The mood on the wayhome is far less jovial. There is very little conversation as we wind our wearyway back home. Everyone is frightened to say it, but it is clear we’re allthinking the same thing. Has he twigged we snuck out? There is no more lightleft as we make our way up the dirt track towards the croft and it onlyintensifies the feeling of foreboding. The gloom has spread out not only overthe horizon but also gripped and blackened our hearts as we continue to ploughon even though every bit of common sense is telling us to flee.
Like the scene at Neist Point, it waseerily quiet when we entered the croft. Promising? Surely if he had been alertedto our disappearance there would’ve been a confrontation at the door?Tentatively, we make our way through the porch and towards the kitchen. Thekitchen is quiet too and shrouded in darkness. I wanted to make my way quicklyto my room, but James was having none of it. “Let’s just check he’s in there.”I was just about to protest but he dragged me over to the dining room door. Itwasn’t fully shut so we were able to give it the gentlest tap and it gave way,allowing us to peek around it.
It was dusky in there too but thanks tothe candlelight I was able to make out his substantial frame; collapsed intothe chair before the hearth. The slurred speech revealed he was veryintoxicated, “Well, whaaat do we have heeere then?” What to say? Wedon’t know how much he knows! Has he left his perch today and realised we weremissing? Or has he never ventured anywhere and just drunk himself intooblivion? I think positive and pray it’s the latter …
“Nothing Sir; I just wondered if youneeded anything. I was in the kitchen making some food and wondered if youwanted anything.” It is too gloomy in there; I can’t tell how he has taken myresponse.
Eventually … “Just piss off would you!You’re trying to sober me up, so you are! Plying me with food to try to stemthe effect of the booze. I didn’t sink all this just to waste it stuffing myface!” With that, he brandishes his bottle of Scotch up, tipping it over foreffect so we can see he’s downed the entire bottle. There is no mention of usbeing away anywhere, so I murmur a “Sorry to have disturbed you, Sir,” and takeoff to my room. With no mother in sight either, no exuberant James is going tostop me this time.
It feels like a small victory. We haveescaped unnoticed for the day and we got away with it. This gets me thinking …Caroline has been pushing and prodding me to come up with a plan to get oneover on him; to get back at him for some of his punishments. On two occasions Ihave managed to escape here unnoticed. What if there were a way for me to playhim at his own game with me in the driving seat this time? He’s not as sharpthese days with all the alcohol he’s consuming. In my room I begin to plot …
Over the next few days, I came up withvarious different ideas then instantly lose my nerve when I convince myselfthat something will go wrong and the plan will fail. Caroline knows I am up tosomething. She is so intuitive, so it doesn’t take long before I confide inher. She has a cunning mind so this we could use to our advantage. It is ablessing she is helping me because it is distracting her from her latest hobby– manipulating Juliet. It is quite disturbing to watch and Juliet, being thetrusting character she is, falls into Caroline’s trap each time like a moth tothe flame. It is never anything too outlandish but just little things she makesJuliet do.
For example, she tests mother’s memorylapses vicariously through Juliet and it is quite cruel. She will ask Juliet toswitch things around in the kitchen under the guise that she’s helping motherout to get things in order. In reality, she’s making life difficult for motherwho is blaming herself and her forgetfulness in putting things in the wrongplace. Caroline simply sits back watching it unfold with a satisfied grin onher face. It’s hard to see mother suffer when she is going through a torturousenough time right now, but Caroline is losing her patience with mother;becoming increasingly resentful at her inability to stand up to father or stickup for us. So, when she plots and schemes at manipulating Juliet into trickingmother it’s a double whammy to her; she gets great satisfaction from it.
There is no question in both of our eyes;neither of us wants to involve Juliet. I am quite sure Caroline would jump atthe chance to use her as a scapegoat, but I’ve made it quite clear to her thatthis is not going to happen. Caroline’s reluctance is borne not out of concernfor Juliet’s welfare, more out of her uncertainty in Juliet’s ability toexecute the plan with precision and we couldn’t slip up; we were both in fullagreement on that. However, we both decide it makes sense to bring James in onit. The only thing we have to watch with James is that his ideas are not toogung-ho, he can get easily carried away!
As we plot and scheme our way through thenext few days, Caroline can’t help herself. She is itching to put the wheels inmotion and get one over on him, so she’s been playing tricks on him to pacifyherself. Earlier this afternoon we got our kill. Father had been drinking fromlate morning so, by mid-afternoon, he was none too clever on his feet. Shecould see he was relying on the chairs of the kitchen table to stay upright andsteady himself as he negotiated his way around the table. Right at the verymoment he was about to grasp for the chair adjacent to her, she kicked
