At teatime, her mother put on a fabulous spread of coldcuts, pastries and other nibbles. It was way more food than five people couldeat, but people always overcatered at Christmas. With no shops open again untilthe 27th, she had ensured that there would be plenty of food to keep the familygoing.
Kay took full advantage. This was one of the only occasionsin her life when she could feast to her heart’s content and not have to worryabout the consequences for her waistline. This didn’t go unnoticed by thefamily.
“By heck, your lass has got a good appetite on her,”remarked her grandfather, as Kay wolfed down the pork pies and slices of hermother’s delicious home-baked honey roast ham.
Later they played charades and then watched the OnlyFools and Horses Christmas special, leading her to conclude that ChristmasTV really had been better in the past.
The day had been pretty much perfect in every respect. Theangel had picked a good year. By 9pm she was ready for bed, but Christmas wasnot yet over. She would get to do it all over again tomorrow.
Chapter Seventeen
December 2018
Back in the present day, Kay took her leave of the angelquickly. Not only did she have a Christmas dinner to cook, but she also had togo out and get back before Maddie woke up. She had bought her daughter aChristmas present but had left it in the flat.
It was mild and cloudy outside, not at all festive, butquite pleasant to be walking in compared to the cold of recent days. There wassomething special about going out for a walk on Christmas morning. It wasdifferent from any other day of the year. You could guarantee everyone you met,from kids to dog walkers, would greet you with a cheery smile and a “MerryChristmas”.
She still wished there was snow, though. Never mind, onlyanother eleven years to wait, according to the angel.
From the new estate, the quickest way to the flat was acrossthe park, the same one where she had lost her virginity to Glen on the night ofthe summer ball all those years ago. Normally it was a quiet place, but todaythere was something going on. At the far side of the park, just past thechildren’s playground, was a wooded area where she normally cut through thetrees. This route brought her out onto the main road, only a few minutes’ walkfrom the chip shop.
As Kay got closer she could see the whole wooded area wassealed off with police tape, warning people not to cross. There were severalpolice officers there. It looked as if there had been some major incident.Swerving past the woods, and diverting further up the park, she reached themain road about a hundred yards further up than she usually did, via the park’smain entrance.
As she walked down the road towards town she could see anumber of police and other vehicles around the area. She also recognised SeemaMistry, the local TV news reporter with a crew at the scene. It must besomething big if it had brought her out on Christmas morning.
The pavement where the path came out of the woods was sealedoff, too, and a young policeman directed her to the other side of the road.
“What’s going on here?” she asked him.
“I’m not at liberty to say, madam,” he said. “But we need tokeep this area clear. Please cross to the other pavement and keep walking.”
“Merry Christmas to you, too,” replied Kay, and crossed tothe other side of the road. She would be coming back this way after she hadbeen to the flat. Maybe she could find a more forthcoming policeman who wouldtell her more then.
The chip shop was deserted, as she had hoped it would be. Itwas also a complete mess, chip papers strewn everywhere and empty beer bottlesand litter all over the floor. It was often a mess on weekend mornings, butnever this bad. The townsfolk had clearly had a good party last night.
She let herself in and made her way up to the flat. It wasdark and dingy inside, leading her to reach instinctively for the light switch,but nothing happened. The same went for the light switch in the bathroom. Itseemed McVie had made good on his promise to cut her electricity off.
No matter, she would never have to see the inside of thishovel again after this morning. She reached under the bed and pulled out thebattered suitcase that had been there since the day she moved in, preparing tostuff what meagre belongings she wanted to keep into it.
The bottom drawer of the chest of drawers came off in herhand as she opened it, not for the first time. Inside, she found the necklaceshe had bought for Maddie, several weeks before. She hadn’t wrapped it up, nothaving known until yesterday if she was even going to see her over Christmas.No matter, there was still time when she got back to the house. There must besome wrapping paper there somewhere.
As for the creaky furniture, cheap portable TV and the restof the crap in the flat, she decided to abandon it. In the end all she ended uptaking was a few toiletries and half her clothes, abandoning the rest. Theyweren’t even worth bagging up for a charity shop, the state they were in. Asfar as she was concerned, this wasn’t her problem anymore. McVie could dealwith it.
As she left the flat for what she hoped would be the lasttime, she felt like she had just ticked off another box on her quest forsalvation. She was free of the dump at last! Or so she thought. Unknown to her,circumstances would bring her back to the flat again sooner than she expected.
She was halfway dragging her
