Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

So I got to 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG, and it took me 27 minutes and there was no one in when I pressed the button that said Flat Cand the only interesting thing that happened on the way was 8 men dressed up in Viking costumes with helmets with horns on and they were shouting, but they weren’t real Vikings because the Vikings lived nearly 2,000 years ago, and also I had to go for another wee and I went in the alleyway down the side of a garage called Burdett Motors, which was closed, and I didn’t like doing that but I didn’t want to wet myself again, and there was nothing else interesting.

So I decided to wait and I hoped that Mother was not on holiday because that would mean she could be away for more than a whole week, but I tried not to think about this because I couldn’t go back to Swindon.

So I sat down on the ground behind the dustbins in the little garden that was in front of 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG, and it was under a big bush. And a lady came into the garden and she was carrying a little box with a metal grille on one end and a handle on the top like you use to take a cat to the vet, but I couldn’t see if there was a cat in it, and she had shoes with high heels and she didn’t see me.

And then it started to rain and I got wet and I started shivering because I was cold.

And then it was 11:32 p.m. and I heard voices of people walking along the street.

And a voice said, “I don’t care whether you thought it was funny or not,” and it was a lady’s voice.

And another voice said, “Judy, look. I’m sorry, OK,” and it was a man’s voice.

And the other voice, which was the lady’s voice, said, “Well, perhaps you should have thought about that before you made me look like a complete idiot.”

And the lady’s voice was Mother’s voice.

And Mother came into the garden and Mr. Shears was with her, and the other voice was his.

So I stood up and I said, “You weren’t in, so I waited for you.”

And Mother said, “Christopher.”

And Mr. Shears said, “What?”

And Mother put her arms around me and said, “Christopher, Christopher, Christopher.”

And I pushed her away because she was grabbing me and I didn’t like it, and I pushed really hard and I fell over.

And Mr. Shears said, “What the hell is going on?”

And Mother said, “I’m so sorry, Christopher. I forgot.”

And I was lying on the ground and Mother held up her right hand and spread her fingers out in a fan so that I could touch her fingers, but then I saw that Toby had escaped out of my pockets so I had to catch him.

And Mr. Shears said, “I suppose this means Ed’s here.” And there was a wall around the garden so Toby couldn’t get out because he was stuck in the corner and he couldn’t climb up the walls fast enough and I grabbed him and put him back in my pocket and I said, “He’s hungry. Have you got any food I can give him, and some water?”

And Mother said, “Where’s your father, Christopher?”

And I said, “I think he’s in Swindon.”

And Mr. Shears said, “Thank God for that.”

And Mother said, “But how did you get here?”

And my teeth were clicking against each other because of the cold and I couldn’t stop them, and I said, “I came on the train. And it was really frightening. And I took Father’s cashpoint card so I could get money out and a policeman helped me. But then he wanted to take me back to Father. And he was on the train with me. But then he wasn’t.”

And Mother said, “Christopher, you’re soaking. Roger, don’t just stand there.”

And then she said, “Oh my God. Christopher. I didn’t… I didn’t think I’d ever… Why are you here on your own?”

And Mr. Shears said, “Are you going to come in or are you going to stay out here all night?”

And I said, “I’m going to live with you because Father killed Wellington with a garden fork and I’m frightened of him.”

And Mr. Shears said, “Jumping Jack Christ.”

And Mother said, “Roger, please. Come on, Christopher, let’s go inside and get you dried off.”

So I stood up and I went inside the house and Mother said, “You follow Roger,” and I followed Mr. Shears up the stairs and there was a landing and a door which said Flat Cand I was scared of going inside because I didn’t know what was inside.

And Mother said, “Go on or you’ll catch your death,” but I didn’t know what you’ll catch your death meant, and I went inside.

And then she said, “I’ll run you a bath,” and I walked round the flat to make a map of it in my head so I felt safer, and the flat was like this:

And then Mother made me take my clothes off and get into the bath and she said I could use her towel, which was purple with green flowers on the end. And she gave Toby a saucer of water and some bran flakes and I let him run around the bathroom. And he did three little poos under the sink and I picked them up and flushed them down the toilet and then I got back into the bath again because it was warm and nice.

Then Mother came into the bathroom and she sat on the toilet and she said, “Are you OK, Christopher?”

And I said, “I’m very tired.”

And she said, “I know, love.” And then she said, “You’re very brave.”

And I said, “Yes.”

And she said, “You never wrote to me.”

And I said, “I know.”

And she said, “Why didn’t you write to me, Christopher? I wrote you all those letters. I kept thinking something dreadful had happened, or you’d moved away and I’d never find out where you were.”

And I said, “Father said you were dead.”

And she said, “What?”

And I said, “He said you went into hospital because you had something wrong with your heart. And then you had a heart attack and died and he kept all the letters in a shirt box in the cupboard in his bedroom and I found them because I was looking for a book I was writing about Wellington being killed and he’d taken it away from me and hidden it in the shirt box.”

And then Mother said, “Oh my God.”

And then she didn’t say anything for a long while. And then she made a loud wailing noise like an animal on a nature program on television.

And I didn’t like her doing this because it was a loud noise, and I said, “Why are you doing that?”

And she didn’t say anything for while, and then she said, “Oh, Christopher, I’m so sorry.”

And I said, “It’s not your fault.”

And then she said, “Bastard. The bastard.”

And then, after a while, she said, “Christopher, let me hold your hand. Just for once. Just for me. Will you? I won’t hold it hard,” and she held out her hand.

And I said, “I don’t like people holding my hand.”

And she took her hand back and she said, “No. OK. That’s OK.”

And then she said, “Let’s get you out of the bath and dried off, OK?”

And I got out of the bath and dried myself with the purple towel. But I didn’t have any pajamas so I put on a white T-shirt and a pair of yellow shorts which were Mother’s, but I didn’t mind because I was so tired. And while I was doing this Mother went into the kitchen and heated up some tomato soup because it was red.

And then I heard someone opening the door of the flat and there was a strange man’s voice outside, so I locked the bathroom door. And there was an argument outside and a man said, “I need to speak to him,” and Mother said, “He’s been through enough today already,” and the man said, “I know. But I still need to speak to him.”