Now
They ate their breakfast in silence, with DJ’s question still hanging between them, like rotten fruit. The scowl on his face only disappeared when Anna and Cormac walked in. One good thing about their move to this hotel was the friendship that was developing between the kids. Most evenings, the three of them went to the park to play football, or throw a stick for Bette Davis.
After breakfast Ruth packed DJ’s lunch into his school bag and found a note. She opened it with shaking hands. Please do not let it be another event that involves parent participation. She still shuddered when she remembered the disaster that was the coffee fundraiser the previous year, when she managed to upset Dev and his mother. And DJ, too.
Dear Ms Wilde,
I hope you are well. I have been thinking about our conversation and have a suggestion to make. DJ may stay in school an extra hour each afternoon to do his homework. I am in the school until 4 p.m. every day anyhow, planning the next day’s lessons. I appreciate that a hotel room is not the most conducive environment for him. Let me know if this sounds acceptable.
Yours, Mr O’Dowd
Ruth smiled as she reread the note. Mr O’Dowd was full of surprises.
She broached the idea with DJ, who thought it sounded like the most heinous suggestion he had ever heard. She wrote a note to thank Mr O’Dowd, saying she would give it some thought. Which is exactly what she did as she ran back to The Lodge from school later that morning. And somewhere along the route an idea began to form. When she got back to her room she grabbed the laminated sheet of rules and scanned them to find the item she was looking for.
A communal room is available on the ground floor. Guests must ask reception for the key.
She thought she had remembered that correctly. Where was this communal room? She had not come across it, or heard any of the other residents mention it.
She would ask Kian! He knew everything.
She found him in the kitchen eating a breakfast roll with gusto. She kept her eyes on the ground, shuddering at the thought.
‘Hello, love,’ Kian said mid-mouthful. ‘How’s she cutting?’
Ruth had no idea what he was talking about. She ran through possible reasons why he would ask her that. She had nothing. ‘I do not understand. I am not cutting anything.’
Kian bellowed laughter at this. Aisling and Ava walked into the kitchen, their faces curious as to what was going on. ‘What are we missing?’ Aisling asked.
‘This one. She’s hilarious. Loves her, I do,’ Kian said, taking another bite of his sandwich.
Ruth was surprised by this statement. Should she say she liked him, too? ‘I am not sure how I feel about you yet, as I have not had enough opportunity to make an informed opinion. But early indications are that I like you, too.’
At this, Kian doubled over, holding his hand up, saying, ‘Stop … you’re killing me.’
Aisling said, joining in the laughter, ‘I told you. She’s funny.’
‘People laugh at me a lot,’ Ruth said.
‘We’re not laughing at you, love,’ Kian said. ‘We’re laughing with you. There’s a difference.’
Aisling filled the kettle and they each took a seat at the table.
‘Have any of you been in the communal room before?’ Ruth asked.
They looked at her blankly.
She held up the laminated rules and pointed to number nineteen.
‘Jaysus, it’s months since I looked at those rules, I’d forgotten that was even there,’ Kian said.
‘Me, too,’ Aisling said.
Ava added, ‘I did look for the room when we moved in, but never found it. Erica was vague when I questioned her. I assumed it wasn’t available any more.’
Ruth shook her head. ‘But the rules say that it is there. So it must be. I am going to investigate.’
She made her way to reception. Erica was sitting in her usual spot.
‘Good morning! Isn’t it a lovely day? I swear those clouds are full of snow. I said to my Billy this morning that one of these days we’ll wake up and the ground will be white,’ Erica said.
‘Does Billy actually exist?’ Ruth said.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Erica replied, as she seemed to do a lot when she spoke to Ruth.
‘I asked you if Billy was a figment of your imagination. Because I have never set eyes on him. Is he just someone you talk to in your head?’ Ruth smiled. ‘I have one, too. Odd Thomas.’
‘It is you who is odd. Honest to goodness, Ruth, the things you come out with. I can assure you that my Billy is most certainly real,’ Erica said.
‘If you say so.’ Ruth did not believe her. ‘May I have the key to the communal room? Please.’
‘There’s no lock on the kitchen, so no key needed.’
‘I am aware of that fact. I am talking about rule number nineteen on the laminate.’ Ruth held up the sheet. ‘It states that there is a communal room for the guests. Guests must come here for the key. I would like the key. Please.’
Erica’s face went from puzzled to understanding. ‘Oh! That room. I’ve never been asked for the key before, to my recollection. And to be honest with you I’m just as happy. The room is little more than a dumping ground. My Billy has had plans to clear it out for years, but he does suffer with his back.’ She looked at Ruth and dared her to question Billy’s existence again.
‘The rules say that if I ask I can have the key,’ Ruth insisted.
‘You and the rules,’ Erica said. ‘Well, you can have the key if you want, but don’t come complaining to me about the state of it. You get what you see and that’s just the way it is. And if you have an issue you know what to do. Take it up with the council.’
‘I will not complain. I would just like to see the room,’ Ruth said.
Erica got up from her seat and grabbed a key from one of the drawers. ‘It’s just past the dining room on the right-hand side. You can’t miss it.’
Ruth walked out of reception, pausing at the last minute to call back, ‘Thank you.’
‘Happy to help,’ Erica shouted after her. Ruth was an odd one, no doubt about it, but you couldn’t fault her manners. Her Billy always said, you can get through life with bad manners, but it is a darn sight easier with good ones.
One, two, three, four …
Eighteen steps. Ruth had passed the door many times without thought. What if it is a portal to another world, Odd?
Only one way to find out, he answered. She unlocked it with shaking hands. It swung open with a bang.
Erica had not exaggerated. If this was a portal, the only place it led to was to a rubbish dump. The room was crammed with black rubbish sacks, cardboard boxes, stacked tables and chairs. Her eyes took in the cobwebbed ceiling and the dirty carpeted floor. With every detail her heart sank. While her expectations were low, this was worse than she had envisioned. It would take a lot of work.
But that was something that Ruth was not afraid of. She grew up in a messy and disorganised house. Her parents’ lives were so busy that they never seemed to take a moment to stand still. Ruth’s bedroom was the only space that remained uncluttered and pleasing to her. And that was all down to Ruth. Her earliest memory was wiping down her doll’s house with a damp cloth she’d persuaded her mother to give her.
Marian had laughed, saying to Alan, ‘Where did we get this one from?’
She could not work out why her parents did not just organise themselves better. Why could they not work harder to eliminate the things in their lives that caused the chaos? Why put themselves through so much every week? They constantly shouted to each other, to the children, ‘Where is my coat, my keys, my book, my shoes?’
When her father left, Ruth took over pretty much all of the chores in the house. Mark teased and called her Cinders. But she did not mind. She liked to clean. She enjoyed bringing order to things around her. Bit by bit, she removed piles of newspapers from counter tops, took books that had toppled over into heaps on the hall floor and placed them in their bookshelves, untangled clothes that peeked out from under beds.
So, this communal room in The Lodge, that might to some seem like a hopeless cause, did not faze Ruth in the slightest. I can do this. She flipped open one of the boxes closest to her. It was full of cups and saucers, all plain white. Dusty, but in good condition. Another box had saucepans. Then she found several that contained books. This made her happy. She grabbed the nearest one to her and whooped out loud when she discovered it was a Dean Koontz. She looked at it in awe. It had to be a sign.
I’ll be just like Odd. An unlikely hero. I can do this.