20 Years Later by Emma Newman Read Free Book Online

to change it into something safer, more normal, and less frightening. By the time soup was ready his story had already begun to fit much more comfortably into the slot reserved for products of her son’s overactive imagination. With its newly acquired shape, she found it easier to ignore; after all, she was constantly working on the hard business of survival. They needed to eat, plants needed to be picked and pruned, and just as she had through all of the trials life had brought, she clung to that distraction like heather clings to an Atlantic cliff.
    By the next day, things were almost back to normal. Zane tried hard to convince himself that the extraordinary moments with the Gardner had been nothing more than being “very involved” by busying himself in the garden and changing the dressings on the injuries sustained by some of the Boys. One by one they drifted to Miri’s door, sent by Jay to be cared for, relating the tale of how they got the cut or gash and what Jay had said about it. Mercifully it had been a small attack of three Gardners and only two of them lived to return home. Zane shuddered when each Boy gleefully described how Jay had stripped the dead Gardner down to his underwear and dragged his body to the top of the barricade single-handedly to throw it over to the other side.
    After the Boys had left, Zane sat alone in his room, gripped by the nausea caused by their delight in the violence of the day before. Not even the familiar comfort of being in his small room filled with books, conkers, and dried curiosities found in the garden was enough to comfort him.
    Not for the first time, he wondered if there was something wrong with him. He was a boy, like those in Jay’s gang, so why didn’t he enjoy the fighting like them? As hard as he tried, he just couldn’t understand how they could hate being hurt themselves, yet delight in another person’s pain. Perhaps he was too much like his mother. When that occurred to him, he realised he didn’t think that was a bad thing. Perhaps it was the other way round; perhaps the Bloomsbury Boys were strange because they didn’t have a Mum to make them kind. That helped him to pull himself back together, and he went into the garden to find Miri. He hugged her fiercely whilst her hands were still deep in the soil, saying, “I’m so glad I have you, Mum.”
    That evening, as Zane was tidying away the day’s work whilst Miri made dinner, he noticed a familiar figure at the corner of the square. He dropped the tools and ran over, excitedly calling, “Callum!”
    The beard twitched and a dirty hand emerged from the bundle of clothing to shake Zane’s warmly.
    â€œHow are you, my lad?”
    â€œOk. You?”
    â€œAs fine as can be. I was wondering how your mother is now. All calmed down again?”
    Zane nodded and smiled. “Why don’t you come and say hello? There might be soup too.”
    Callum’s bright eyes looked down at the ground shyly. “That’s kind of you, lad, but I’m no company for a lady.”
    â€œOh. Alright.”
    Callum cleared his throat and said, “I found this. I thought she might like it.” A small bundle of fabric was produced from amongst the mass of layers and Zane took it from him gently. “Only a tiny thing, but, well, I thought …” Callum shrugged and shuffled a little.
    Zane smiled. “I’ll pass it on to her.”
    â€œAnd I hope you’ve not been wandering off again?”
    Zane shook his head solemnly. “I know not to do that.”
    â€œWell, at least one lesson learned is some good to come out of it. Something’s brewing over in the Bloomsbury patch, so you tread carefully there. Jay’s worked up about something.”
    â€œDo you know Jay and the Boys?”
    The beard and matted hair moved up and down. “Ay, I know them. You be careful around them, Zane. Ask yourself why there are no grown-up