Jack and the Wardrobe

by Nicola Jemphrey

  She was even more excited when her sister texted back.

  “She got it!” Susie yelled, nearly dropping her mobile.

  “Told you there was nothing to it,” I said, as we all laughed.

  After the picnic, we went for a walk along the beach.

  “Susie’s nice, I really like her,” Kate said.

  In front of us, Dad put his arm around Susie’s shoulders and I was suddenly jerked back to reality. Somehow, without me realising it, the four of us had spent the day playing “happy families” and things had got way too cosy. Something would have to be done before Dad forgot all about Mum and decided he wanted to marry Susie instead.

  Now I just had to figure out what.

  Chapter 7

  We got back to Belfast around teatime and Dad dropped Kate and me off at the chip shop around the corner from our house.

  “Get yourselves a couple of fish suppers,” he said, handing me a tenner. “I’m just going to take Susie out for a bite to eat, but I’ll be back by nine to give Kate a lift home.”

  Kate and I sat in the kitchen and ate our tea without talking much. I was racking my brains thinking what I could do to bring Mum back and get rid of Susie.

  “Well we can’t sit around all night doing nothing,” Kate said at last, carrying our plates over to the sink. “Could we maybe watch the Shadowlands DVD?”

  At least this would keep Kate busy until Dad came back, and I could carry on trying to work out an action plan without feeling I had to talk to her. We went into the living room and I put on the film.

  I’d been learning so much about CS Lewis over the past few weeks that I ended up being drawn into the story without meaning to. I thought Anthony Hopkins acted out the part of Jack really well, though apart from wearing the same kind of tweed jackets, he didn’t look much like the photos I’d seen of him. For some reason the film made out that Joy only had one son, Douglas, instead of two. I suppose it made the story a bit simpler.

  As I watched, it struck me that some awful things had happened to CS Lewis: his mum had died of cancer when he was very young and so did his wife a few years after they were married. This was all the sadder because he hadn’t found someone he wanted to marry until he was nearly 60! On the bus tour we’d been told his dad had also died of cancer when Jack was still a young man. I wasn’t surprised Jack started to doubt God near the end of the film. What was really amazing was that after writing a book about his grief for Joy, he kept on believing and trusting in God until he himself died a few years later. How could he not have stayed angry with God after all the bad things that had happened to him?

  During the drive back from Newcastle all I could think of was how God had let me down. He seemed to answer my prayers at first, but now, with Dad and Susie closer than ever, he’d knocked me right back. I didn’t see how anyone could have prayed harder than I had. No, praying wasn’t the answer. I had to come up with a better idea to get Mum to come home.

  Kate managed to get through the film with just a few sniffles.

  “I wonder why they went to that place in England for their honeymoon instead of to Crawfordsburn like they really did?” she asked when it was over. “I know it was the place in the picture in Jack’s study, but why couldn’t the picture have been of Crawfordsburn instead? And how come Jack was driving Joy in a car? I thought it said on the bus tour he never learned to drive.”

  “No, he was never much good at practical things because his upper thumb joints didn’t bend. That’s why he started writing stories instead of making things when he was young...”

  My mind wasn’t really on what I was telling Kate. A line from the film had just come back to me: it was what Jack had told one of his old students when he met him on a train. It was something about making sure we say the things we want to, to the people we love, before it’s too late, before the moment passes and we find ourselves alone.

  Suddenly I knew what I had to do. I had to see my mum and tell her how much Dad and I loved her and needed her to come back. Or else he might decide to marry Susie and it’d be too late. Then I’d be the one who’d feel all alone. I was totally sure that as soon as Dad saw Mum again, all his feelings for her would come rushing back and Susie would be history. I had to make Mum come home. Letters were no good – I couldn’t even be sure she’d been getting mine.

  “I’m going to London to talk to Mum,” I told Kate.

  “But you can’t, you’re too young to travel on your own!” she gasped.

  “I have to, it’s an emergency. You saw how Dad was with Susie today.”

  “Then I’m coming with you,” she said firmly.

  “No, you’re not, you’re far too young.”

  “I’m only a year younger than you. And if I don’t come, I’ll spend the whole time worrying about you. I’m coming and that’s that.”

  Nothing I said could make her change her mind so we began to make plans. We worked out that the best day to go would be on Wednesday week, when Kate’s school had an exceptional closure day.

  “Mum works till 11 on Wednesday evenings and I have Guides, so Debbie normally comes round to make tea and put the kids to bed. She leaves after they’ve gone to sleep as Dad’s always in the house, so she won’t know I haven’t come home. Dad goes to bed straight after tea so he won’t notice either.”

  “But what about Eileen? Won’t she see you’re not in bed when she gets in?”

  “Normally she’s so shattered, she falls asleep in her chair. She probably won’t find out I’m gone till the morning. But by the time she gets in, we’ll be with your mum and I can phone to say we’re OK.”

  “Won’t Debbie be expecting you home for tea on Wednesday?”

  “I can leave a note saying I’m having tea with you, which will be true.”

  I wasn’t as bothered as Kate about telling a lie. I would just tell Dad I was going to a mate’s house for tea and sleeping over.

  Straight after school on Monday I went down to the library to check out flights on the Internet. First I went on Google to see what airlines flew from Belfast to London. When I’d got the hang of the websites, I found there were quite a few flights going to different London airports next Wednesday afternoon, but they were all quite expensive. I worked out that I had just about enough money in my savings account to pay for return flights for Kate and me. We’d need more for food and for buses or trains when we got there, but we could worry about that later. I needed to book the flights in case the price went up even more. I couldn’t pay by credit card since I was too young to have one, but surely the airline must have an office somewhere, where you could take or post the money to.

  I started to read through all the boring small print on the website with the cheapest flight, trying to find an address, but was stopped in my tracks by a statement saying children under fourteen must be accompanied on flights by an adult. What now? We could hardly tell any of the adults we knew what we were planning to do and ask them to come with us! After staring blankly at the screen for a few minutes, I remembered Andy, my mate Tommy’s brother. He was always going to London to see his girlfriend and he owed me a favour for finding his credit card. Maybe he wouldn’t mind taking a wee trip over with us next week. I logged off the computer and headed round to Tommy’s house to see if Andy was there.

  Tommy’s mum came to the door. “Hello, Jack, we’re just in the middle of our tea. Go on up to Tommy’s room and he’ll be with you as soon as he’s finished.”

  I’d already worked out I’d have to tell Tommy the whole story, since he was bound to find out from Andy anyway. I thought I could trust him not to blab to anyone. He was a bit surprised when I told him it was really Andy I needed to speak to.

  “Don’t think he’s planning to go over to Sheryl’s anytime soon,” he said. “She was over here a couple of weekends ago. Anyway, he says he’s stony broke.”

  Still, he thought it was worth me asking, so he went to give Andy a shout. Andy’s eyes narrowed as I gave him the low-down.


  “Yeah, I’ll come with you,” he said when I’d finished. “But you’ll have to pay for my flight as well. I’m skint.”

  “But I’ve hardly enough flippin’ money for me and Kate!” I told him. “I just thought you might’ve been thinking of going over to London anyway and we could tag along.”

  “Well I wasn’t, much as I would like to.” Andy got up. “That’s the deal. You pay for my flight; I’ll be your babysitter. Take it or leave it.”

  “OK then, I’ll pay,” I said quickly, knowing we couldn’t do it without him. “But you’ll have to give me a few days to find some more cash.”

  “Tell you what, since I owe you a favour, I’ll go down to the library and book the flights on my credit card tonight,” Andy said. “It’s cheaper to do it online. Tomorrow you can bring me the money you’ve already got and I’ll need the rest by the day before we go. If I don’t have it by then, I’ll be flying out on my own. Understand?”

  “I’ll get the money,” I told him, already trying to work out how.

  “How much more do we need?” Kate asked when I came to her house after school next day to tell her the bad news.

  “Only about £150!” I groaned. “Andy’s flight costs over £70 and we have to make sure we’ve enough for bus fares and things when we get there.”

  “It’d be better if I wasn’t coming, wouldn’t it?” Kate said quietly. “Then you’d only have to pay for you and Andy.”

  “It’s too late now, we’re all booked,” I said. “Anyway I’m kind of glad you’re coming to keep me company. The whole thing’s getting a bit scary, now it’s only a week away.”

  “You’re sure?” Kate said, brightening up. “Well, I’m going to ask Mum for money for my birthday. It won’t be much but it’ll help a bit.”

  “But you’re getting a phone for your birthday!” Kate had wanted a mobile for ages and her mum had seen one on special offer.

  “No, Mum hasn’t bought it yet. They’re holding it over till she gets paid on Thursday. I’ll just tell her I’ve changed my mind and want the money instead. Please, Jack, I really want to help.”

  Well, if Kate could make a sacrifice like that, then so could I. I couldn’t sell my mobile as we might need it when we got to London, but the next afternoon I took my PlayStation down to the games store in the shopping centre and traded it in for cash. I also sold my games, including the one Mum had bought me for Christmas. This hurt, but there was no point keeping it when I’d nothing to play it on and I was sure Mum would understand.

  By now we’d enough money to pay for Andy’s flight and a bit left over for extras. I looked up a bus route planner on the Internet to see how to get to Mum’s address from the centre of London and then tried to work out how much we’d need for bus and train fares. We probably had just about enough to cover these, but it would be tight and we’d have to manage on sandwiches brought from home until we reached Mum’s house. Once we’d met up with her, we’d be OK. I was sure she’d lend us the money to get back to the airport. Hopefully we’d all be travelling there together.

  “Sorry I haven’t bought you a present this year,” I whispered to Kate when Dad and I went round for Sunday dinner to celebrate her birthday, which had been on Friday. I’d made her a card myself as I couldn’t afford to waste any money at all.

  “That’s OK, you can buy me a really dear one next year!” she grinned back.

  When we got home, Dad took some notes from his wallet.

  “I didn’t realise you hadn’t enough money to buy Kate a present, son. Sorry your pocket money hasn’t been too regular recently, but I’ve got back into the way of working again. I’ve just got paid for a big job. Take this and get something you really want.”

  “Thanks,” I said, fingering the five £10 notes. Now we should have enough cash to cover any emergencies in London.

  “Jack . . .” Dad began, but I cut him off.

  “Gotta go, big test tomorrow. Thanks again,” I said and escaped upstairs.

  Dad and I hadn’t talked much since that Saturday in Newcastle. I think he felt bad about asking Susie without telling me, and so he should! But there was no point trying to talk about it. If my plans for bringing Mum back from London worked as well as I hoped, Susie would soon be right out of the picture.

  Though I was cross with my Dad, I couldn’t help feeling sad we weren’t getting on as well as we used to. For some reason I thought of CS Lewis and his dad, Albert. Jack had gone to Oxford University to study in 1917, but had only been there for a short time when he started to train as an officer to fight in the First World War. Afew days before he went to France, he sent a telegram to Albert saying when he was leaving and hoping Albert would come to say goodbye. Albert didn’t, because he hated leaving home, and Jack was really hurt. Albert didn’t even come to see Jack when he was recovering in England after nearly being killed in battle. He was always very pleased when Jack came home to Little Lea for his holidays, but Jack never really liked spending time with his dad and got out of going when he could.

  I hoped my Dad and I wouldn’t end up like that, but once Mum and Dad were back together, things were bound to be better between us.

  I added the notes Dad had given me to the rest of the cash at the bottom of my underwear drawer. Now we had enough money, all we had to do was wait for Wednesday and hope nothing messed up our plan!

  Chapter 8

  Our flight was due to leave the International Airport at 4.30 on Wednesday afternoon. The three of us had arranged to be at the bus station in the city centre by 2pm, to leave ourselves plenty of time to get there. I’d set off for school in my uniform that morning as Dad was still at home, but cycled back at 9.30am when I knew he’d have left for work. I changed out of my uniform and hid it in a bag at the bottom of my wardrobe, then checked my backpack to make sure I had all the maps and timetables I’d printed off the Internet. I’d ended up doing this in school instead of at the library, as the library only had one main printer and Mrs Armstrong or one of the others might have noticed my printouts and started asking questions.

  Around one, I went down to the kitchen and forced myself to eat a couple of cheese rolls, though my stomach was churning. After tidying away my cup and plate and wiping the crumbs off the table, I quietly let myself out of the house. I passed the bus stop at the end of our street as I didn’t want any neighbours wondering why I wasn’t at school, and walked to one about five minutes down the road.

  When I reached the bus station, Kate and Andy were already there. I’d thought it best if I travelled from our end of town separately from Kate in case we were spotted by anyone we knew. Andy had agreed to come in on the same bus as Kate to make sure she was OK, though not to sit too near her. We’d sit in different places on the airport bus too, just to be on the safe side. Once we were on the plane, it wouldn’t matter so much. We’d be on our way and I couldn’t see the pilot turning back just to bring us home!

  But first, the three of us had to check in at the airport together. Andy had the printout with our booking number and the woman on the desk took it and checked her computer screen.

  “Andrew Johnston, Jack Bryans, Katherine Bryans. How many bags are you checking in? Did you pack them yourselves?”

  Our backpacks travelled along the conveyor belt and disappeared behind her.

  “These are your boarding passes,” the woman said, handing some cards to Andy. “All the flights into Gatwick today have been delayed because of morning fog. Yours is now due to leave at 5.45pm, but check the screens for any further changes.”

  I hadn’t expected this. If the flight was nearly two hours late leaving, we wouldn’t get into Gatwick until around seven o’clock. We would then have to get a coach into the centre of London and another bus out to the east of the city, where Mum lived. At this rate we wouldn’t be with Mum until late in the evening. As soon as we’d passed through Security, I sat down in the departure lounge and got out my bus timetables to try to replan our journey.

  In the end, we w
eren’t called to board the plane until just before seven. By this time I was getting really worried. I wouldn’t have brought Kate if I’d thought the two of us would be getting into London so late. I just hoped the streets in Mum’s area were safe.

  Kate was just excited at being on a plane for the first time. She grabbed my arm tightly as we came to the end of the runway and started to climb into the air, but once the plane had levelled itself, she began to relax and point out the window at the lights on the ground far below.

  We reached Gatwick around 8.15pm, but it took another half hour or so to get into the airport building and pick up our luggage.

  “There’s Sheryl,” Andy said, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder and waving back at a girl with a black ponytail. “She said she’d try to borrow her brother’s car to come and meet me.”

  “Any chance of a lift?” I asked hopefully.

  “Sorry, mate. I don’t really want two kids tagging along when I meet up with my girlfriend. See you back here on Friday night.”

  Andy hadn’t been much help, but when he’d gone, it suddenly hit me that we didn’t have an adult to turn to any more. Kate and I were two kids in London on our own. I tried to pull myself together. I couldn’t show Kate how scared I was. We needed to find a coach going to the centre of London. There was one due to leave at five past nine. I grabbed Kate’s hand and pulled her towards the exit.

  The coach was faster than my timetable had said and we reached the station in the city centre by 10.20pm. I knew the number of the bus we needed to catch to get to a stop in the East End, a few streets away from where Mum lived, so I rushed over to a ticket kiosk and asked where to wait for it. The bus was already there, and after about half an hour we got off at the 16th stop on the route. I opened the street map I’d brought with me.

  “This way,” I told Kate confidently.

  As we walked towards the address Mum had sent me so many weeks ago, we passed a lot of older teenagers, hanging around in groups on street corners. I tried to look relaxed, as if I was as used to the area as they were. I didn’t want Kate to know how I really felt. By now she was looking tired out.