Kenneth invited the officer in and went to the study, taking down the calendar.
“Next week? He won’t be here next week; as he’s booked into a conference in Budapest.”
The officer frowned.
“But he does live here?”
“Occasionally. He’s not been here for the last three weeks, and well, he is due to fly out in a couple of days. Did he not mention it?”
“No, he didn’t. Is your mother at home?”
“No, she’s shacked up with her lesbian lover down the road. I think Dad was going to see his secretary, as they’ve been having an affair for years. He certainly spends more time with her than here.”
The policeman scratched his head.
“For real?”
“For real; oh yes, it’s all fun and games in this house. I’m supposed to be studying for my GCSEs with all this shit. I called it in to your control room that he’d had several whiskies before setting off earlier. I was afraid he’d kill some innocent motorist.”
“How old are you?”
“Seventeen next birthday.”
“You’ve ten times his sense. It sounds like you’ll be well shot of them both.”
“Yeah, well, we never get a choice as to whom we are born, do we?”
“Ain’t that the truth? Are you okay?”
“I suppose so; if I can get my revision done in peace.”
“Okay, I’ll call this in, they might decide he’s a flight risk and keep him in overnight for court in the morning. He is up for assaulting the police officer as well.”
The officer left, leaving Kenneth slightly numb. He had imagined his Dad getting stopped and possibly being breath-tested. Still, the silly bugger had pranged his car and ended up in hospital; how stupid was that?
Should he feel guilty?
As he went upstairs, he tried to analyse his feelings towards his parents. He recalled times in the past when he had had fun times with them, but even the good times were marred by the fact that usually they took him to grandparents or other family members while they just had to do this or that, usually relating to one or other of their careers.
He felt an overwhelming sense of sadness, as he knew that so many of those he knew had families that actually did things together and, despite not being perfect, at least cared about each other. Kenneth felt as if his parents didn’t care at all about anything other than themselves. They didn’t even care much about each other in the better times, and definitely not now!
He looked at Basil, and patted his lap for the dog to jump up. He licked Kenneth’s face and wagged his tail.
“Time for Keira to take you for a walk, Baz!” he said, reaching for the torc.
Twelve
“Right, put your pens down, and stop writing!” said Mr Fuller, the invigilator. “Place all your papers into the envelope provided and sit and wait for it to be collected. All spare paper will be taken from you before you leave.”
Kenneth breathed a sigh of relief. Four weeks of solid exams were over.
He felt pretty optimistic, as all the papers had seemed far easier than the mocks they took some months ago now. Perhaps the torc had assisted him to remember stuff, or perhaps now his gender problem was about to be permanently sorted had allowed him the brain space to concentrate. Certainly, he no longer thought about it all day and every day. He smiled, for most of the time when not at school, he was Keira, so it was all academic anyway.
It had been a turbulent four weeks; not just because of the exams. He had managed one meeting with Anne, as he had to cope with a lot of distractions. One problem was the time spent fending of Child Services from the local council. His father had been to court, pleaded guilty and apologised to everyone for being an arse. He had come home, a contrite and very much more subdued man, particularly as he was disqualified from driving for a year and fined £800 for the drink-drive offence. For thumping the policeman he was given a conditional discharge, because he was in hospital and thought that his wife had sent the man to steal his wallet. The fact the court believed him to a degree said a lot about the Justices.
However, it came to light that a juvenile (Kenneth) had been left on his own for days, if not weeks at a time as the parents had been so involved in their respective careers. The first Graham knew of this was when the police had informed the court that Linda had not been at home for a week, and that Graham had been abroad for two. It was a real revelation and reality check for the man. To say he was shocked to the core would be quite accurate. He had been so focussed on his career and his life that he had forgotten that with marriage and children (even if just one child) came responsibilities. He was not truly aware how much Linda was equally distracted by her career, believing her to be a part-timer who was mainly a mother, instead of a very part-time mother and almost full-time career woman.
Oh yes, and his Mercedes was written off when he hit that tree.
After the court case, Graham and Kenneth had met with the Child Services. Graham admitted full responsibility and claimed blissful ignorance as to the true state of affairs. He told the woman that he was now going to have to work from home so as to be available for his son.
“It’s a bit late for that now, as he’s almost an adult!” she had said, looking at the sixteen year old.
However, she accepted his promise that if he needed to commute then he would get someone to drive him, and only go out when Kenneth was in school or otherwise safe. Kenneth guessed that the person most likely to do the driving was Stephanie, but did not say so.
In any case, they were mollified and decided that Kenneth was not in any immediate danger, so normal (?) life was resumed.
Kenneth thought that having his father around all the time was going to be a bit of a bummer, but hoped that his father might decide to spend a lot of that time with Stephanie.
Linda, on the other hand, had not reappeared; not when Kenneth was there, anyway.
After his fourth exam, he came home from school to find his father sitting in the sitting room looking as if he’d been crying.
“What’s up, Dad?”
It would be fair to say that communication between father and son had been minimal since the confrontation prior to his father having the crash. As the breath-test had been as a result of the crash, and not due to Kenneth’s information, Kenneth decided not to rub salt into the wound. However, Graham was still cautious in dealing with Kenneth, as the boy was far worldlier than he ever gave him credit for.
“You’re mother’s been with her lover and stripped the place,” Graham said.
Apparently, Linda had come round with Yvonne and removed all clothes and ‘her stuff’. The house did look a lot emptier, and most of it was the rather ornate and ‘arty’ stuff with which Linda had filled the house to impress business clients.
“I think the place looks better without that crap,” Kenneth said, which drew a thin smile from his father.
“Yvonne has left her husband and it seems that they’re both suing for divorce. They said they are planning to set up home together in fashionable Fulham.”
“Good riddance; they deserve each other,” Kenneth said, and turned to go up to his room.
“Kenneth, wait, please.”
“Dad?”
“This is awkward, as, well, I have to admit to hardly have been a very good father, have I?”
“No, you haven’t, and Mum was pretty crap too.”
Graham smiled.
“You could be a little less certain.”
“It’s true, Dad, you’ve been a selfish sod who’s been so engrossed in yourself that you’ve hardly acknowledged my existence unless it’s to affirm that I do or become what you want. You’ve ridiculed me and my problems, so, yeah; you’re a crap Dad who basically showed me you don’t give a shit about me.”