Wake Wood Read Free Page A

fighting to keep a straight face.
    ‘It’s OK.’ She’d shrugged her thin shoulders in resignation.
    ‘So go to your room and get dressed, slowcoach.’ He’d rested his arm lightly on the package under the duvet.
    She’d left the bed, only to turn back quickly at the door. ‘What’s that lump under the covers on your bed?’ she’d demanded.
    ‘What lump?’ He’d tried to sound innocent but Alice had been having none of it.
    ‘This lump.’ She’d returned and patted it.
    He’d pulled away the duvet to reveal the parcel he’d hidden beneath an enormous bag. She’d trembled, transfixed by excitement.
    ‘Go on, open it.’ He’d been as impatient to see her reaction to the surprise he’d prepared for her as she’d been to unwrap her present.
    She’d returned to the bed, lifted off the paper cover he’d made, and had revealed a large cage, full of hamster toys and surmounted by a hooped plastic tunnel that could be used as a carrying handle for the cage.
    The milk-and-honey-coloured occupant had pushed his nose through the bars and peered curiously up at her.
    ‘Dad, he’s gorgeous. Can I take him to school?’
    ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
    ‘I’ll take care of him. He’ll be with me the whole time,’ she’d wheedled.
    ‘The cage is heavy.’
    ‘Not for me. Please, Dad.’ Another bear hug. One that took his breath away.
    ‘I’ll think about it.’
    Alice had opened the cage, lifted out her present and cradled him gently in the palms of her hands. The tiny creature had looked up at her, whiskers twitching, eyes wide, trusting and unafraid.
    ‘He loves you already.’
    ‘And I love him, Dad.’ She’d lifted him high, brushing his fur against her cheek. It had been an image Patrick had cherished. But time had been ticking on.
    ‘You’d better get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast before your mother shouts at both of us.’
    She’d returned the hamster to the cage, closed it and looked plaintively at him.
    ‘All right,’ he’d relented. ‘But carry him carefully.’
    ‘I promise, Dad.’ She’d carried the cage out, but not before she’d blown him a ‘thank you’ kiss from the door.
    Tired from his interrupted night, he’d left the bed, gone into the bathroom, cleaned his teeth and showered under scalding water for ten blissful minutes. When he’d heard Louise and Alice’s voices in the hall, he’d stopped drying himself, had grabbed his towelling robe and run down the stairs, trailing water on the carpet. Louise had been holding out Alice’s jacket, waiting for her to slip her arms into the sleeves.
    ‘That’s a beautiful silver chain you’re wearing,’ he’d complimented archly, knowing just how much effort it had cost Louise to track down a chain similar to one Alice had admired in a book illustration.
    ‘Isn’t it?’ Alice had fingered it. ‘Mum gave it me. I love it.’
    Louise had frowned when Alice had put on her jacket. ‘I still don’t see why I can’t walk you to school.’
    ‘That would be ridiculous,’ Alice had dismissed. ‘No other nine-year-olds in my class are walked to school by their mothers. Please, stop nagging me, Mum. I’ll be fine.’
    Louise had turned to him, mutely appealing for help, but he’d known better than to step into a disagreement between mother and daughter.
    Conceding she’d lost the argument, Louise had handed Alice her lunch box and opened the front door. ‘All right, Alice, you can walk yourself to school, but I warn you: nine-year-olds have an extra sandwich in their lunch. And they have to eat it.’
    Alice had picked up her lunch box and the hamster cage and stepped outside. ‘I’ll never manage it. I’m not any bigger than I was yesterday and neither is my appetite. Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad.’
    He’d run back up the stairs, picked up a paper envelope from the dressing table, opened the bedroom window and shouted, ‘Hey, birthday girl.’
    He’d waited until she’d looked up at him before