Free Careful What You Wish For by Maureen McCarthy Page A

of her wanted to back away and start screaming … ‘So when are they coming?’
    ‘This afternoon,’ her mother sighed. ‘Try to be nice.’
    Ruth gulped and felt a fresh spasm of nerves hit her gut.
    ‘Do they want to come?’
    ‘Why wouldn’t they?’
    Where to begin? Ruth looked pointedly around the messy kitchen, the strips of paint hanging from the ceiling and her brothers’ cereal-encrusted dishes, but her mother’s back was turned so she didn’t see.
    ‘You just don’t get it, Mum, do you?’ Ruth whispered.
    ‘What was that, love?’
    ‘Nothing,’ said Ruth. ‘So, Lou and who else?’
    ‘All the gang,’ her mother said brightly. ‘Bonnie and Katy and … Susie!’
    The gang? Ruth’s jaw began to clench. There were some things adults should never say. She walked out of the room without another word. Just the idea of having all her friends in her house made her feel faint with terror.
    ‘Now try to be nice, Ruth!’ her mother called after her.
    * * *
    ‘Ruth! Your friends are here!’ Ruth got up from where she’d been lying on her bed and walked down to the kitchen.
    Lou, Katy, Susie and Bonnie were standing in the middle of the room in a tight group, looking around suspiciously at the greasy wallpaper and battered fridge. Mrs Craze had made an effort, and for that Ruth knew she should be grateful. There was no mess on the table and the washing-up was done. Newspapers had been piled into the far corner along with her father’s boxes. It was well short of anything her friends would be used to, but it did look better than usual.
    They were all dressed in cute clothes: halter tops, strappy singlets, jeans and tiny skirts. Lou was in pink and had her hair done in tiny plaits. Katy was wearing huge shiny earrings. They all smiled when they saw her.
    ‘Hey!’ plump little Bonnie squealed. ‘Love the jeans!’
    ‘Thanks.’ Ruth flushed. These were her old jeans, the ones she always wore. Bonnie was trying to be kind. Or not . Depending on how you wanted to look at it.
    ‘That necklace is cool.’ Lou reached out to touch the tiny beads of the lovely black stone necklace that Mary Ellen had left her. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Where did you get it?’
    ‘Picked it up at the market.’ Ruth tried to sound careless.
    ‘Now, who is going to have Coke?’ Mrs Craze was behind the kitchen bench getting out glasses.
    Ruth went to help her mother, pretending this was normal. They never had bottles of soft drink sitting around in the fridge normally, so her mother must have gone out especially.
    ‘Now, I hope you girls have a nice time at the shops.
    I have to go to work for a few hours,’ Mrs Craze said, looking at the clock as she set a couple of bowls of crackers on the table, ‘but I’ll see you all back here after you’ve been shopping.’
    ‘Bye, Mrs Craze,’ they all carolled politely.
    Ruth noticed the amused way Lou took in her mother’s stout figure in her worn jeans and plain shirt as she walked out.
    ‘Work must be relaxed,’ she muttered, one eyebrow raised.
    ‘Yeah, it is,’ Ruth said, flushing even more furiously. ‘She doesn’t have to dress up. So … you want a drink first?’
    ‘Sure.’
    Ruth poured the drinks and they all sat down at the table without speaking. She had a feeling that something wasn’t right, but couldn’t work out what exactly.
    Eventually Lou took a deep breath and fixed Ruth with one of her haughty stares.
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’
    ‘Tell you what ?’
    ‘That you were so upset about your aunt?’
    The others murmured in agreement. They’d obviously had a discussion .
    ‘I mean, we knew she’d died and everything, but we thought she was just some old relative. We didn’t know that you and her were totally … close .’
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us you were so … upset ?’ Bonnie sniffed. When in doubt, always use the same words as Lou . ‘Why keep it to yourself?’
    ‘I didn’t think you’d be interested,’ Ruth mumbled.