'That he cared about you.'
Danny gave a snort of derision. 'He doesn't even know what I look like.'
'Mm,' I agreed.
'I expect he was feeling guilty about abandoning us.'
'Mm,' I said again.
Danny frowned. 'What else did Michael say?'
'That you had a broken arm when you were a child. Do you remember that?'
He cast an involuntary glance at his right hand. 'Sort of. I know I was in plaster once, but I thought it was something to do with my wrist. It aches sometimes.'
'Do you know how it happened?'
'I fell off my bike.'
'Is that something you remember or something you've been told?'
A difference in my tone-too much curiosity perhaps-made his brows draw together in a puzzled frown. 'Why so interested? All kids break bones at some time or another.' I didn't answer and he seemed irritated by my silence. 'Probably something I was told,' he said curtly. 'I don't remember much before I was six or seven.'
'Neither do I,' I said equably. 'It's odd. Some people have very clear memories of their early childhood, but I have none at all. I used to think the stories my parents told me were real memories, but I've come to the conclusion now that if something is repeated often enough it acquires a reality.' I paused to watch one of the student sculptors chip nervously at a small block of stone which had so little shape I wondered why he was bothering. 'Michael said he doesn't remember seeing Alan after your dad left,' I said next. 'Is that the time he went to prison for dealing?'
Danny appeared to be on safer ground with this question. 'Sure. It's the only sentence he's done. He told me about it once, said it did his head in something chronic.' He leaned forward to pick a stone from the ground. 'He didn't come home afterward. I think they reckoned he was a bad influence on the rest of us, or vice versa.' He polished the stone with the ball of his thumb. 'I only found out what he looked like when I skived off school one day to go wandering 'round Twickenham. It was when I was about thirteen, and this big guy stops me in the street and says, 'Hi, I'm Alan, how you doing?' He'd have been about twenty-four by then'-he gave a hollow laugh-'and I hadn't a clue who he was. I knew I had a brother somewhere but it was a bit of a shock to find he was only four miles away. He said he'd been keeping an eye on me from a distance.'
'Did you tell your mother you'd seen him?'
'No chance. She used to get really wound up every time his name was mentioned, then she'd hit the bottle and start breaking furniture. I always thought she blamed Al for making my dad leave until Al turned up out of the blue a year later and she wept all over him and said how much she'd missed him.'
'Why did he come?'
'Wanted to see her, I guess.'
'No, I meant, why
He looked interested, as if it were something he'd never considered before. 'It was after Mr. Drury retired,' he said. 'I remember Mum saying there was no one left who'd recognize him-' He broke off abruptly. 'She probably just meant he wouldn't be picked on anymore.'
'Is Alan fond of her?' I asked, remembering what Beth had said about Alan's depression every time he visited Maureen.
'Maybe. He's the only one who bothers to see her.'
'But?' I prompted when he didn't go on.
He stretched his right arm and dropped the stone, staring at his hand in absorbed fascination as he flexed his fingers. 'He's scared of her,' he answered abruptly. 'That's the only reason he goes ... to keep her from turning on him.'
We went for a walk through the sculpture park, diving down little alleyways between craggy walls of stone. We squeezed through a cleft into a cave where a pink blanket and a pile of empty cans suggested someone had taken up residence or a couple of lovers had found a private retreat.
'Maybe I should take it over,' said Danny, 'and sneak out at night to carve the stones by moonlight.'
'Do you enjoy it that much?'
He made a rocking motion with a hand. 'Not all the time-it can be bloody frustrating when it doesn't go right- but it's what I want to do.'
'Sam's willing to let you work in the barn at the bottom of our garden,' I said, leading the way back out again. 'It'll mean slumming it in the tack room and working with the doors open if you want any light'-I shrugged-'but it won't cost you anything. If you can scrounge some stone and don't mind sleeping rough for a bit ... it's free and available.'
He was less than appreciative. 'I'd freeze to death in the winter.'
'Mm,' I agreed, 'and Sam'll have your hide if he catches you smoking cannabis.'
'What about you?'
'I never argue with my husband in public so if you come ... and he catches you ... you're on your own.' I turned to look at him. 'Think about it, anyway. You won't get a better offer today.'
He became very quiet as we approached the car. 'Why would you want to help me?' he asked, taking the keys from my hand to unlock the door.
