“They never told each other, however, that they had both resolved never to leave this land. They pretended to each other that they would leave, separately, quite soon.”
Sally asks, “Were they in love?”
“Not with each other,” the gloves tell her sadly.
“Why not?” Sally can’t see any other point to a story for grown-ups. It’s what they’re usually like.
“In the end they met on the other side of the world.”
“What?”
“Well, one night they both went too far. Tony swam too deep in the pool, and Sam ate her way too far into the delicious forest. Without the other knowing, they both sank so deep through that they came out on the other side of the world.
“More places to explore! And here there were words, pricked out in blue flowers, blue bricks and clipped into trees. Words they couldn’t read because they were too small to fit all the letters into the proper perspective.
“At last, that night, they met each other on the rocky spine of the land, from which vantage point the spread of the country was laid out once more. Their current position was high above the rest and the realms flung themselves out, if seemed, in languid abandon. A storm crashed all about them, obscuring the extent of the land they had both made their own.
“And then, when Tony and Sam saw in each other’s faces the determination not to leave this place, they both resolved that the other must be made to leave right then.”
“Why?”
“Because…even though a grown-up knows it takes more than one to keep the illusion up, they always want to be the only one. The single Beloved. And so…”
“And so what happened?”
“A terrible battle ensued.”
“Who won?”
The hands drummed a gentle tattoo on the top of a pile of books. “No time now, Sally,” they whisper. “It’s early Christmas Day. Soon it’ll be too late to catch up with the magic of the Eve. We’ve got to leave for the North Pole right now. Come on; get ready.”
Sally hopped out of bed and started to dress. “Will you tell me on the way who won the terrible battle?”
“Maybe later. Stories aren’t always in the past. I still don’t know how this one turns out. It is still unwinding itself in the storm. It’s happening somewhere else. We’ll just have to see. Come along now; it’s time.”
FOURTEEN
WHEN THE PHONE RANG, IRIS WAS JUST COMING IN FROM A LONG WALK. Peggy snatched up the receiver and gave her a curt nod. “It’s Sam,” she mouthed, watching Iris heave her snow boots off.
“I want to talk to Mark.” Sam’s voice was hard.
“He’s here,” Peggy told her. “He’s in the bathroom.”
“Would you get him?”
“Get Mark,” Peggy hissed to Iris. “Sam, where are you?”
“I’m staying with a friend.”
“That policeman?”
“Yes, that policeman.”
“Shouldn’t either your or Mark be in the flat…just in case?”
“Don’t tell me what I should do. Why isn’t Mark at the flat? Why is he still at yours? Why can’t he be at home?”
“We’re keeping an eye on him. You saw what he was like. He’s completely off his head.”
Iris had come back. She tapped Peggy on the arm. “He’s coming. Let me speak to her.”
Peggy handed her the receiver. “Sam? Listen,” Iris took a deep breath and weighed in. “Sam, we have to let the police know now. It’s been a whole day. This is madness. If we want—”
“Keep your fucking nose out!”
Mark stood behind Iris. He was deathly pale, expressionless. As he took the phone, Iris gasped. He had blanked out the tattoos on his face with thick white foundation.
“It’s me,” he said.
“Iris has been telling me we have to phone the police.”
“No,” he said. “I’ve…heard something.”
“What? Who from?”
“We had a call.”
Iris shot Peggy a look. A call? Peggy nodded quickly.
Mark went on. “Tony phoned me. Sally’s safe. She’s with him.” He could even hear Sam grip the receiver tighter.
“Where? Where has he taken her?”
“Sam…Sam, we have to be careful about this…”
“She’s my fucking kid, Mark.”
He breathed out slowly. “Mine as well.”
“She came out of my body, Mark. My body, not yours. You’ve tried to keep me out the whole way along. But not even you can change this fact of nature. That bairn came out of my body, and…” Her voice snagged and she stopped.
Mark repeated, “I think we have to play this very carefully. I don’t know what’s going on exactly. I don’t know what’s going on in Tony’s mind.”
“I wouldn’t put it past the pair of you to have planned this together.”
“Sam, I…”
“Oh, don’t flounder. Look, just tell me; tell me you didn’t have this planned.”
“No. It—”
“What did he say then? Where is he? Where’s he taken her?”
“They’re in Leeds.”
“Leeds? What the fuck for?”
“I don’t know. It’s just where he went.”
“Are we going to get her back?’
“Yes.”
“Should we get the police now? If he—”
“No. Now listen, Sam. We had twenty-four hours without getting them. What if we did now? What would they say? You know what happens with these Home Alone cases. That’s the way to lose Sally for good.”
Sam kept quiet. He heard her breathing. He thought she was calming down.
She said, “I don’t know what the fuck you thought you were doing, leaving her, parading about with—”
“Don’t go into all that now.”
“I don’t intend to. I don’t want to know. I just want my daughter back safe. What did he say on the phone?”
“He wants me to go down. Tonight, to Leeds. To see him and talk.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Don’t try to—”
“We can’t fuck this up, Sam. I don’t know what state he’s in.”
“What does that mean?” She sounded frightened.
“I don’t know. But he says that Sally is safe and
