‘Gets something in his head …’

Back on the highway, Pop had said, ‘The map was unreliable.’

‘How do you know?’ Ernie had asked.

‘Was it Mum?’ I’d asked.

‘No!’

Although I knew it was. Mum would’ve found a way to get him home.

‘Has she called the police?’

‘No.’

Although I reckoned she might’ve. Said, He’s convinced half the street there’s a reef of gold in the middle of the desert. I’m worried they’re gonna end up in an accident. My son’s only seventeen.

Back on Lanark III, Dave said, ‘Pity. I seen him moping in the garden yesterday. Asked if he was goin’ back. He said it was time to move on.’

‘He’s pissin’ Mum off,’ I said. ‘She reckons, if it continues, he might have to …’

‘What?’ Peter asked.

‘You know, a nursing home.’

People in Gleneagles didn’t use nursing homes. Firstly, no one could afford one, but mostly, you looked after your own, as long as you could. I said, ‘He got upset when she said it, then she said sorry, but if someone says somethin’, then it’s in their head, eh?’

Silence, as they agreed. There was a bit of a hill, and I let Davo roll.

‘Later, me and Jen told her we reckoned it was a pretty rough thing to say, and she said sorry. But she’d said it.’

Peter looked at me strangely and asked, ‘How’s the novel going?’

‘Good.’

‘I was thinking, why wait?’

‘What do you mean?’

But he turned, and headed home. ‘Follow me.’

He parked Davo in his spot and said, ‘Come on, before he grizzles about this too.’ A minute later we were in the shed, admiring the Jag. Peter walked around it, wiped the bonnet and said, ‘This’ll be great.’

‘I can have it now?’

‘Why not? Encouragement, to get the book finished.’

He got behind it, tried to push, and said, ‘Come on.’

I helped. It moved a bit, but wouldn’t budge.

‘More muscle!’

Again and again, but the flat tyres weren’t helping.

Peter went out, called, ‘Mum!’

A few moments later Val joined us, and we all got behind it. Heave-ho, two, three times, then it moved.

‘Keep going,’ Peter said.

We rolled it down the drive, narrowly avoiding Providence, past Dave and onto the road. Then into 31. I ran ahead, opened the shed, and the Jag rolled in. Val and Peter stood admiring it. Val said, ‘What you gonna do with it, Clem?’

‘Like new,’ I said.

‘Give Doug an interest, anyway.’

‘What will?’ he said, appearing at the side door, Mum and Jen following.

I approached it. ‘Look, Pop, our next project.’

At first, he didn’t say a thing. Just walked around it, looked inside, then turned to Peter, ‘What, you reckon …?’

‘I’ve given it to Clem,’ he said.

Mum seemed happy enough.

‘You’ve given it to him?’ Pop said. ‘To keep?’