Peter May - Runaway

I shrugged. ‘I didn’t think my hair was that long, sir.’

I saw his expression harden, like setting concrete. He strode across his room to a coat stand, where I noticed my coat hanging for the first time. He grabbed it and threw it at me. ‘Take your big furry coat, and your long hair, and go home, Mackay. And don’t come back. Ever.’

I found Luke in the art department. He was sitting on a stool at one of the high wooden benches reading the latest copy of Mad magazine. The place was deserted. He looked up and cocked an eyebrow at my big furry coat.

‘Willie’ll go ape if he sees you wearing that,’ he said.

But I suppose something in my face must have told him that all was not well.

He frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I just got expelled.’

It took him a moment to realize I wasn’t joking. Then his eyes opened wide. ‘Why?’

‘Long story.’

‘Bloody hell, Jack. What are you going to tell your folks?’

‘I’m not.’ In the time it had taken me to walk from Willie’s office to the pottery room I had already decided what I was going to do. And facing my parents with the news that I’d been expelled wasn’t on the agenda. ‘I’m going to London.’

‘What?’

‘There’s nothing for me here, Luke. Might as well go and see if I can’t make something of myself in the Big Smoke.’

Luke slipped off his stool and stood up, taking me by the shoulders. ‘You’re not thinking straight, man.’ He stared at me with those big, pale green eyes of his, fair locks tumbling in golden curls over the frown on his forehead.

‘I’m thinking as straight as I’ve ever done,’ I said. ‘I’m going. And I’m going tonight.’

He gazed at me for a moment longer, and I could see the workings of his mind behind troubled eyes.

Then he said, ‘Not without me, you’re not.’

I was totally taken aback. ‘Why? Why would you want to do that? You’re the smartest of all of us.’

He turned away, and I saw him clench his fists at his sides.

‘Because I’m sick of fighting with my folks. You’ve no idea how hard it’s been, Jack. Kicking against their disapproval. Every practice, every gig, is a fight. I leave the house in a rage. And when I get back, I never know if they’ll let me in or not.’

I looked at him in astonishment. ‘Why didn’t you say? Why didn’t you tell us?’

He turned, eyes full of rage. ‘Same reason I never told anyone about the misery of all those years being presented to strangers on doorsteps, so they wouldn’t slam the door in my parents’ face. Evenings and weekends, walking the streets in all weathers, getting laughed at, or abused, physically assaulted sometimes. All in the name of Jehovah. Clutching my little Bible and smiling for those poor people who hadn’t yet seen the light. No point in telling anyone, Jack. Because nothing I said or did was going to change it.’

His unexpected burst of emotion seemed suddenly to drain him, and I saw the slump of his shoulders and the pain behind his eyes, before he recovered his spirit and drew himself up to his full height again.

‘So if you’re really going. If you really are. Then I’m going with you.’

What had started as a grain of an idea in my head as I made that long, depressing walk along the corridor and upstairs to the art department began to take on a momentum of its own. And when we met up with Maurie and Dave at lunchtime, it snowballed.

They listened in wide-eyed silence to me and Luke as we told them what it was we intended to do, and why.

Then Maurie said, ‘What about the group?’

I shrugged. ‘What about it?’

‘Well, you’re going to need a singer.’

Luke said, ‘Your parents’d kill you.’

‘My parents’ll kill me, anyway. They’ve got my whole life mapped out for me. Law degree, solicitor’s practice. Doesn’t matter what I want to do. I’m coming, too.’

Quite involuntarily we looked at Dave.

A big grin spread itself across his face. ‘You’re still gonnae need me tae make the girls scream.’

And no one questioned why he might want to run away from home. We’d all seen the bruises.

That was four out of five.

Luke said, ‘What about Jeff?’

And Maurie’s face set. ‘I’m not going without him.’

The new cars at Anderson’s were all kept indoors, in the big glass-walled showroom. The second-hand cars sat out front. Two rows of them, with big price stickers on the windows. Jeff had told us that it was his job first thing each winter’s morning to start every one of them.

‘Really teaches you how to start a car,’ he’d said. ‘Any car, in any temperature.’

He seemed proud of the achievement, and it was clear it meant more to him than passing any school exam.

We found Jeff in the cinder yard behind the workshops, doing a stocktake. He was amazed to see us, then listened in astonished silence as I told him what we were planning.

‘So what do you think?’ I asked him.

‘About what?’

‘Coming with us, of course.’

He thought for a long moment. ‘What about Veronica?’

A tiny gasp of irritation caught the back of my throat. ‘What about her?’

‘She’ll not come with us.’

‘No one expects the girls tae come,’ Dave said.

He and Luke were the only ones who didn’t have girlfriends.

‘I’ll be leaving Jenny behind,’ I said. And for the first time I pictured how that would be.

‘You don’t understand,’ Jeff said earnestly. ‘It’s different with me and Veronica.’

‘Look,’ I said, losing patience. ‘You don’t have to come. It’s your choice. But if you don’t, then Maurie won’t either.’

Jeff glanced at Maurie. ‘Really?’

Maurie shrugged, embarrassed now. Jeff seemed genuinely touched. Suddenly it had become a choice between Maurie and Veronica. And there was only ever going to be one outcome.

‘The Commer’ll not make it to London,’ he said. And immediately all our plans seemed to fall away like sand beneath our feet. But Jeff just grinned. ‘That’s all you wanted me for, wasn’t it? My van.’

I shifted a little uncomfortably. Perhaps there was more than a grain of truth in that. But Jeff was oblivious.

‘It’s not a problem. I can get us something better.’

I left a note for my folks on my pillow. I can’t remember now exactly what it was I wrote. Something stupid, about going in search of fame and fortune, and that they shouldn’t worry. We were all going, so we’d be fine. Safety in numbers.

You don’t think at that age how devastating the discovery of such a note would be to your parents. You don’t have the experience, to put yourself in their shoes and imagine how it would feel. Only with time, and children of your own, does the full realization hit you. How thoughtless we were. So hopelessly self-obsessed.

Jeff and Maurie were waiting for me at the end of the road in a green Ford Thames 15cwt van. It looked a little smaller than the Commer, but apart from a few scrapes and bashes it appeared to be in good condition.

‘Where did you get it?’ I said as I climbed up on to the engine cowling between them.

Jeff grinned at me from behind the wheel. ‘Borrowed it. Purrs like a baby, doesn’t she?’ He flicked his head over his shoulder. ‘Maurie and me’ve loaded all the gear. And we stuck an old settee in the back. All the comforts of home.’

‘What did Veronica say?’

A shadow crossed his face, like a cloud blotting out the sun. ‘Don’t even ask.’

Maurie said, ‘She’ll get over it. And so will you.’

But Jeff’s head snapped round, and it was the first time I’d ever heard him raise his voice to Maurie. ‘I told you! It’s different with me and Veronica.’