Party Time

by Fiona Cummings

  She was looking very thin and glamorous in a slinky evening dress, which was just like the one Fliss had worn to Lyndz’s sleepover. She had a pinched look on her face and a strange sort of smile, as though she was trying to enjoy herself but hadn’t quite cracked it.

  “Felicity darling, help me with these, would you?” she called out.

  And Fliss appeared, looking like an exact replica of her mum. But a lot younger, obviously. They had the same hairstyle and the same make-up, everything. They even had the same odd expression. It was really weird.

  “Hello, let me take those,” Fliss said ever so politely.

  “Are you all right, Fliss? You look as though you need to go to the toilet or something,” said Kenny, barging past her into the hall.

  “Kenny!” reprimanded her mother, but she didn’t sound very cross.

  Mum and I took off our snow-covered jackets and gave them to Mrs Sidebotham. And, well – you should have been there to see the look on her face when she clocked our tattoos! For a few moments she just stared at my arm and Mum’s shoulder. Then she huffed a bit, opening her mouth with no sound coming out. The she went really pink and hurriedly took our jackets into the cloakroom.

  Dad looked kind of shocked when he noticed Mum’s tattoo. Then he cracked up laughing and Mum had to push him into the lounge. As we were waiting for Andy to give us a drink he whispered, “You are two very wicked women!”

  If Mum had known anything about high fives, we’d have done one then!

  Lyndz was already there with her parents, so Kenny and I made a beeline for her.

  “Have we missed anything?” I asked.

  “Nah, only Fliss’s mum going off on one because someone had trailed muck on to the carpet.”

  “Nothing new there then,” we all screeched together and spluttered into our Cokes.

  “Ryan Scott’s not here?” I asked when we’d recovered. “I was sure that Fliss would have invited him after he sent her that card.”

  “Don’t get her started on that!” groaned Lyndz. “She’s already told me twenty times how she wanted to invite him but her mum wouldn’t let her.”

  Lyndz then turned to Kenny. “I didn’t expect to see you here either.”

  Whilst Kenny was telling her all about the blizzards and the flu, I had a look round. Mum was sitting on the sofa deep in conversation with Lyndz’s mum, talking about babies no doubt. Dad, Andy and Dr McKenzie were huddled together by the drinks cabinet. Callum was sitting under a table with a huge bowl of crisps, and Mrs McKenzie looked to be having words with a very sulky Molly. Fliss was nowhere to be seen. I went into the hall to investigate, and saw her wrestling with the front part of Adam’s wheelchair, trying to get it up the front step. Rosie and her mum were behind, pushing, and Adam was beaming regally at everyone like a king.

  “Here, let me help!” I rushed over to them.

  After a few minutes of heaving, Adam was in.

  “That was a close one, Adam!” I grinned. “We nearly had to bring the party out to you!”

  He nodded and laughed and presented a bunch of flowers to Mrs Sidebotham, who was hovering anxiously behind the door.

  “Thank you, that’s very kind!” she said very slowly. People always seem to do that with Adam. Just because he has cerebral palsy and finds it difficult to speak himself, it doesn’t mean he can’t understand you.

  Rosie wheeled him through to the lounge and everyone went to say hello.

  “Fliss’s mum’s going to have a fit about that wheelchair!” whispered Lyndz. “You can’t exactly wipe the wheels on the mat, can you?”

  I had visions of Mrs Sidebotham flipping completely. But she was being very brave and pretending not to notice the dirty, snowy tyre-marks that had criss-crossed over her cream carpet.

  “Hey Rosie, come and join us!” we called over.

  Kenny went to fetch her a glass of Coke and the rest of us chatted together. But after about ten minutes there was still no sign of Kenny. I went into the kitchen to look for her, and found Mum tucking into some garlic bread.

  “I thought you had indigestion,” I said.

  “It’s not too bad at the moment,” she told me. “Besides, I’ve got to keep my strength up. I’m eating for two, remember?”

  “Yeah, right!” I laughed. “Well make sure you leave some food for us, OK!”

  I still couldn’t see Kenny anywhere. But I could hear raised voices coming from the downstairs loo.

  “I never wanted to come to this downbeat party anyway. We’d be having much more fun in Scotland.”

  “Yeah, well we’re not in Scotland, are we, so you’d better start livening up before you depress everybody else, you miserable toad!”

  That had to be Kenny and Molly doing their usual sweet sister act.

  “Hey guys, come on. Give it a rest, for goodness’ sake!” I burst in on them. It’s a good thing I did too, because Kenny had Molly pinned up against the wall.

  I broke them up and they reluctantly followed me back into the kitchen, where Kenny quickly swooped on the food.

  “Grub! Great, I’m starving!”

  She started piling things on to a plate.

  “No wonder you’re getting fat, eating like that!” Molly sneered.

  “Right, that’s it!”

  Kenny grabbed a spoon and loaded it with sour cream dip. She took aim, and was about to fire it when …

  “Hey not so fast!” Andy grabbed her arm and took away the spoon. “We’ll have no food fights here, thank you very much. That would definitely finish Nikki off!”

  Molly started laughing mockingly at Kenny, who looked absolutely furious.

  “What about taking some food in to Adam, Molly?” Andy suggested. “And I thought you two might like to help Fliss and Lyndz sort out the music for dancing. It’s about time this party got going. What do you say?”

  “Cool!” We piled in to the lounge.

  All the adults seemed to be standing around talking, but I couldn’t see Mum anywhere.

  “She’s around somewhere,” Dad told me. “I’ve just seen her with a plate full of cheesecake!”

  We both laughed and I went to join the others, who were sorting through a stack of CDs.

  When we’d got everything sorted, we put the finishing touches to one of our Sugababes routines. Fliss was wiggling for all she was worth when her mum appeared and started flapping her arms about too. I kind of assumed that she was trying to join in, until I heard her squeaking:

  “Can everyone be quiet for a minute?”

  But of course nobody heard her. So she tried again. But still everyone carried on chatting.

  “Would you like me to get everyone’s attention?” asked Kenny.

  “Thank you, Kenny, that would be very kind,” she smiled.

  Kenny stood on a chair, put two fingers in her mouth and made the most ear-splitting whistle ever. Then she yelled:

  “LISTEN UP EVERYBODY, MRS SIDEBOTHAM WANTS TO SAY SOMETHING!”

  Well, that certainly shut everyone up.

  “Er thanks, Kenny, that’s not exactly what I had in mind!” Mrs Sidebotham said lamely, and everyone laughed. “I’d just like to say, er – where’s Andy?”

  “Is that it?” asked Kenny. “I thought it was something important!”

  Everybody screamed with laughter, but Fliss’s mum seemed quite anxious to find him. So we all looked round, and then we heard the downstairs toilet flush. We heard a running of water and whistling, and Andy reappeared in the lounge to great guffaws and a huge round of applause. Fliss’s mum looked dead embarrassed, but Andy just smirked.

  Fliss’s mum tried again.

  “As you know Andy and I …”

  “Erm, sorry to interrupt you, Nikki …”

  It was Dad. I couldn’t believe it! Fliss’s mum was starting to look really annoyed.

  “If you’re going to make an important announcement, I’d really like Helena to hear it, and I don’t think she’s here.”

  Everyone looked round
again. Mum was definitely not there. Where on earth was she?

  Now I don’t know if you’ve seen my mum since she’s been pregnant, but she is kind of big. She’s usually just normal-sized, but expecting the baby had made her balloon into a big, fat, waddly duck. And to be honest, I was worried that she’d got stuck somewhere.

  When we’d all done a thorough search downstairs, Dad whispered that maybe I should check upstairs too.

  “You know what she’s like when she’s had a plateful of cheesecake – BAM – she’s out like a light. Just check that she hasn’t crashed out on one of the beds,” he suggested.

  “Like Goldilocks, you mean!” I laughed.

  “Yeah, something like that!”

  I crept upstairs and tried all the bedrooms. First Fliss’s, which was as neat as usual. I looked at her bed, but there was only a row of dolls looking back at me. I peeped inside her mum’s bedroom too, but I felt kind of guilty doing that. I know how Mrs Sidebotham hates anyone going in there without her permission. It smelt all perfumed and lovely, like roses.

  “Mum? Are you here?” I hissed.

  There was no reply, and I could see from the doorway that the only things on the bed were a few frilly cushions.

  Next there was Callum’s room. I’d never been in there before. It smelt all funny, like little boys tend to do. And it was kind of hard to see where anything was. I crept in a little bit further and BANG – I stumbled into something. Then there was a groan.

  “Mum!” I squeaked. “Is that you?”

  I fumbled for the light switch and flicked it on.

  “Whaddyawant?” a small, weary voice murmured. It was Callum, lying on the bed and shielding his eyes from the light.

  “Nothing,” I whispered. “Sorry to disturb you, go back to sleep!”

  I switched off the light and went back on to the landing. There were only two places left to try – the room where Fliss’s mum practises her beauty therapy and the bathroom. I figured Mum might have gone to lie down on Mrs Sidebotham’s treatment couch. So I was going to try there first, when I heard a noise coming from the bathroom.

  “Mum, is that you?” I called out, my face right up to the door.

  “Frankie?”

  “Are you OK? We were worried about you? Fliss’s mum is making an announcement and Dad thought you ought to come down,” I told her.

  “Actually, Frankie, do you think you could get your dad for me?” Mum called back.

  “You haven’t got indigestion again, have you?” I asked. “Dad told me about you eating that cheesecake …”

  “No!” she interrupted me, gasping slightly. “I’m sure…the baby’s…on its way … this time.”

  “Hold on Mum! I’ll get Dad!” I shouted, and flew downstairs like a mad woman.

  “Dad, Dad, quick! Mum says she’s having the baby!”

  Suddenly everyone seemed to be rushing around like headless chickens.

  “Call an ambulance, will you Nikki?” Dad shouted, leaping up the stairs two at a time.

  Lyndz’s mum hurried after him. She’d been teaching Mum’s ante-natal classes, so she was kind of a good person to have around. And then of course there was Kenny’s dad, who’s a doctor.

  “I’ll go and get my bag from the car!” He opened the front door and was met by a blizzard of snow. “My goodness me! I thought it was supposed to be Scotland that was going to get all the bad weather,” he said, stumbling out into the cold.

  I felt really strange, like everything was going on around me but I wasn’t part of it.

  “Dad, Dad! Can I help?” Kenny rushed over to her father as soon as he came back through the door.

  “I’m not sure that Helena would thank me for giving her an inexperienced, under-age midwife!” Dr McKenzie laughed, ruffling Kenny’s hair. Then he noticed how disappointed she looked. “But there are lots of important things you can do. Like getting a bed ready for her to lie down on until the ambulance arrives.”

  “My bed!” whimpered Fliss’s mum as Kenny hared upstairs. “My beautiful bedroom!”

  Peeping up through the banisters, I could see Dad and Mrs Collins helping Mum into the bedroom. Mum caught sight of me.

  “Don’t look so worried, Frankie, I’m fine.” She tried to smile, despite wincing with pain. “And look at all this attention I’m getting. It’s better than hospital!”

  Yeah, right! Like every woman would choose to give birth in Fliss’s home on New Year’s Eve!

  “Your mum’s right.” Lyndz’s dad gently led me into the lounge where everyone else was sitting around anxiously. “What Lyndz’s mum doesn’t know about giving birth you can write on the back of a stamp!”

  “I had all my children at home,” Mrs McKenzie told me reassuringly. “And Kenny’s father assisted at all the births. So your mum really is in good hands. Come on over by the fire, love, you’re cold. Fliss, can you rustle up a warm drink for Frankie? I think she’s in a bit of shock.”

  Fliss was looking very pale and in a state of shock herself, but she went into the kitchen and Rosie and Lyndz came over to join me.

  “We’re not going to forget this party in a hurry, are we?” squeaked Rosie. “And just think, we’re all going to be here when your baby brother or sister is born! How cool is that?”

  “I think labour sometimes takes quite a while,” Lyndz told us. “The ambulance will probably be here soon, and then they’ll take your mum to hospital.”

  Kenny bounded in, all flushed and excited.

  “Dad says we might need some towels, is that all right, Mrs S?”

  Fliss’s mum shuddered slightly and nodded.

  “It’s like being in one of those old movies, isn’t it?” said Rosie’s mum. “You know, they always say ‘I’ll need lots of towels and plenty of hot water’ whenever anyone’s about to give birth.”

  Kenny stopped in the doorway and spun round. “Hey, that’s an idea! What about Frankie’s mum having the baby in your Jacuzzi bath, Mrs S? A water birth would be so cool!”

  “Oh no!” Fliss’s mum started sobbing. “I … I … don’t think so!”

  She seemed to be kind of gasping a bit, so Mrs McKenzie shooed Kenny back upstairs and poured a brandy.

  “For the shock!” she murmured, handing it to Fliss’s mum.

  Rosie’s mum had been spluttering with laughter ever since Kenny mentioned her great idea about the Jacuzzi, and she was laughing even harder at the thought of Mrs Sidebotham having to be revived by brandy.

  A few minutes later, Andy and Fliss appeared with a big tray of drinks and biscuits for everyone. They both seemed very concerned that Mrs Sidebotham was in such a state. I mean, excuse me, but wasn’t it my mum who was upstairs having a baby?

  “How long did the ambulance say they would be, Nikki?” Dr McKenzie called downstairs.

  Fliss’s mum leapt up and yelped, like she’d just sat on a wasp or something.

  “Oh no, I didn’t, I mean … I thought … oh dear!”

  We all stared at her.

  “You mean, you never even called an ambulance?” Andy asked her sharply.

  “No!” she whispered, and started to cry again.

  “I’ll do it!” he sighed and went into the hall.

  “I thought this party was really lame, but it’s kind of getting exciting now!” Molly chuckled as she walked past us with a piece of cake stuffed in her mouth.

  I would normally have said something, but I couldn’t. I was more worried about Mum. I mean, like Gran had said, she wasn’t all that young to be having a baby. And to be having it in someone else’s house, with no ambulance and a blizzard outside – well, it looked pretty bad.

  I wanted to find out what was happening but I couldn’t. I tried to stand up, but my legs had turned to jelly and I fell back down again.

  “There there, my love!” Kenny’s mum helped me to sit down again. And to my horror, I started to cry.

  “Will Mum be OK?” I whispered through my sobs.

  “I’ll go to find out, yo
u just stay here,” she told me kindly.

  Rosie’s mum came over to sit by me and Adam wheeled himself over. He looked so sad, it made me want to cry all over again. Rosie and Lyndz came to sit by me too, and so did Fliss.

  “It’ll be all right, Mum’s bedroom’s ever so clean,” she said reassuringly, stroking my arm. “I mean, Mum cleans so much, it’s probably even cleaner than the hospital!”

  What is she like? It did make us all laugh though, and then Fliss was dead pleased and pretended that she’d said it on purpose.

  “They said that everything’s a bit delayed because of the snow,” Andy told us as he came back into the lounge. “But an ambulance will be here as soon as possible. Hey, what’s the rush?”

  Kenny had hurtled downstairs and right into him.

  “It’s so cool, Frankie, your mum’s doing great, she’s going ‘whoo, whoo, hee’ …” She started puffing and blowing and making all these weird sounds.

  “You haven’t been watching, have you?” Lyndz sounded really shocked.

  “Course not!” said Kenny indignantly. “But I’ve been doing stuff for Dad, and I can hear from the landing. Come on, Frankie, you should come too!”

  She dragged me to my feet. But when we got to the bottom of the steps, I heard the most amazing sound. A baby was crying. I could hear Mum laughing and Dad cooing, “Welcome to the world, little one!” And all the time, there was this newborn crying.

  I can’t describe how I felt. I was really really happy, but I just stood there with tears streaming down my face.

  “Congratulations!” The others all rushed over to hug me.

  “Hey, Frankie!” Dad appeared at the top of the steps. “You’d better come and say hello to your little sister!”

  I had a sister! My very own little sister!

  I don’t know how I got upstairs, my legs were still so wobbly. But just as I got to the landing, I heard chiming. Someone must have turned on the television because that was definitely the sound of Big Ben. I was really confused. I was sure only an hour had passed since we found out about Mum, but it must have been more like three.