Deborah Levy - Billy and Girl

The England kids look up at Louise. ‘What time does Tens knock off?’

‘Nine o’ clock.’

Right. Girl turns to Raj. ‘Are you up for this, baby?’

‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Drive us there. Wait while we get him out and put him in the boot. Drive us back here after.’

Raj laughs. Turns to Billy. His old friend. His part-time shrink. Trusting his opinion. Sad to lose the Billy voice over a kiss. Girl told him all about it. How her brother’s gone mute since the first kiss. Raj misses him.

‘What do you think, Billy?’

Billy takes his time now. Writes very slowly with the pen. When it runs out of ink he licks the nib with his little pink tongue. Starts again. They all wait for him because one day Billy is going to be famous. Got his own pace. His own way through.

RAJ THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER IN OUR SEARCH FOR MOM. SHE IS VERY CLOSE. WE HAVE TO DO THIS FOR PSYCHIC HELF. HEALTH. OUR STORY IS AN ANCIENT STORY. CHILDREN SEARCHING FOR THEIR FOLK. HELP US. BILLY.

Raj reads, chewing his lip. ‘Yip.’ He gives Girl the go-ahead look. ‘I’ll be your driver.’

‘Right.’ Girl turns on Louise. ‘You got to help us too.’

Louise shakes her head. ‘Na. Don’t want to lose my job.’

Jeeezus. Girl bangs her fists on the table. Everything juddering again. ‘Did you hear that? Did you hear her? She doesn’t want to lose her job? What job? Being a retard for two pounds seventy-five an hour? Having to listen to Tens talk to her like he found her under a stone somewhere? Doing her a favour? Listen, baby …’

Ever since Girl has been consorting amorously with Raj she’s taken to calling everyone ‘baby’. It’s her new love mode and it makes her brother want to grate her cheeks.

‘You can do better than FreezerWorld, Louise. Jeezus! You could be a model for a start, couldn’t she, Billy?’

Her brother writing something: A MODEL PATIENT.

‘He says definitely,’ Girl exclaims.

‘FreezerWorld is for losers or anthropologists, Louise. Listen, you got the looks. We’re working on the posture. Billy’s giving your mind a seeing-to. You don’t get out of bed for two pounds seventy-five an hour. They pay that to dead people they’ve dug up and put overalls on.’

Guffaws all round. Except from Louise.

‘Listen, Louise.’ Girl sits down next to her. For a moment she doesn’t look mad. ‘We’re in this together. You know why, don’t you?’

Louise thinks. ‘Yeah. We’re in this together. But I don’t know why.’

‘My name is Louise too. Did you know that?’

Louise nods. ‘Mr England told me.’

‘Right.’ Girl tries to rake this whole Louise thing home. Make a nice neat little path right to Louise’s mind door.

‘There’s a Louise inside Girl which is me, right? And there’s a girl inside you even tho you’re called Louise. Thing is, you are more of a girl than you are Louise. And I am more Louise than Girl because I’m cleverer than you. It’s not that you’re stupid, it’s that you’re stunted, okay? Tho I am Girl I am getting to be more Louise than Girl. Yeah, I know it’s difficult, but struggle, Louise. We’re doing a Channel swim here, not ten yards, okay? We got to pool our Louiseness. Find something good for both of us. Something that suits. We got to get the most beautiful version of Louise we can find. We got to make her up, baby. I can only become Louise when I find Mom. You need me to find her too. I know you do. We got a bit of work to do before we can count on Louise being a good thing to be.’

‘Yeah. I sort of understand’ Louise looks dejected. ‘One thing.’

‘Whaaaaaaaaaat?’ Girl wants to get moving. Kill Mr Tens. Kill Mr Tens.

‘Don’t slag off Danny.’

‘Uh-huh. Yeah, well. What do you see in him?’

‘His heart is in the right place.’

‘Hmmmmm.’ Girl catches Billy’s eye. ‘Most of us probably got the heart in the right place, Louise. Otherwise we’d be dead or have blue lips all the time.’

‘I said leave him alone .’

Billy writing again. WHAT DOOR DOES TENS COME OUT OF AT NINE O’ CLOCK?

Girl reads the question out for Louise.

‘Back door.’

‘Right.’ Girl checks her watch. ‘Seven o’clock now. Two hours to kill.’ She looks at Raj, smiles as cute as she knows how. ‘Let’s all go for cocktails somewhere?’ Stops herself. Shit! She hasn’t got any money.

‘I’ll pay.’ Louise waves her purse at them. ‘I know your granddad’s dying so you must be short.’

Billy and Girl didn’t hear that. It’s just too damn risky to have heard that. Better to run with the plan. Action. Louise is fucking dangerous. Louise knows stuff and she’s not letting on. Louise who goes with Danny the dog prince. Perhaps he is a wolf. Perhaps at midnight they both become wolves and howl in gardens all over north London. Making their way to Harkham Road. Making their way in the dead of night to eat the English chickens in their sleep.

‘There he is.’ Louise sits in the front seat of the Merc. Pointing at a figure locking a door. A man, wearing a raincoat, his leather briefcase between his knees. Two letters engraved on the lock. TT. Terry Tens.

Billy and Girl watch him. Their leading man. Notes have already been passed between them. Strategy. Military planning. Girl pokes Louise, her cue to get out of the car and walk towards Mr Tens. She’s got to engage him in conversation while Billy and Girl creep up behind him. Meanwhile Raj is manoeuvring the Merc as close as he can get. The gears are playing up. First and reverse keep getting stuck, mixing into each other. When Raj wants to go forwards, he goes backwards. Nothing but a map of Girl’s blond body in his mind as he tries to coax the fucking gear stick into some version of sane driving. Okay. Here goes.

Louise gets out of the car, walks towards her boss. ‘Hello, Mr Tens.’

He jumps, frightened. Eyelashes fluttering in fear waves.

‘It’s only me. Left something in my locker.’

Mr Tens sighs. Shaking his head. Walking towards her. ‘Can’t it wait till tomorrow?’

‘Yeah. I suppose so. What you got in your case?’

‘Paperwork. Some of us never clock off, Louise.’

‘Yeah? I just wanted to take my overall home to wash.’

Mr Tens looks at her, surprised and pleased. ‘Glad to see you taking pride in your work. That really has made my day.’

Louise smiles at him, all the while watching Billy and Girl sneak up behind Mr Tens, who seems to be in evangelical mode. It’s like he thinks he’s saved Louise from something. A fallen star that he caught in his upturned palm, just on the edge of his starched white shirt cuffs, ironed lovingly by his mother every Wednesday. Billy and Girl are getting closer. Wearing their trainers. No squelching, nothing. Raj opening the boot of the Merc, thinking about how the England kids are like movie stars, writing their own scripts but stalking their prey like any two-bit actors on the telly who have learnt how to do this from other actors on the telly.

‘I’ll walk you to the bus stop if you like, Louise. I go in the same direction.’

‘Yeah?’ Louise has never been one for long conversations.

Raj shakes his head. They’re just so cute, these kids. Yeah, here they go. Billy throws himself behind Tens while Girl puts her hand over his mouth. Just his rainmac sleeves floundering this way and that. Louise picks up his briefcase. Walks over to the Merc and throws it in the boot. Billy has got his shoulder across Tens’s chest now, lifting him up, he’s not a heavy man. In fact Mr Tens is really light. Weighs in somewhere between a pack of frozen cod cutlets and a hormonal turkey thigh. Yeah, he’s wizard Oz, this Mr Tens, got visions bigger than his bodily form, a small short man who wears very clean shirts. Tens is shouting something. ‘LOoeeshe LOEESHE loueeshe’ muffled behind Girl’s hand, which is now a fist right inside his mouth, and he doesn’t even think to bite her. Just yelling, ‘Loueeeshe Loooeeshe.’ Billy can almost run with Mr Tens over his shoulder. He could do a ten-mile hike with Tens sitting on his head. Dumps him in the boot while Raj bangs the door down, working out the complicated locking system. They all get back into the car, just not believing how easy this has been, and Girl starts mixing a manhattan from the minibar. Drinks all round. Cheers, pals!