The Cost of Living Read Free Page B

Chad
and Nigeria. It’s the same bloody pattern. A few isolated cases – like
that woman in the supermarket, remember? – then more and more. Then it
all changes in a couple of days. It spirals out of control.’
    ‘But
it’s not out of control in Russia.’
    ‘Just
look at the news, Gab.’
    She
does what I tell her and her eyes widen when she sees the reports I was looking
at earlier. Hundreds of cases have become thousands overnight. Maybe it’ll be
hundreds of thousands by this time tomorrow. Maybe it’ll be more.
    She
shakes her head, shuts the laptop, and slides it back my way. ‘This doesn’t
prove anything. It’s just scaremongering. I’m more worried about you than
anyone in Russia, love. I think you’re putting yourself under too much stress.
You’re starting to sound paranoid.’
    ‘I’m
not paranoid. This is real, I know it is.’
    She
gets up and walks over to the kitchen window. She sees the pile of papers I’ve
left on the counter; the receipts from this morning. She starts leafing through
them, and I know exactly what’s coming next. ‘Stu... what the hell have you
done?’
    ‘What
do you think?’
    ‘I
think you’ve blown our food budget for the next three months. Christ, love,
we’re struggling enough as it is. You’re the one who’s always lecturing me
about the cost of living, and you go and do this?’
    She’s
doing this on purpose, because fighting with me is easier than facing what’s
coming next.
    ‘We
need to talk about this, Gab.’
    ‘Damn
right we need to talk. Bloody hell, when I think of all the grief you’ve given
me since we moved... all that bullshit about tightening our belts and cutting
costs... then you go and do this? I give up. And you still haven’t answered my
question, why aren’t you at work?’
    ‘That’s
not important. What’s important is trying to—’
    ‘Not
important! What if Ray finds out and you lose your job? What happens then? What
happens if we can’t pay the mortgage and feed the kids and... and why are you
looking at me like that?’
    ‘Sit
down again, love, please.’
    She
refuses. I make her a coffee. Her face is streaked with tears. She dabs at her
mascara with a tissue. ‘I think you’ve gone crazy. Absolutely bloody crazy.
It’s just a flu virus.’
    ‘It’s
more than that and you know it. The flu virus is a red herring, I told you that
the day before yesterday. It’s because of the flu virus that so many people’s
immunities are low, and that’s why it’s spreading so quickly. The hospitals are
overcrowded... the whole health system is stretched to breaking point. Take
Sally’s booster jab, for example. When was the last time a routine appointment
like that was cancelled?’
    ‘Never,’
she admits, thinking it over. Then she turns again. ‘You’re making huge assumptions,
though. Just because it’s happening in other countries, doesn’t mean it’s
necessarily going to happen here...’
    ‘It
already is happening, love. Have you seen the news this morning? It’s the exact
same thing. Same as India. Same as China and Russia. And there are reports from
the US and Canada too... They said it would never happen there, remember? As
recently as last week they were saying they had it all under control... now
look. There’s no reason to think it won’t happen here.’
    ‘But
they said we were safe. They said it wouldn’t happen here. They said they’d be
able to contain it and because we’re an island they said there’s no way it
could—’
    ‘We
talked about this. It’s always the same. What were the people on TV supposed to
say before today? The truth’s unpalatable sometimes, but we have to stay
positive and look on the bright side here, love, because—’
    ‘There’s
a bright side?’
    ‘Yes,
there’s a bright side. We’re ready for this and we’re together. I’m going to do
everything I have to do to keep this family safe. I won’t let anything happen
to any of us.’
    I
wait for her to say