“Can you show me how to use the gun?”
“Pardon me?”
“I’d like to know how to shoot the gun when the bad people come.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Toby, Maddie’s friend. I make sure that Maddie is not getting lost.
“That’s great. We all need friends like that. How old are you, Toby?”
Toby puffs up his chest and beams. “I’m five years old. Almost grown up.”
“I can see that. Guns are not for little children though.”
“I’m not a little child.”
“I think I better ask Lilly or Elise before I show you how to use a gun.”
“Lilly is not the boss of me.”
“No? But someone has to be.”
“I listen sometimes to Ama, Maddie’s mummy. And there is Sky. We all listen to her. But Sky doesn’t say much. She lets us do what we want.”
“So Ama is your mother? Maybe I should speak to her.”
“No silly. Ama is our mummy. We don’t have a mother. We don’t need a mother. Mothers are bad.”
“That may be true for some, but sometimes mothers are kind and loving. I happen to have a mother like that.”
“She never hits you or pokes you with long sticks?”
“No, of course not. Maybe you’ll meet her one day. Sometimes she visits me. When she does, she brings me yummy cookies.”
I could tell that Toby got utterly confused and even a little stressed with Scottie’s description of his mother. In his little world, all mothers are bad. That was his experience and hearing not all mothers are like that puzzles him. He forgets all about learning how to use a gun, and slips inside, quick like a squirrel that rushes up a tree into safety and makes space for Elise.
Elise? That wasn’t the plan. I try to pull her back inside, without success. I’m surprised, though, that I’m not totally gone. It’s as if we occupy the body almost at the same time, she up front and I just a step behind her. I can’t express how strange and odd it feels. We dodged a bullet by not having a gun in the house, that much is clear. A gun in the house and Toby handling it is not on my list of improvements we should pursue.
Elise looks befuddled. I wish she would pay more attention when she’s inside. She has yet to learn to come out and improvise so that, whatever happened before with another part, continues as seamless as possible.
“Is everything okay?” Elise looks at Scottie, I guess, in the hope to figure out why he’s standing in the middle of her living room.
“Wow. That was a big shift.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you shifting from a little boy into you. It’s Lilly, isn’t it?”
Now Elise is short of panicking and I put my hand on her shoulder. I’m obviously not as good as Sky with the hand-on-the-shoulder-trick because Elise doesn’t calm down.
“I don’t know what you mean. Did you bump your head again?” She goes up to him and studies his head wound. “I’m glad to see your scar is healing well. Do you still have headaches?”
“Not at all. Thank you again. You may not remember you came to my place because a black hatchback followed you.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“I promised to come over and see that everything is as it should be.”
“Thank you, that is very kind of you.”
“You don’t know what we talked about?”
“Of course, I do. We talked about the car following me. And you said you’ll help me.”
“I will. I promise. You also told me about being a multiple and having different people living inside your mind.”
Elise is blushing and turns tomato-red in the face.
“Oh, yeah, sometimes I say things like that. But you don’t have to pay much attention to it. It’s a story I tell sometimes to make my boring life seem a bit more interesting. Best you forget about it.”
“Sorry I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”
“I’m not. It’s just a story I tell. It’s nothing to worry about.”
Scottie goes to the door and turns around. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning. If something unusual happens tonight, please ring me. Best to put me on speed-dial.”
Elise stares after him. The poor thing doesn’t know what hit her.
One thing is sure; we have a lot of writing to do in the black book.
Lilly: 1 December 2015, Morning, Wright’s Homestead
We’ve all been waiting for Scottie this morning. Toby has a few questions for him about mothers and Scottie’s mother in particular. The poor peanut had only an hour sleep last night. That not all mothers are bad has turned his world upside down. Nervousness had me pacing the ground floor for the last hour. I even took the broom and swept the floor. Me. Lilly. Unheard of.
Sky says it’s a blessing we don’t have a mirror downstairs, because I would fiddle with my hair forever. As if I would. I’m not one of these girly girls with nothing but boys and fashion in their heads. Till now. I talked to Sky about having a boyfriend and she said it’s okay to ask Scottie.
I’m not sure what that means. Boyfriend. On TV I’ve seen boyfriend and girlfriend kissing and having sleepovers that end up in terribly crumpled up sheets. I don’t understand that. When we go to sleep, we lay pretty much still and don’t climb on top of each other and get up to shenanigans like that. But then, that’s probably make-believe on TV and not what happens in real life. I guess it’s like the Ironman movie. I haven’t seen one of those whooshing across the sky.
Yesterday he gave me a hug and said we’re friends. Today I’ll ask him. And if it’s only to shut up Lizette, who says I’m hilarious and know nothing. She laughs and laughs and slaps her thigh and almost topples over.
She says, “You’re a silly little baby who doesn’t know how the world of adults works.
