‘Sorry, it’s not possible to connect you right now. Mrs Willis is not able to take the call.’
‘Is she ill?’
‘Sorry – I don’t have details. Phone back later to speak to someone then.’
Ebony got up and went to the window again. She stared out at the continuing tramlines of orange lights as cars inched their way home. She heard the noise of feet in the flat above her and a television being switched on. Someone was returning to their lonely apartment and needed the noise of television to make it feel like home. Ebony knew what that was like. It had been a massive step for her to move into a shared house with strangers. She’d chosen the room at the top; the furthest away from all of them. Gradually she’d got used to the sounds of them coming and going. Slowly she’d got used to the way she could differentiate between one person’s tread or another’s on the steps outside leading to the house. She knew who was coming home. She’d felt reassurance in the knowledge that she was in a house with people and yet they didn’t require her to socialize; she’d spent her childhood dreading the sound of her mother’s steps outside the door. She felt safer when she was far away. Her mother had never visited her unless the authorities were building up to sending Ebony home. Then her mother was required to look like she wanted Ebony back and could cope. But Ebony always knew there was an ulterior motive for having her home. If it wasn’t money in the form of benefits then it was accommodation. Sometimes it was just that her mother had run out of attention. What Ebony had never reckoned on was that she would feel secure enough in the shared house to let her guard down and care a lot for another human being. She’d made the mistake once when she was in a care home and Micky had become her best friend. She still dreamt of Micky. Still her heart ached when she awoke to find that she wasn’t still friends with him. She had no idea what had happened to him after the scandal at the care home after she left; she thought he must have been one of those abused because he had been unlucky all his life. He once said to Ebony that he counted her friendship as the only piece of good luck he’d ever had. When she dreamt of him she woke up happy just to hear his voice again but then the sadness of losing him kicked in. When she’d heard Tina moving around in the room beneath her she felt comforted. Tina was a great friend. Tina had eaten into Ebony’s heart and Ebony was grateful for it.
She made herself a Pot Noodle and came back to the makeshift bed to sit and eat it. Then she remembered the doll was still in the bag and the buggy by the front door. She wheeled it into the bedroom just in case someone should knock, not that she had any intention of making friends with the neighbours – that wasn’t in the brief. Head down, low profile, was what she needed. She got the doll out of the bag and strapped it into the buggy. She wheeled it into the bedroom and closed the door to keep the cold out and the heat in the lounge. She wouldn’t be sleeping in the bedroom. She preferred just to use one room. She’d stay in the lounge for now. Besides, the sleeping bag was also the sofa. She settled down onto her bed and saw Robbo’s avatar flashing on her screen. It was a Stan Hardy lookalike: a fat guy with glasses.
Ebony typed:
‘You managed to find an avatar that looks like you?’
‘Ha ha. You ok?’
‘I’m good’.
There was a pause. She could see the speech bubble on the screen that meant Robbo was writing but kept stopping. Whatever it was he wanted to say he wanted to choose his words wisely. He settled on:
‘How’s life in the vertical world?’
She smiled to herself. What had he crossed out? She could visualize him at his desk. He would have his leopardprint wrap around his cafetière and he would have his packet of Haribo.
‘So far, so good. Have you managed to get my Facebook account up and running?’
‘Oh yes.’
She smiled again. She could visualize Robbo’s face. She knew he would have enjoyed making a new identity for her. He would have done it well – down to the very last detail. But Robbo wouldn’t be clocking off. He would be sleeping at his desk tonight. He would not let her face this time alone. That thought stuck in Ebony’s throat. Being in MIT 17 meant being in the MIT family. It had only just dawned on her that that’s what it was.
‘Was it tricky?’ she asked.
‘I had to think of my daughter’s account then add all the extras. You don’t have enough photos. You’re going to have to say that you had a controlling boyfriend that didn’t let you have a Facebook account. You’re going to have to say you’re still loading photos and that you haven’t really been doing it that long. It will look like you’ve been doing it for a year. It will look like you’re a loner.’ There was a gap and then Robbo said as a jokey ‘aside’ – ‘Some things I haven’t had to make up.’
Ebony didn’t take offence. She smiled to herself. Robbo was in his element. Ebony looked at the Facebook page he’d created for her.
There was the photo Carter had taken earlier. Ebony hated looking at herself but she had to admit it wasn’t bad. Archie looked cute with his curls and dark eyes. She looked like a doting mum, squashing her face against his and looking gooily at the camera. There were others of Archie from when he was born to the present day.
‘Need some more photos of you, Ebb.’
‘I have a few Tina took when we went away to Ireland in the summer.’
‘Send them to me and I’ll get the boffins to superimpose Archie into them.’
Two hours later the profile was complete. Ebony was ready to try it out. She searched for Christian Goddard and sent a friend request and she contacted two of the women she’d met at lunch: Selena, with the curly hair and earrings and Sammy, the elfin-faced girl. She also did a search for Yan and sent him a friend request.
Yan came back to her first to accept her as a friend. She took a look at his profile. He had photos from all over the world. When he was in them at all, he was alone in them. Most of the pictures were of scenery and wildlife. No girlfriend in sight. Status – single. Ebony didn’t know why but she was pleased to see that.
A message from Yan sprang up on her screen. ‘How’s it all going? Did you enjoy meeting the rest of the bunch?’
‘Yes I did thanks. Looks like it’s going to be fun.’
They chatted for a while then Ebony had a notification that Christian had accepted her friend request and wanted to chat on Messenger. Ebony cut her conversation with Yan short.
An Instant Message came through from Christian. ‘You got anything planned for this evening?’
Robbo was watching the conversation.
‘Accept the offer if he wants to meet up, Ebb.’
‘Not much. Don’t have Archie tonight as my aunt’s got him, so just chilling.’
‘Fancy meeting up?’
‘Yes. Sure.’ Ebony was thinking how much easier it was to meet men when you were pretending to be someone else. Ordinarily she’d have given up before she began. Making herself available and looking interested was a new thing for her. The few boyfriends she’d had were mostly policemen. She fell into dating because she worked alongside them every day. She’d never had a one-night stand or been picked up in a bar.