“It always is. And in this case smelly.” He held Teddy at arm’s length. “I think it’s time your daddy changed that bottom.”
Wren
There was a lot to be said for neighbours.
If you knew who they were and had made conversation with them, perhaps had exchanged numbers or even a key so they could water your plants while you were away.
If you had any plants.
Or even phone you if the flat below ended up on fire because the man who lived there fell asleep in bed while smoking a cigarette. He was okay, by the way.
My flat – less so.
I’d gotten back there from the airport to find a building that looked as if it was more charcoal than brick and had tape and bollards round it to stop entry. Ten minutes later, I was still standing outside, looking up at what had been my bedroom.
“Are you okay?” A woman I vaguely recognised tapped me on the shoulder.
“Kind of. I lived there. I didn’t know…”
“Oh, about the fire.” She talked me through exactly what had happened in more detail that I needed, letting me know that in summary, I had no flat left, no belongings and nowhere to live, however temporary it might have been.
I phoned my landlord, who confirmed what she said in more abrupt tones. They’d left messages on a mobile number that was incorrect, several in fact. And that was it.
I called a cab and took my sweaty, plane-dirty self back to my mother’s where I phoned my insurance company and considered that my life was in two suitcases and my sole belonging of any sentimentality was the silver teapot that Callum had bought me the day before. And I didn’t have anywhere to put it.
This was a disaster.
There were worse things to happen. No one had died, the injuries sustained were minor, so that was a blessing. The flats should probably have been condemned anyway, and only three people had been made effectively homeless from it. It could be worse.
I sat on my bed in a room that hadn’t been decorated for at least seventeen years and still reflected my teenaged self that had been studying to go to university and spent her life with a nose in a book or volunteering with animals.
There were no posters of boybands or movie stars, instead there were framed prints of zebras and lions and antelope. Animals I’d seen recently, in the wild, and helped. Instead of feeling like I’d regressed, having nowhere else to go, I saw how far I’d come.
“Wren! I didn’t expect to see you today. I thought you would just go back to the flat to sleep.” My mother came into my room, smiling broadly and looking well.
“That was the plan until I got back there and found the flat is no more.”
She sat on my bed and I told her the story. Then she laughed.
“No one was hurt and it wasn’t the best place you’ve lived. Maybe it’s time to find something more permanent. You can always let it out if you’re going to be gone for more than three months.” She’d said this a few times.
“Maybe.” I was in my thirties. I didn’t want to be a nomad in ten years’ time. Buying a property made sense for lots of reasons like it never had before.
“I opened one of those social media account things with the photos.Instapicor something.”
I smiled but didn’t correct her. I’d expected her to go straight into panic-mum mode, worrying about what would’ve happened if I’d been inside and all the other what ifs she was so talented at coming up with.
“Callum had tons of pictures of you and him and even just you on there. The comments about you were so sweet.” She was beaming, clearly thinking that there was more to those pictures than three one-night stands, not that she would be getting any information about that.
“It’s good for the show. And the zoo.” I’d already told her about the locum work I was doing there for the next few weeks. “Speaking of which, I’ll stay here for the next two or three nights then I need to find somewhere closer to get to work.”
“That’s fine. Stay as long as you want but you’ll need something closer.” She smiled again. “How are you and Callum? He got you the job there, didn’t he? I know that’s where he works.”
“He gave me the contacts. He didn’t get me the job – I did that on my own merit.” This was where I would get cranky. No matter how hard I’d worked or how well I’d done at school and college, mum saw a girl who needed a man.
“Oh. I thought to work there you needed an ‘in’. I assumed Callum had put a good word in for you.”
Maybe he had, I didn’t know and would never find out, because Callum, unlike my mother, could be subtle. “I think they appoint vets who are the best in their field, mum. It isn’t the sort of place where you can just get a job for a friend.”
