn you Aiden.I smirk and open my eyes reluctantly, trying not to laugh.
FOURTEEN
HEATHER
‘I brought you some fluffy socks,’ I say, rummaging in my large paper bag to show Kayla the fleecy, blue-and-pink stripy socks.
Kayla smiles.
‘And I got jammies and chocolate too, but they’re in the car. I’ll bring them in later,’ I say.
‘You went shopping?’ Kayla says, her eyes glassy.
I nod. ‘Just to grab a few essentials. I just nipped around the corner. I didn’t go to Penneys or anything without you. I know better.’ I throw in an awkward laugh and I hate how forced it sounds.
‘Who doesn’t love Penneys?’ the nurse says, coming into the room behind me. ‘Did you see the Winnie the Pooh jammies they got in last week?’
I nod. I did see them. They’re cute. Kayla isn’t smiling even though she loves Winnie the Pooh. She has a Pooh teddy at home that she’s had since she was a baby. He only has one eye and patches of his fur have been hugged off but she will never throw him away. I wonder if I could find him. It would be nice for Kayla to have something special with her now.
Kayla is staring at the characters painted on the wall and I wish I knew what she was thinking. I wonder if all the rooms are like this, or if Kayla will be moved to something more suited to her age when she comes out of surgery later. I make a mental note to ask. But not in front of Kayla, stuff like that embarrasses her and she’s dealing with enough already without feeling like her mother is nit-picking at the décor.
‘I’m going to buy some of the chequered ones with the honey pots on the legs for my nieces,’ the nurse says, catching my attention again. ‘I’ll put them away for Christmas.’
‘Good idea,’ I say, looking away from Kayla reluctantly to make eye contact with the nurse.Did she really just mention Christmas?
