Blue Like Friday by Siobhan Parkinson Read Free Book Online

He’s a bit—ferrety And his face is shiny. I don’t know what it is about shiny faces, but they give me the creeps.

    I’m sorry if you have a shiny face and you are reading this. You are probably a lovely person, and you most likely have compensating features, such as not being ferrety. Having an aversion to shiny faces probably says more about me than it does about the person with the shiny face, but anyway, Alec is a man with a shiny face, there is no getting away from it.
    We crouched down behind the parked cars and watched. It should have been adventurous, but I just felt a bit lightheaded from cycling all that way with no breakfast, and a bit panicky, too, about what was going to happen next.
    Alec drove right up to the orange barrier. We could see him pointing and gesticulating and the security man scratching his head, but eventually the red-and-orange pole went up, and the little white van drove in. It stopped at the big notice, and then it turned right, in the direction of the physiotherapy department.
    â€œYou know, Hal,” I said, watching the little white van disappearing around a building. “I can’t see this all ending in divorce, somehow.”
    â€œThey’re not married,” Hal said, “so they can’t be divorced.”
    â€œNo, but it doesn’t matter what you call it. The thing is, Hal, kids can’t make adults break up. This isn’t going to work. And it’ll be boarding school for you in September if you don’t start talking to him.”
    Hal didn’t answer. He just crossed the road to the
hospital entrance and took a look around. I trailed along after him, still trying to reason with him, but he wasn’t listening.
    There was a separate little gate for pedestrians. We could just saunter in without having to go near the security man, if we left the bikes outside. But it was about six hours until visiting time. If we met someone who wanted to know our business, I didn’t know how we were going to explain what we were doing wandering around the hospital grounds at this hour of the day.
    â€œMaybe we should just wait here for a while,” I said. “It won’t take him long to discover it’s all been a hoax, and then he’ll just have to turn around and come out again. Then we can go home.”
    â€œYeah, OK,” said Hal. He sounded a bit deflated.
    We sat on the hospital wall and kicked our heels against it. It was a low brick wall, with prickly things growing behind it, but if you sat carefully, you could avoid getting scratched.
    My tummy was rumbling.
    â€œI could murder a doughnut,” I said after a while.
    â€œStop,” said Hal. “You’re making it worse by talking about food.”
    Time ticked on.
    â€œThe kind with jam in the middle are my favorite,” I said. “Though I like the ring ones if they have icing on them. And sprinkles.”

    â€œOlivia! Shut it!”
    â€œHalf a dozen doughnuts,” I said after a while. “A mountain of doughnuts. I’m starving.”
    â€œStop!” said Hal. His tummy was rumbling too. I could hear it.
    I checked my watch. “Hal,” I said, “it’s nearly ten o’clock.”
    â€œYes,” he said, “long past breakfast time. That’s why we’re so hungry.”
    â€œThat’s not what I mean,” I said. “I mean, he’s been in there a good quarter of an hour. What do you think is going on?”
    â€œHeh-heh,” said Hal.
    â€œHal?” I said. “Hal, that building you described behind the physiotherapy department. The one he is supposed to paint. What exactly is it?”
    â€œIt’s the mortuary,” Hal said. “Heh-heh!”
    â€œ What? ”
    â€œThe mortuary.”
    â€œHal, is that something like a morgue?”
    â€œYeah,” said Hal. “I suppose you could say that. Only smaller.”
    â€œHal! You can’t