Lee Weeks - Cold as Ice

Ebony tried to redeem herself with the receptionist by overdoing the thanks and then pushed Archie past the Christmas tree and down the corridor. She followed the noise coming from a busy office on her left.

Inside, there was excitement and the smell of mulled wine hung in the air. A young woman honed in on Archie. She knelt by the buggy and breathed mulled wine and turkey dinner into his face.

‘You look just like your mummy,’ she cooed. Ebony smiled at the thought of what Carter would say to that.

‘Yan, there’s a client here.’ The young woman giggled, stood and called across the office. She winked at her colleague – ‘No peace for the wicked.’ A geeky-looking lad with glasses and what looked like a leftover attempt to grow a moustache for November smiled at her. He had a ‘just got out of bed’ look going on with his hair.

‘Great.’ He grinned sheepishly at Ebony. ‘You thinking of enrolling in a course?’

‘Yeah.’ She nodded. ‘I just really wanted to talk things through.’

He reached out for the slip of paper and held Ebony’s gaze.

‘Of course. Come with me.’ His glasses were dirty. He looked at the piece of paper. ‘Ebony?’ She nodded.

He steered her towards the far side of the room to a quiet corner booth. He sat beside her and steered Archie’s buggy in for her when it got jammed on the leg of a chair. Archie started grumbling, just enough to warrant paying attention to. The grumbling began to include a few trial screams.

‘If you need to feed him I can find you somewhere quiet?’ Yan asked as if breastfeeding was an everyday occurrence in his world. Only when Ebony didn’t seem to get it did the red come to his face.

‘I expect he’s hot.’ Ebony stood and pulled back the covers on Archie’s buggy, taking off his hat to reveal a shock of black curls.

She also reached inside the pram cover for the bottle she’d left there.

‘Oh, okay. Do you want me to heat that up?’

‘Please,’ answered Ebony.’

‘No problem.’

Yan took it from her and disappeared into the rooms at the back of the office. Ebony was really glad she’d listened hard to Carter’s instructions as she took Archie out of his buggy and stripped him down. He was hot, but easily pacified. He stared at Ebony and the surroundings; he seemed to be taking it all in. She was hoping he wouldn’t suddenly think to himself: hang on a minute ! One of the women stopped to talk to him and he smiled his near toothless grin back at her.

Yan came back and Ebony didn’t have to do much beyond screw the teat on the bottle and check it as Archie grabbed with two hands and started drinking. Ebony was aware of a clock ticking in her head. Things went in one end – they came out the other after a short interval. She was quite taken aback with the fact that Carter knew a lot more than he let on about Archie’s routines. He’d shown her how to change a nappy with such precision: it was typical of Carter to have bought himself a special set that included disposable gloves and three different kinds of wipes. Ebony still didn’t feel she could do it – what if Archie started to howl and she got poop everywhere?

‘Let’s start with form-filling,’ said Yan as he sat back behind his desk.

Age?’

‘Twenty-five.’

‘Ethnicity?’

‘Anglo-Caribbean.’

He looked up and smiled. ‘Lucky you. Do you go to the Caribbean much?’

She nodded. ‘I lived there for just over twelve years.’

‘Whereabouts?’

‘Kingston.’

‘I know it well. Whereabouts?’

Ebony felt heat come to her face. ‘Just near the Adventist church on South Side, Manning Street?’

He shook his head. ‘No, don’t know it. Kingston’s a great party town. What made you come over here?’

‘I was born here. When I had Archie, all the gang shootings in Kingston got me thinking I’d rather live back here. ‘

He looked at her address. ‘What, in super-safe Hackney? I’d rather be in living in the sunshine any day.’

He looked towards Archie, who was holding the bottle for himself as if he’d worked out that Ebony was probably not an expert. ‘I guess you have to think differently. The partying gets curbed for a bit.’

‘You’ve lived in Jamaica?’ Shit , thought Ebony.

He nodded, grinned. ‘Lovely. Spent time there when I was young.’ Phew – when he was young. Won’t remember . She relaxed. ‘My mum was one of those hippy types,’ he said. ‘She believed in education on the move. We travelled a lot.’

She smiled; she could picture him on a boat, the salt spray on his glasses. Some people were funny when they opened up to her for no reason. Sometimes Ebony thought it was because she left a lot of silences in the conversation so that people thought they needed to fill the gaps with snippets about their lives. Robbo said she would make a good counsellor. Carter said she should concentrate on being a good detective and ask more questions.

‘You must have loved it?’

He nodded his head. ‘Most of the time – it was a kid’s dream. No school, no restrictions. Seems a world away now. This is the stark reality of working for a living.’ Archie pushed the bottle away and struggled to sit more upright on Ebony’s lap. He pulled off his shoe and threw it across at Yan. Yan caught it with a lightning reflex.

‘Little boy blue has lost his shoe.’ Yan laughed and handed it back to Ebony, who struggled to put it back onto Archie’s foot, which seemed to have the ability to change size and shape at will.

‘Your name is interesting,’ Ebony ventured, trying to mask her incompetence. ‘It’s not very British-sounding.’

‘As I said, my mum loved anything foreign.’

He looked back down at his desk and picked up his pen ready to resume filling in the remainder of the form.

‘What about qualifications?’ Ebony looked at him dumbly. ‘Schooling? That kind of thing?’ She’d gone blank for a second. She’d forgotten what it was she was supposed have.

‘I took Cape examinations – A levels basically.’

‘Okay, great, well that will save you some time – a year of training at least. Okay, now for a few personal details to start. Married or co-habiting with a partner?’ He kept his eyes on the page as he waited, poised to fill in the blanks.

‘Single parent. I live on my own.’

‘Okay, good.’ Ebony looked up from tickling Archie’s palm with ‘round and round the garden’.

‘I mean you’ll be entitled to the most help,’ he said. ‘It makes the form-filling a bit longer but it’ll be worth it.’ Archie burped loudly. Yan grinned.

Ebony blushed. ‘Sorry. Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.’

‘It’s no problem at all.’

Ebony kept her eyes on Yan as she tickled Archie’s other hand.

‘Yes. It is. I’m looking for a new start. New flat, new life for me and Archie. Just us.’

‘I’m sure you’ll make it. Well… if I can help in any way?’ He looked ready to conclude the interview. Ebony thought she’d handled the worst of it – now she could relax somewhat and try to work on Yan a little. He seemed the sympathetic type.

‘Is this a good college to come to for single parents?’ He looked momentarily flustered and blinked behind his glasses. ‘I mean, is there some social life here? I’m not much of a party girl but I would like to meet people, you know? Make a few friends. My family aren’t around. It’s just me and Archie, as I said.’

‘Oh yes. I see. It’s a good place if you make an effort. There’s a fair bit of socializing via Facebook, that kind of thing. There’s a Christmas party going on in the canteen right now. We could butt in if you like? Just say hello. Some of the people you’d be doing the teacher training course with will be in there. Some have been studying for a year or two. Would you like to meet them?’