Free Millie and the Night Heron by Catherine Bateson Page B

rather someone stay over or drink and drive, Millie?’
    â€˜Well, stay over, of course,’ I said. ‘Did youchange my sheets?’
    â€˜Your sheets? No, of course not.’
    â€˜Well, I don’t want to sleep in used sheets,’ I said.
    â€˜Oh, okay. Well, you change them then,’ Mum said. ‘Put them in the wash with your other washing. Now, can you get out of my hair. I have to get rid of this mess.’
    â€˜Did you have a nice dinner?’ I asked. Mum looked stressed and tired and I thought she needed cheering up.
    â€˜Yes, I did. Thanks, Millie. It was a lovely evening.’ She turned away from the sink and hugged me. ‘And I’m really pleased you had a good time, too.’
    When I went to get my sheets I was pretty surprised. The bed was exactly as I had left it.
    Nothing looked disturbed at all. Whoever had spent last night in my bed had even replaced Merlin exactly where I had left him, half tucked under the doona.
    As soon as I had sorted out my washing, I took the phone into my room and rang Helen.
    â€˜It looks bad,’ she said, ‘but it might just look bad. Phone Rachel and see what she thinks.’
    â€˜Definitely a boyfriend,’ Rachel said, as I outlined the kitchen sink contents. ‘Two of everything has to be boyfriend.’
    â€˜What will I do?’ I wailed.
    â€˜Well, you can either ask her straight out or wait,’ Rachel said. ‘It depends.’
    â€˜On what?’
    â€˜Boyfriends make mums feel guilty,’ Rachel said, ‘so if you want some new jeans or a new book or a CD now is the time to strike.’
    â€˜Don’t you think that’s mean?’
    â€˜It’s life,’ Rachel said.
    â€˜I’ll have to think about that,’ I said and hung up. I rang Sarah. She actually had two parents who still lived together. She was an endangered species, but it meant that she’d be able to look at the morals of it all objectively.
    â€˜You don’t even know if it is a boyfriend,’ Sarah said, ‘although the evidence does suggest it. Maybe she wanted you to find out, do you reckon? Like what Ms O’Grady was saying about that book, you know, where the girl left all the stuff lying around so her mum would find out that she was on drugs? It’s a cry for help.’
    â€˜It can’t be a cry for help if it’s a boyfriend.’
    â€˜He mightn’t even be a boyfriend yet,’ Sarah said.
    â€˜There were porridge bowls,’ I pointed out.
    â€˜Oh, he’s a boyfriend then. And she wanted you to find out otherwise she’d have done the washing-up right away. I bet she tells you over take-aways.That’s why they get take-aways—it’s to make you feel good about what they’re going to tell you.’
    â€˜So I shouldn’t ask her?’
    â€˜I’d wait,’ Sarah said. ‘I think she’d feel better.’
    Helen agreed.
    â€˜She’ll feel in control then,’ Helen said. ‘They like that. Then you want to meet him as quickly as possible and check him out. Boyfriends can be really cool, but only if they want you to like them. If he doesn’t want you to like him, get rid of him.’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜You’ll have to,’ Helen said. ‘Mum had one like that. I had to get rid of him. You only want the best ones to stick around. The others will end up being creepy anyway and hurting your mum. You don’t want that to happen. So you have to meet him and test him.’
    â€˜Millie! Are you on the phone?’
    â€˜I’ve got to go,’ I said. ‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’
    I hadn’t thought of creepy boyfriends, but what if Mum was with someone like old Pig’s Trotters? That would be the worst thing in the world. I couldn’t let that happen to her. I’d have to save her.
    I waited until we’d bought take-away noodles. I waited right through the noodles. Mum