Leave it to Eva Read Free Page B

more than twenty minutes, they first spend half an hour warning me of all the terrible things that could go wrong. Then, while they’re gone, they spend their time phoning and texting to see if I’m OK. The idea of spending two whole weeks by myself was unimaginable.
    ‘You’re only thirteen,’ I said. ‘You’re too young to live on your own.’
    Kate didn’t answer.
    ‘Isn’t there anyone who could take care of you?’ I asked.
    Now she looked defiant again.
    ‘I don’t need taking care of,’ she said fiercely. ‘I’m not a baby. I can look after myself.’
    ‘I know you can,’ I said quickly. ‘But that’s not the way people in authority see it. They have all kinds of rules and regulations, and I can’t see them letting a thirteen-year-old girltake care of herself.’
    ‘That’s what Martha said too. But who could we ask to “take care” of me?’
    Kate used her fingers to mime quotation marks around the words ‘take care.’
    ‘Your aunt in Cork?’ As I asked the question, something else occurred to me. ‘Do you really have an aunt in Cork?’
    Now Kate looked so angry, I felt half-afraid.
    ‘Yes, I do have an aunt in Cork – her name is Isabel. We hadn’t heard from her for years and years, but Martha was so desperate, she wrote to her in the end, telling her about having to go to hospital, and about me having no one to live with …’
    ‘And?’
    Kate almost spat out the words, ‘Isabel sent Martha a really soppy “Get Well Soon” card, and said there wasn’t anything she could do to help.’
    ‘What a selfish cow!’ I said, but Kate didn’t smile.
    Then I thought of something else.
    ‘Couldn’t you have asked one of the neighbours if you could stay with them for a while? They were all really nice and helpful last year, when we had the campaign to save the tree.’
    ‘I wouldn’t have minded that, but Martha would never, ever ask one of the neighbours to help us out.’
    ‘Why?’
    Kate sighed. ‘Martha thought that asking Isabel to help was OK, because she was family.’
    ‘Not very nice family,’ I said.
    Kate made a face, ‘Totally, but anyway, in Martha’s eyes, asking family for help is very different to asking neighbours.’
    ‘I don’t really see the difference.’
    ‘It all goes back to when my dad went away. A few days after he left, the health board sent a social worker around to talk to Martha. Her name was Nicola – “Nosy Nicola”, Martha used to call her.’
    I giggled. ‘Why?’
    ‘She said Nicola got paid to poke her nose into other peoples’ business.’
    ‘I’m sure she was just doing her job,’ I said.
    ‘That’s not the way Martha saw it. Nicola called nearly every day for weeks, and it used to drive Martha crazy. She pretended to be angry, but mostly I think she was just scared.’
    ‘Scared of what?’
    ‘Martha never would discuss it with me properly, but I know she was scared that Nicola would take me away from her.’
    ‘And send you where?’
    ‘I’m not really sure. Nicola sometimes mentioned sending me to live with a foster family, but it never happened.’
    ‘Why?’
    For the first time, Kate smiled.
    ‘Every time Nicola called, Martha would have a huge plate of cakes ready, and she’d make Nicola eat loads of them. In the end I think thatNicola just stayed away so that she wouldn’t explode from eating too many of Martha’s cherry and coconut scones.’
    We both laughed and for a second I could see a faint shadow of the girl I’d known the year before.
    Then Kate looked serious again. ‘Anyway, ever since then, Martha’s been really careful not to do anything that might bring Nicola back into our lives. So that’s why she wouldn’t ask any of the neighbours to help. She said it was a family problem, and it was up to the family to solve it.’
    A sudden thought came to me, and even though I was afraid, I knew I had to be brave and say it.
    ‘You could have asked your dad to help,’ I said as gently as