Dinner that evening seemed to take forever. Mum told Dad about me spending the day in the tennis club, and the two of them went on and on about it, like I’d just been awarded the Nobel Prize or something. They kept saying totally stupid things like:
‘Isn’t it lovely to see Megan getting some independence?’
And:
‘Physical activity is so important. And tennis is such a lovely game.’
And:
‘It’s such a sociable sport. If you play tennis you’ll never be without a friend.’
I was sure that if I didn’t get back to my bedroom quick, I’d be without Alice as a friend, she’d be so cross and fed-up. In the end, Rosie rescued me by throwing up all over the dinner table. It was totally gross, but at least it distracted Mum and Dad for a while, so I could concentrate on thinking of a way to get boiling water in to my bedroom for Alice’s noodles.
Much, much later, when I got back to my room, I still hadn’t any good ideas.
‘It’s not my fault, Al!’ I protested. ‘Mum never seems to leave the kitchen. She always says she’s chained to the kitchen sink, and I’m beginning to think she might be right.’
Alice wasn’t sympathetic. ‘Well, we’d better think of something. I’m starving.’
She picked up a pot of noodles and shook them. They made a nice rattly kind of sound. I wondered if Miss O’Herlihy would let me play them in the school band.
Alice sighed. ‘This is torture. I could die of hunger here, in this very room.’
Things were getting desperate. I’d been best friends with Alice for nearly eight years, and I knew all there was to know about her. And one of the things I knew very well was that when Alice was tired or hungry, she wasn’t much fun to be with.
‘I know,’ I said brightly. ‘Mum has the hot water on for Rosie’s bath. Maybe if I fill your pot from the hot tap in the bathroom, it would work.’
Alice looked a bit doubtful.
‘I’m not so sure. But we’d better try something. I haven’t got long left.’ As she spoke she sucked her cheeks and her tummy in, and flopped onto the bed in a mock faint.
‘Very funny. You just lie there being totally dramatic, and I’ll do all the work,’ I muttered as I stuffed a pot of noodles into the pocket of my hoodie, and went into the bathroom. I ran the hot tap for ages, but it never got that hot. Not considering I needed water that was actually boiling. In the end I got fed up, and I ripped the foil from the top of the carton anyway. Inside was really gross looking. Maybe Mum was right, it couldn’t have been good for you. It didn’t even look like food. It was a strange orangey colour, and was mostly dust with a layer of strange-looking brown things on top. I carefully filled the carton up to the mark on the side, and stirred it with the handle of my toothbrush. It actually smelt quite nice – a bit like pizza. I checked to see that the coast was clear, then I ran back to my room. Alice was lying on the bed, trying to look weak.
‘Oh, at last. You might have to feed me. I have no strength left.’
‘Here,’ I said. ‘Feed yourself. I worked hard for this.’
Alice took out the spoon we’d saved since breakfast, and dipped it into the pot. She stirred around, and sniffed for a while. ‘Mmmm. Smells nice enough. A bit like pizza.’
I smiled to myself. ‘Try some then. Before it gets cold.’ What I really meant, of course, was ‘before it gets colder,’ since it was only barely warm to start with.
She gingerly scooped up some of the orange-brown stuff, and put it into her mouth. I smiled at her encouragingly. Behind my back I had all my fingers crossed.
‘Yeeurgh.’ She very rudely spat it back into its pot. ‘Yuck!The noodles are still rock hard. I can’t eat this. It’s like eating gravel.’
I was upset. ‘Come on, Al. Please try. You have to eat. It can’t be all that bad.’
She thrust the pot towards my face. ‘OK, You try it then.’
I shook my head. ‘Sorry, I’m quite full.’
‘Yeah. Full after your dinner. Was it nice? Did you have second helpings?’
All of a sudden Alice began to cry. She put her head in her hands, but I could see tears squeezing between her fingertips.
I picked up the pot and put it on my dressing table. I really didn’t need to have that stuff spilled on my duvet. It looked like the kind of stuff that would make a stain that would never come out – even with the kind of biological washing powders my Mum refuses to use. ‘Oh, Al. I’m sorry. Don’t worry. I’ll get you some food. I’ll think of something, I promise. You won’t starve.’
She looked at me crossly, wiping away her tears. ‘I know I won’t starve. But I’m not just crying about the food. It’s everything. I don’t think this plan is going to work. We’re just going to be in terrible trouble, and then I’ll have to go back to Dublin, and it will be worse than ever. Mum won’t even let me visit here any more after this. Oh, Meg, this was all a huge mistake.’ She put her head down again and gave a succession of huge, sad sobs.
There was no way I was giving up though. No way. There was too much at stake.
I took her by the shoulders. ‘Come on, Al. Don’t talk like that. Just wait till Mum brings Rosie upstairs for bed, and I’ll get some boiling water. You can have two pots of noodles, or three if you want, and you’ll feel better, and then we’ll plan for tomorrow. We’re going to make this work. You just wait and see.’
She looked at me closely. ‘Promise?’
I nodded, feeling a bit guilty because the truth of the matter was that I was no longer very sure of anything.
* * *
Later, when Mum took Rosie up for her bath, I persuaded Dad to go into the garage to look for some tennis balls for me, and I managed to get a huge jug of boiling water into my room. Alice ate three pots of noodles, and afterwards she was in much better form.
At about eight o’clock, it was time to phone Alice’s mother. She answered at once.
‘Alice, is that you? Where are you? I’ve been phoning the house for ages.’
Whew, I thought, that was lucky. Her dad must have gone out.
Alice spoke airily. ‘Oh, I’m home now. Dad took me to the doctor’s.’
Her mother sounded anxious. ‘Doctor’s? Are you that sick?’
‘No, Mum. The doctor says I’m fine. It’s just a bug. He says I’d better not travel for a few days yet.’ She hesitated. ‘Maybe I should wait until Friday, and travel up with Dad?’
She had no intention of doing that of course. The whole point was that her Dad would arrive in Dublin without her, and there would be a big panic, and her mother would be shocked into moving back to Limerick.
Her mum spoke. ‘Hmmm. I don’t know. It’s Tuesday now, isn’t it? I’ll have to see. I need to speak to your father, put me on to him.’
‘Well, actually, he had to go back into work. He left early you see, to bring me to the doctor, so he had to go back in again. I think he’s going to be home very late.’
Her mother sounded cross again. ‘Typical. And of course the switchboard at work won’t be on, will it?’
Alice grinned at me. ‘No, Mum. Unfortunately not.’
Her mum made a cross, grunting kind of noise. ‘And I don’t suppose he’s entered the twenty-first century and bought himself a mobile phone since I saw him last, has he?’
Alice grinned at me again. ‘No, Mum. Sorry.’
‘You know what, Alice? I think he deliberately stays out of reach.’
I think she was right. If I was married to a cross woman like her, I’d want to be out of reach occasionally too.
Alice spoke softly, like to a child. ‘Don’t worry, Mum. It’s fine. Why don’t I just tell Dad I’ll stay here until Friday? He can drive me to Dublin after work and we’ll see you then. Isn’t that the best thing?’
Her mother gave a big, long sigh. ‘Well, we’ll see. Don’t eat anything until you’re better, and tell Dad to get you some Seven-Up to drink, and I’ll ring you tomorrow.’
‘OK, Mum. I’ll phone you though. I’ve loads of credit on my mobile, and I might as well use it up.’
‘OK, bye darling.’
‘Bye Mum. Love you.’
Alice clicked off the phone, and grinned at me. I felt a lot better. With every passing day, and with every phone call, it seemed as if we were getting closer to our goal. If only things kept going like this, everything would be perfect. Soon Alice would be back living in Limerick where she belonged, and before long the dried noodles and the bathroom mountaineering would only be a distant memory.