Clean Break Read online

  ‘You didn’t actually say you promised. Say it, Dad. Please say it.’

  ‘OK, OK. I promise.’

  ‘You promise you’ll stay for ever?’

  ‘I promise I’ll stay for ever,’ he said. ‘Now give me a kiss night-night. You never know, you might just transform me from a loathsome toad into a handsome prince.’

  ‘You’re a handsome prince already, silly,’ I said, kissing him.

  I was wrong. He was a total toad.

  I woke early, my heart beating fast. I slid out of bed and crept across the carpet, not wanting to wake Vita or Maxie. I padded down the hall. I listened outside Mum and Dad’s door. I heard muffled sobs. I ran into the bedroom. Mum was sitting on the edge of the bed, rocking backwards and forwards, her hands tugging her hair.

  Dad had broken his promise. He’d gone already.

  3

  DAD LEFT ME a note. I can’t quite remember what it said. Something about not wanting to upset me. He’d drawn a little toad where he signed his name. He’d even taken the trouble to colour it with Maxie’s new felt tips.

  I didn’t want the others to see it. I smoothed it out carefully and tucked it underneath my jumper, next to my heart. The paper tickled a little but I didn’t mind.

  When I was helping Gran mash the potatoes for our cold turkey lunch she suddenly cocked her head on one side.

  ‘What’s that crackling, Em?’ she asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ I said quickly, mashing harder.

  ‘You’ve got something stuffed down your jumper! For heaven’s sake, you’re not padding your vest with tissues and pretending you’ve got breasts, are you?’

  ‘No!’ I said, folding my arms across my chest and blushing violently.

  ‘Don’t be so daft, Em,’ said Gran, her fingers scrabbling under my jumper.

  ‘Don’t! Get off me!’ I said.

  I couldn’t stop her. She felt the letter. It tore right across as she dragged it free.

  ‘My letter! Now look what you’ve done,’ I shouted. ‘You’ve torn it.’

  Gran was holding the letter at arm’s length, as if it was dripping with something disgusting. ‘I’m glad I’ve torn it!’ She said. ‘I’m going to tear it into tiny shreds.’ She tore and tore, little particles of paper flying everywhere.

  I couldn’t grab it back in time. I watched, weeping.

  ‘You can stop that silly noise too. We’ve had enough weeping and wailing going on, enough tears to sink the Titanic. If you ask me I think you should be shedding tears of joy to be rid of that two-timing conniving Mr Smoothie. I never liked him right from the day your mother brought him home. I said as much too, but she didn’t listen to me. She never does. No one in this house ever listens to what I say.’

  I put my hands over my ears to show her I wasn’t listening either. I certainly wasn’t going to help her mash the potatoes. It didn’t matter anyway. None of us ate much lunch. Even Vita turned up her nose at potatoes. She didn’t eat anything at all. Maxie just had pudding. Mum drank a whole bottle of wine but had nothing to eat.

  I said I wasn’t hungry either and went without. Then halfway through the long long afternoon I crept into the kitchen and started pulling little shreds off the turkey. Once I’d started I couldn’t stop. I tore at the turkey, tearing off great strips, so hungry I wanted to gnaw at it like a dog.

  I heard footsteps and leaped back, guiltily wiping my greasy hands on my skirt, waiting for Gran to give me another lecture on my greediness. It wasn’t Gran, thank goodness, it was Vita. She had Dancer on her hand, the brown fur reaching all the way up her bony little arm almost to her armpit.

  ‘Hi, you,’ I said, tearing off another piece of turkey.

  Vita’s eyes widened. ‘Gran will go bananas if she sees you doing that!’

  ‘I don’t care. I hate Gran,’ I said fiercely.

  Vita blinked. Then she wiped her nose with one of Dancer’s antlers. ‘I hate her too,’ she said.

  ‘No you don’t,’ I said. ‘You like her heaps. You’re her favourite. She’s always giving you treats and letting you get away with stuff, you know she is.’

  ‘She’s horrid though. She says Dad’s gone away with another lady and he’s not ever coming back. She’s telling lies, isn’t she, Em?’

  ‘What did Mum say?’

  ‘She just cried more and said she didn’t know. She told me to go away because she’s got an awful headache. Maxie says he’s got a headache too. He’s mad, he’s gone to bed and it’s only the afternoon. It’s gone all weird and horrid and upside down. Gran told me to play a game but I want to play games with Dad.’ Tears started dribbling down Vita’s cheeks. ‘Em, is he coming back?’

  ‘Of course he is. In a bit. He wouldn’t go away for good without telling us. He’s got to come back to see us. Even my dad came back to see me when I was little before Mum told him to get lost.’

  ‘I can’t remember your dad,’ said Vita.

  ‘I can’t remember him either,’ I said. It wasn’t quite true. I still had nightmares about him. I shivered, and stuffed more turkey in my mouth.

  Vita looked at me. ‘Our dad won’t go scary like yours, will he?’ she asked.

  ‘No, of course not, Vita. Dad couldn’t ever be scary, you know that.’

  ‘And he will come back?’ Vita said, Dancer drooping down her arm.

  I wiped my hands properly and then commandeered Dancer, fitting her over my fist.

  ‘Hello, Princess Vita,’ I made her say, copying Dad’s voice for her, all funny and fruity. ‘Now listen here, my dear, no one knows your dad better than I do. I say he’s absolutely definitely coming back.’

  ‘Now? Today?’

  ‘Maybe not today.’

  ‘Tomorrow?’

  ‘Mm, perhaps. Oooh, just look at that scrumptious plate of turkey! I’m feeling very peckish, Princess Vita. Hint hint!’

  Vita laughed and pretended to feed her, but she wouldn’t be distracted. ‘Dad will come back soon, won’t he?’

  ‘Yes, yes, my dear, Dad won’t let us down. He’ll come back as soon as he can. Tell you what, let’s use a little turkey magic.’ I made Dancer circle the turkey plate, prancing round and round, while I pulled more meat off with my free hand.

  ‘I don’t want to eat any turkey,’ said Vita.

  ‘No, no, I’m just looking for— Aha!’ I scrabbled away at the turkey, tugging at a little twig of bone. I wriggled it free and then gave it to Dancer. She held it out triumphantly.

  ‘What have I found, Princess Vita?’ said Dancer.

  ‘A bone?’ said Vita doubtfully.

  ‘A wishbone! You take one end, hooking your little finger round it, OK? Princess Emerald will take hold of the other end. Then when I say so, you both pull, and the Princess who gets the longest piece of bone has a magic wish.’

  ‘That’s not fair!’ wailed Vita, poking Dancer as if she was a real person. ‘Em’s bigger and stronger than me so she’ll get the turkey wish.’

  ‘What will she wish for, Princess Poke-and-Prod?’ said Dancer.

  Vita thought about it. ‘Ah!’ she said. ‘But I still wish I could do the wishing.’

  ‘That’s one wish wasted already,’ said Dancer. ‘Now quit prodding me, missy, or I’ll stick my antlers up your nose.’

  Vita started giggling.

  ‘Come on, Vita, pull the wishbone,’ I said, thrusting it at her.

  She pulled. I pulled. I twisted the wishbone a little, applying more pressure. I knew we were going to wish identical wishes but I was just like Vita. I wanted to make the wish.

  The wishbone shattered. Vita was left holding a tiny stump. I had almost the whole V-shaped bone in my hand.

  ‘Ooh!’ said Vita. ‘Go on, then, Em. Wish. Wish it hard.’

  I hung onto the wishbone, and shut my eyes. I wished for Dad to come back. I wished it so fiercely I felt my head would burst. I wished and wished and wished.

  ‘Em, you’ve gone purple,’ said Vita.

  I opened my eyes and brea