Free Phosphorescence by Raffaella Barker

Aren’t people who do graffiti arrested?’
    â€˜I think it’s different here. He decorates the concrete bits in skateboard parks. He’s been in a video of some band.’
    â€˜Wow.’ Nell is lost for words for a moment. We contemplate his coolness, then she laughs again and says, ‘God, can you imagine how graffiti art would go down in Staitheley?’
    â€˜Have you been to Staitheley?’
    â€˜No, but Mum was there this morning.’ Nell pauses, and I know her too well for her to disguise it; she’s trying to find a way to say something awkward.
    â€˜Come on, Nell, spit it out.’
    My ear is hot from the phone. I can see the green clock on the music system flaring as the sun dips past the roofs across the road and suddenly the room is grey. We’ve been talking for twenty minutes. Mum will kill me. She says I’ve got to leave Norfolk behind now, because it’s the only way I will come to think of this flat as my home.
    â€˜She saw your grandad, Jack.’
    I don’t know why my heart starts to hammer.
    â€˜But she doesn’t know him.’
    â€˜I know.’ Nell’s voice was small, ‘Oh, Lola, I think your dad should have been the one to tell you. Your grandad fell over on the quay. They were shouting for a doctor and Mum was in the fish shop and she ran out because she’s a nurse. He’s fine, though, he’s really fine now. Mum says so and she knows.’
    Cold water is flowing through me, making my heart race but paralysing everything else.
    â€˜I need to ring Grandma, Nell, I’ve got to go.’
    â€˜Lola, are you all right? Where is your mum, you shouldn’t be on your own—’
    Putting the phone down, I know I’m shaking because I miss its cradle. I have to pick it up again tocall Grandma, but I can’t. I’m scared. I want Cactus to be here to hug, and my bones hurt; they’re aching with loneliness. The phone rings and it is Mum. She has a sixth sense for when I desperately need her. She always knows, and it often really annoys me. Right now I really like it.
    â€˜Please come home now,’ I sniff, and hot tears stop me shivering even though they are only on my face. She has spoken to Dad.
    â€˜Don’t worry, Lola. He’s fine. I spoke to Grandma after your father rang me. I’m coming back now, and we’ll call Grandma together. Just hold on, darling, I wish you weren’t there on your own.’
    I don’t think I’m going to cry when I speak to Grandma, but she sounds so comforting. If I shut my eyes I can believe we are in the room together.
    Mum sits next to me as we talk. She can hear Grandma too, I can tell, because she is so silent, listening intently.
    â€˜Do you know, darling, I was only just back from looking for those blasted dogs of mine when they brought Jack home. He came in with a doctor beside him, and I was so surprised, I didn’t know what to say, and then a cyclist arrived with the dogs.’ Her voice is slower, more crackly than I have noticed before. ‘It was mayhem here.’
    My face is wet but I laugh when she says, ‘Anyway, I’ve managed to get Jack to stay in bed this afternoon, and do you know, Lola, the only way I could do it was to hide his clothes. He’s been listening to the racing and none of the horses he backed won. So he’s very cross and I think you are the only one whocould cheer him up, so I’m going to get him to speak to you. Remember, my dear, he pretends to be deaf on the telephone.’
    Jack says, ‘When are you coming to see me?’ and I look at Mum.
    She holds up three fingers and mouths, ‘Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and then you’ll be there.’
    â€˜I’m coming for the weekend.’
    â€˜I can’t wait. We’ll have some fun when you get here.’
    Jack sounds so jolly, I can’t really worry too much now I’ve spoken to him. And anyway, it is