The Roman and the Runaway

by A. J. Braithwaite

  "Right," Luke said, feeling he ought to say something but unable to manage anything more than this. He shut his eyes to distance himself from a conversation which was too complex for his exhausted mind and body to cope with. Unexpectedly, he fell asleep.

  When Luke next woke up, it was to find Ned in his mother's place at the side of his bed. The screen between his bed and Pagan's was still drawn and Luke saw that it was now Ned's turn to have a heart-to-heart with him. It was the first time they had had a chance to talk with each other privately in months and, given a) the unpleasant circumstances of their disciplinary interview on Wednesday, b) the dramatic events of Saturday night and c) the revelation made earlier by his mother, Luke had no idea where to begin.

  Ned smiled at him. "I don't know," he said, "the lengths some people will go to, just to get out of doing a detention or two."

  Luke laughed and any awkwardness between them was dissolved.

  "I know it's going to be very strange for a while," Ned continued, "but I'm sure things will settle down and life will go on much as it did before."

  Luke nodded. "I suppose so. Will I be able to stay at Hawley Lodge?"

  "That's up to Andrew and Suzanne," Ned replied. "I don't see why not."

  "Even though I was out of bounds again, yesterday?" Luke dared to ask. Ned smiled and gestured towards the medical paraphernalia which had saved Luke's life.

  "I suspect that the consequences of that particular transgression have taught you a lesson beyond anything that was in my power to administer."

  Luke's smile was repentant. "I certainly don't think I'll be eating mushrooms again in a hurry," he agreed. He studied Ned, looking for the signs of similarity to himself which he had never been able to discern in his dad. Ned's eyes were hazel, where his own were blue but their hair shades were alike and Ned's medium height and stocky frame were much more like Luke's than Andrew Brownlow's. Another thought occurred to him. "Are you going to tell people at school that…" He could not quite say the words.

  "That I've just found out you're my son?" asked Ned. "No, not yet, anyway. Not because I'm ashamed about it," he added hastily, "far from it. But I need to talk about all of this with you, with Andrew and with Suzanne. We've got to find a sensible path forwards from here without hurting anyone's feelings. Having found a son I didn't even know I had, I don't want to lose him again through alienating the man who has brought him up."

  Luke nodded and Ned continued with a question of his own. "Did you ever tell your classmates about me being your next-door-neighbour?"

  "No," admitted Luke. "The only person I've told about that was Pagan." He thought about it a bit more. "There was a kid at my old school whose dad was a teacher there and he..."

  "...wasn't the most popular kid in the school?" suggested Ned.

  "Everyone was horrible to him," agreed Luke. "His dad was pretty unpopular."

  Ned raised an inquiring eyebrow at this remark.

  "Oh, you're not!" Luke added, hurriedly, "But I still don't think I'd want the others to know."

  Ned smiled. "Well perhaps we should keep this latest news between ourselves too, then." He changed the subject. "You like Pagan, don't you?"

  "Yeah," said Luke. "I'm gonna miss her, even though I've only known her for a few days."

  "I'd better put this screen away, then, so you can make the most of this time together," said Ned. He got up and pushed the screen back, revealing Pagan and her mother chatting next door.

  Pagan smiled at Luke as they came into each other's view again, then addressed Ned. "Are you the headmaster of Luke's school?"

  "Yes, I am," he told her.

  "Then I've got a confession to make," she said. "It's been weighing on my conscience."

  "Oh, dear," smiled Ned, "you'd better get it off your chest then, young lady."

  Pagan looked up at him. Her face was still pale but she looked much better than she had the previous evening and her expression was determined. "It was me who went to the pub in the village to get those cigarette ends," she said. "Luke didn't go there at all. I felt terrible when he told me he'd lost his place on the orienteering team because of something he hadn't done."

  Luke stared at Pagan in dismay. He knew she was trying to be helpful but was sure that she was just making things worse. Now Ned would be able to add 'lying' to the list of offences Luke had committed on Wednesday. He switched his gaze to Ned, who met it with a penetrating glance of his own, delivered from beneath raised eyebrows. But there was the merest suggestion of a smile at the corner of his mouth, which reassured Luke that his neighbour was more amused than annoyed by this latest revelation.

  Ned returned his attention to Pagan. "But by visiting you in the country club grounds Luke went out of bounds anyway," he pointed out.

  "That's what he said," Pagan replied, sounding exasperated, "But it doesn't seem anywhere near as bad to me."

  "You've clearly never met Mr Pritchard," retorted Ned, making both Luke and Pagan laugh.

  "I've used his showers, shampoo and towels, though," volunteered Pagan. Ned covered his ears with his hands.

  "I really don't want to hear about the ways in which you've been abusing Mr Pritchard's hospitality without his knowledge. I sincerely hope he doesn't discover your campsite before I work out the best way of dismantling it."

  Julia yawned and stood up. "Well I don't think I fancy staying in your tent, Pagan, if you don't mind. I need to go and find myself a hotel room for the night. I'm quite exhausted."

  Ned got to his feet, too. "Luke's parents are staying in one of the guest rooms at the school," he said. "There's another room there, if you would like to use it."

  Julia beamed with gratitude. "That would be wonderful!"

  They agreed that Ned would take Julia back to Hawley Lodge. Ned turned to Luke.

  "Andrew or Suzanne will be coming back in the morning, Luke. They went to the school to put the girls to bed. Sleep well, you two, and behave yourselves."

  Julia hugged both Pagan and Luke then left with Ned.

  Pagan looked at Luke. "Is he single?"

  "What?"

  "Your headmaster-neighbour guy. Is he married?"

  "No," said Luke. "Why?"

  "I think if I had to have anyone as a step-dad, he'd be the one."

  Luke laughed long and hard, although it hurt him to do so.

  "What?" said Pagan, indignantly. "What's wrong with that?"

  "Nothing, nothing," Luke reassured her, gasping for breath and shaking his head in disbelief. "Except that I've just found out that as well as being my headmaster-neighbour guy he is also my actual dad guy."

  "WHAT?"

  Luke told Pagan the startling news he had learnt that day.

  "Blimey, Luke, that's incredible. But he does look a lot like you. Except with a bit less hair."

  "Thanks a lot," said Luke.

  "I think you're both quite good looking!" Pagan informed him, before blushing into silence.

  Chapter Fifteen

  In the car heading back to Hawley Lodge, Julia was telling Ned about her stressful week.

  "Not knowing where she was, that was awful. I know there's still a chance she might suffer liver damage but at least I know she's safely tucked up in hospital."

  "Why did she run away?" Ned asked.

  Julia explained about Brian. "So suddenly I'm on my own again. It's one of those times when you realise you've got to reassess your life."

  Ned nodded. "I know exactly what you mean," he said, in a heartfelt manner.

  Julia looked at Ned curiously and he told her the news he had heard that day. It was a relief to be able to unburden himself to someone unconnected with any aspect of his life.

  "That's quite something to find out," Julia acknowledged. "I can't begin to imagine what it's like to discover something like that when you already know a person in a different context."

  "It seems to happen quite a lot with Luke, somehow," Ned told her. "I haven't had a lot of time to think about it yet but I can see
I'll be doing a lot of talking with Andrew and Suzanne over the next couple of days."

  "If you need any help," Julia offered, "I'm a counsellor when I'm not being a stressed parent."

  Ned glanced at her, before turning his attention back to the road. "Now that's interesting," he said, "I've been looking to recruit a counsellor for our school but haven't had a lot of luck finding the right person."

  "Is this going to turn into a job interview?" demanded Julia, "because if it is I should warn you I'm not going to perform at my best after a week of sleepless nights!"

  Ned laughed. "I'm not sure I'm functioning at full speed either. Perhaps we could discuss it tomorrow, if the kids look like they're on the mend."

  Once back at the school Ned showed Julia her room. She declared her intention of going straight to sleep. Ned arranged to call for her in the morning and take her down for breakfast. He then went next-door to the room occupied by the Brownlow family. The twins were curled up fast asleep in their travel cot underneath the window.

  "D'you two want some dinner?" Ned offered. "I can get our Matron to come and keep an eye on the girls for an hour or two."

  The Brownlows agreed to this and half an hour later, Ned led his neighbours down to his study on the first floor.

  "I've arranged with the kitchen staff for us to eat here," he explained. "I'm sure you don't want to be gawped at by a hall full of curious boys."

  Suzanne smiled in gratitude while Andrew surveyed the room. "This place hasn't changed a bit," he said.

  "I forgot you went to school here," replied Ned. "Who was the headmaster here then?"

  "Gordon McDonald," said Andrew. "He was terrifying. Just being in this room is enough to make me nervous."

  "I hope it won't put you off your food," said Ned.

  "I spent more time in here than I'd care to admit to Luke, that's for sure."

  One of the kitchen staff brought a trolley of dishes into the room and the three of them helped themselves before sitting down to eat together at one end of the long table.

  "When I saw Luke this evening he told me he was keen to stay on here," Ned began.

  The others nodded but said nothing.

  "If you do decide to let him stay here," Ned continued, "I hope you'll let me pay his school fees."

  The Brownlows both protested at this but Ned was determined. "It's the very least I can do," he said, addressing Andrew. "I don't have any dependents of my own to support and you've got two daughters to get through school and university. Having played no part in his upkeep until now, I would be grateful if you'd let me belatedly contribute in that way."

  After some more grumbling and discussion the neighbours agreed that Luke would stay on at Hawley Lodge and that Ned would be responsible for his fees.

  "How's he been getting on?" Suzanne asked, "Aside from the last twenty-four hours, that is."

  "His work has been improving greatly," he said, "and he seems to be getting on well with his peers." Ned's eyes drifted towards his desk, as the scene from Wednesday afternoon played itself out again in his mind's eye.

  "He's ended up in this room a few times himself this year," he told Andrew. "But it wasn't over anything too serious."

  "Like father, like son," said Suzanne, without thinking. Then she realised what she'd said and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh! Sorry, Andrew."

  Andrew just laughed. "That's alright," he said. "I'm sure I can blame all of Luke's bad behaviour on Ned from now on."

  *

  The following day, Ned enlisted the help of the local police and went to the country club with one of their officers to see Mr Pritchard. He suspected that an appeal to Pritchard's better nature would fail but that the sight of a uniformed officer would be more effective in gaining his co-operation in the return of Pagan's possessions. Ned let the police constable explain in his official police vocabulary that a child who had been missing from home had been found on the country club's grounds.

  Pritchard glanced at Ned suspiciously. "What's he doing here?"

  "Mr Kelly discovered the whereabouts of the child when she became ill through the consumption of poisonous mushrooms found on your property," the police officer replied. Ned could sense that Pritchard was afraid he would somehow be liable for having poisonous mushrooms in his grounds and was not surprised when Pritchard readily agreed to the policeman's suggestion that Ned and he should recover the child's possessions and then leave him in peace.

  They found the campsite quickly, took down the tent and packed Pagan's possessions into her bag, returning the towel with its country club logo to the hotel reception desk.

  Ned arrived at the hospital at lunchtime and went to see the convalescents. Julia was sitting with them when he arrived. The Brownlows had taken her to the hospital with them in the morning and had just gone with the twins to the hospital's canteen for some lunch. Julia was quizzing Pagan about her time in the country club.

  "Weren't you bored, sitting in a tent by yourself all the time?"

  "I was at first," Pagan agreed, "but it got better after Luke brought me some books from the school libr-" she stopped in mid-word as she saw Luke making a face at her. "Oh, sorry," she said to Luke, before looking coyly up at Ned. "You're not going to give him a hard time about taking a couple of library books out of the school, are you? I took great care of them and he took them back to the school on Saturday, so they're quite safe."

  Ned raised an eyebrow at Luke. "In the face of such a passionate defence, I don't see how I could," he replied.

  Ned established that both teenagers were feeling better and their liver tests were not giving the doctors any concern. Pagan was relieved to hear he had retrieved her possessions from the country club.

  "Would you like to go out for some lunch?" Ned asked Julia. Luke and Pagan glanced at each other and then quickly looked away as they both felt an uncontrollable urge to laugh out loud.

  "That would be lovely," Julia smiled.

  Fifteen minutes later, Ned and Julia were sitting in the bar of a pub in a village near the hospital, making polite small talk until Ned reminded Julia of the conversation they had had in the car on the previous evening.

  "I meant what I said last night about needing a counsellor for the school. Is it something that might interest you?" asked Ned.

  Julia thought about this. "Possibly," she said. "It's very early days in my re-assessment of my life but I do think a total change of scene would be a good thing. I need to think about Pagan's needs too, though, and she's at an awkward age to move from her school and her friends."

  "I think Pagan has shown she can handle new places and new people pretty well in the past week," Ned pointed out.

  Julia laughed. "Yes, I suppose you're right! It might be a good idea to get her away from my ex, too." She then became business-like, explaining her qualifications and her experience as a counsellor in schools in the Manchester area. In his turn, Ned told her about Hawley Lodge and explained that he was not in the position of being able to offer Julia the job there and then but that if she was still interested she would be able to formally apply for the post, details of which were on the school's website.

  "I don't suppose the post comes with accommodation, does it?" asked Julia.

  "I don't think you and Pagan would want to live in the school," said Ned, "but Hawley Lodge owns some cottages in the village which staff can rent at reasonable rates."

  "And there isn't any chance that Pagan would be able to attend the school herself, I suppose?"

  "Girls are admitted in the sixth form," Ned told her, "so she'd have to go somewhere else for the next two years. But the local high school has a very good reputation."

  "OK," said Julia. "Well I'll talk to Pagan about it and we'll see where this goes from here. Although the way she looks at that Luke of yours, I suspect she's not going to be too averse to the idea."

  "Teenage hearts are fickle things," said Ned. "I wouldn't rest your decision on the strength of a one-week-long relationship."
>
  "But as you and I have discovered over the last few days, even the briefest of teenage relationships can result in some pretty significant consequences."

  *

  Luke and Pagan were released on the Thursday, after spending four days in hospital. The various tubes were gradually removed from their bodies as their conditions improved and the tests on the functions of their livers showed there was no permanent damage to them.

  "You were very lucky," they were told by the young doctor who had admitted them. "The mortality rate for poisoning by this type of mushroom is high but you were admitted here early enough for us to be able to get the poison out of your systems before it had a chance to do major damage to your internal organs. I'm sure you'll both be more careful in the future about eating wild mushrooms."

  Pagan and Luke assented to this wholeheartedly. Neither of them wanted to even look at a mushroom again.

  The Brownlow family came to say goodbye. Luke lifted Mollie and Elsie onto his hospital bed and tickled them mercilessly. They writhed around in a blonde heap of screams and giggles and Luke laughed at his sisters.

  Half-sisters, a voice in his head reminded him. He tested the phrase out but found it inadequate. His feelings towards the two small girls did not match the diluted nature of the words that described their newly-discovered relationship. Unbidden, a picture of Mr Wilmot in front of a board covered in fractions formed in his mind. Luke smiled up at his parents. "Two half-sisters make a whole one, right?"

  His father laughed and gripped Luke into an unexpected hug.

  "What do two dads make?" Dad asked, as he released him.

  "Twice as much trouble?" suggested Luke. His father cuffed the top of his head. This time the blow was light in effect but heavy with affection. Luke grinned up at him and went over to hug his mother, who was smiling and looking tearful at the same time.