Cecelia Ahern - The Gift & Thanks for the Memories

‘I knew it.’ Mr Patterson chuckled and shook his head. ‘You are good. But not that good. I could tell from the blue mark on them,’ he explained.

‘What do you mean? What blue mark?’

‘You didn’t manage to scratch the entire symbol off them,’ he explained, opening the container and holding it out so that he could empty it into his palm. ‘See the blue mark? And if you look close enough you can also see the trace of the D where it used to be. I should know, believe me, working in here, I swear by these fellas.’

Lou swallowed. ‘That was the only one with the blue mark?’ Lazy till the end, Alfred couldn’t even reach into a skip to save his own skin, he’d had to scrape an initial off a simple headache tablet.

‘No, there were two pills. Both with blue marks. I took one, I hope you don’t mind. Found under a skip or no skip, my head was pounding so much I had to have one. This bloody Christmas season is enough to drive me to an early grave.’

‘You took one?’ Lou gasped.

‘I’ll replace it.’ He waved his hand dismissively. ‘You can get them at every pharmacy. Newsagents even, they’re just over-the-counter pills.’

‘What happened when you took one?’

‘Well, it got rid of my headache, didn’t it?’ he frowned. ‘Though to tell you the truth, if I don’t get home in the next hour I’ll be given another one, before I know it.’ He looked at his watch.

Lou was gobsmacked into silence.

‘Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I didn’t like what Alfred was trying to do, and that I don’t think you’re a … well, whatever Alfred was trying to make me believe. There’s no place in the company for people like him. I had to let him go. Christmas Eve, Christ, this job makes a monster of us sometimes,’ he said, tiredly now, appearing older than his sixty-five years.

Lou was silent, his mind screaming questions at him. Either Alfred had replaced them, or Lou too had taken headache pills on the two occasions he had doubled up. Lou took out the handkerchief from his pocket, unwrapped it and examined the one remaining pill. His heart froze in his chest. The faint initial of the headache tablet could be seen. Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

‘Ah, I see you have another one there,’ Mr Patterson chuckled. ‘Caught red-handed, Lou. Well, here you go, you can have the last one. Add it to your collection.’ He handed him the container.

Lou looked at him and opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, no words coming out, as he took the remaining pill from Mr Patterson.

‘I’d better go now.’ Mr Patterson slowly backed away. ‘I have a train set to put together and batteries to insert into a Little Miss something-or-other with a mouth as dirty as a toilet bowl, which I’ll no doubt be forced to listen to all week. Have a lovely Christmas, Lou.’ He held his hand out.

Lou gulped, his mind still in a whirl about the headache tablets. Was he allergic to them? Had the doubling-up been some sort of side-effect? Had he dreamed it? No. No, it had happened, his family had witnessed his presence on both occasions. So if it wasn’t the pills, then it was …

‘Lou,’ Mr Patterson said, his hand still in mid-air.

‘Bye,’ Lou said croakily, and then cleared his throat. ‘I mean, Happy Christmas.’ He reached out and shook his boss’s hand.

As soon as Mr Patterson had turned his back, Lou ran to the fire escape and charged down the stairs to the basement. It was colder than usual and the light at the end of the hall had finally been fixed, no longer flashing like eighties strobe lighting. Christmas music drifted out from under the door, ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ by Chris Rea echoing down the long, cold, sterile hallway.

Lou didn’t knock before entering. He pushed the door with his foot, still carrying the box in his arms. The room was significantly emptier than it had been. Gabe was down the second aisle, rolling up the sleeping bag and blanket.

‘Hi Lou,’ he said, without turning around.

‘Who are you?’ Lou asked, his voice shaking as he laid the box down on a shelf.

Gabe stood up and stepped out of the aisle. ‘Okay,’ he said slowly, looking Lou up and down. ‘That’s an interesting way to start a conversation.’ His eyes went to the box on the shelf and he smiled. ‘A gift for me?’ he said softly. ‘You really shouldn’t have.’ He stepped forward to receive it and Lou took a step backward while eyeing him quite fearfully.

‘Hmm,’ Gabe said, frowning at him, then turned to the gift-wrapped box on the shelf. ‘Can I open it now?’

Lou didn’t answer. Sweat glistened on his face and his eyes moved sharply to follow Gabe’s every movement.

Taking his time, Gabe carefully opened the perfectly wrapped gift. Approaching it from the ends, he slowly removed the tape, taking care not to rip the paper.

‘I love giving people gifts,’ he explained, still keeping the same easy tone. ‘But it’s not often that people give them to me. But you’re different, Lou. I’ve always thought that.’ He smiled at him. He unwrapped the box and finally revealed the gift inside, an electric heater for his store room. ‘Well, this is certainly very thoughtful. Thank you. It will certainly warm up my next space, but not here, unfortunately, as I’m moving on.’

Lou had moved up against the wall now, as far away from Gabe as he could before he spoke with a tremble. ‘The pills you gave me were headache tablets.’

Gabe kept studying the heater. ‘Mr Patterson told you that, I suspect.’

Lou was taken aback, having expected Gabe to deny it. ‘Yes,’ he responded. ‘Alfred took them from the skip and gave them to him.’

‘The little rat.’ Gabe shook his head, smiling. ‘Predictable old Alfred. I thought he might do that. Well, we can give him points for persistence, he really didn’t want you to have that job, did he?’

When Lou didn’t answer, Gabe continued, ‘I bet running to Patterson didn’t do him any favours, did it?’

‘Mr Patterson fired him,’ Lou said quietly, still trying to figure the situation out.

Gabe smiled, not seeming at all surprised. Just satisfied – and very much satisfied with himself.

‘Tell me about the pills,’ Lou found his voice shaking.

‘Yeah, they were a packet of headache pills I bought at a newsagent. Took me ages to scrape the little letters off; you know there aren’t many pills without branding on them these days.’

‘WHO ARE YOU?’ Lou shouted, his voice drenched in fear.

Gabe jumped, then looked a little bothered. ‘You’re frightened of me now? Because you found out it wasn’t a bunch of pills that cloned you? What is it with science these days? Everyone is so quick to believe in it, in all these new scientific discoveries, new pills for this, new pills for that. Get thinner, grow hair, yada, yada, yada, but when it requires a little faith in something, you all go crazy.’ He shook his head. ‘If miracles had chemical equations then everybody would believe. It’s disappointing. I had to pretend it was the pills, Lou, because you wouldn’t have trusted me otherwise. And I was right, wasn’t I?’

‘What do you mean trust you , who the hell are you, what is this all about?’

‘Now,’ he said, looking at Lou sadly, ‘I thought that was pretty clear by now.’

‘Clear? As far as I’m concerned, things couldn’t be more messed up.’

‘The pills. They were just a science con. A con of science. A conscience.’ He smiled.

Lou rubbed his face tiredly, confused, afraid.

‘It was all to give you your opportunity, Lou. Everybody deserves an opportunity. Even you, despite what you think.’

‘Opportunity FOR WHAT?’ he yelled.