A Respectable, Well-Brought-Up Boy

 

I lay in my room listening, excitement fizzing like popping candy in my veins. My parents had won £300,000 on the pools. Thoughts of new clothes, exotic holidays, indeed any holiday, ran through my mind as I strained my ears to listen to my mother's urgent words.

'We can get out of this flat Doug, give Sadie a good start in life. She's developing early, eleven years old and the boys are already sniffing around. I don't want her to end up like Maureen's girl, up the duff at thirteen.'

'Sadie's a good girl. I was going to give up work,' replied my Dad.

'Give up work? What would you do all day? No. Maybe Sadie is a good girl now, but I can see she is changing. We need to do something. We can afford to move to a good area. One with nice kids and respectable, well-brought-up boys. A place in the country. She's always wanted a dog we could get her one as a sweetener.'

So, six months later in the summer holidays, instead of lazing on a Caribbean beach, I found myself taking a desultory walk through a wood with my black Labrador puppy Daisy, aka The Sweetener. There was nothing to do, I didn't know anyone, and everything was green.

Daisy was busy sniffing everything, running in circles around me and getting in the way. I kicked at the grass and swore under my breath. 'Bloody Sweetener.'

Suddenly, she barked that strange puppy bark that still had the ability to shock her, and she veered off the path between the trees. 'Daisy' I called, 'come back. Daisy! Sweetener! Come here!'

Nothing. Shit. Now I would be in trouble. I wasn't supposed to let her off the lead until she'd finished her puppy training. Away from the path, the grass was still wet from yesterday's rain, and my trainers and jeans soon became soaked. I walked on shouting, but there was no sign of her. Then I came to a large holly bush. I could hear sounds from within it. 'Daisy! Are you in there?'

I could smell cigarettes. I sniffed and looked around. Maybe I was near to another path. A muffled bark emerged from the bush. I walked around the holly, looking for a way in. It was large and dense with no apparent entrance. I checked again, all the time shouting for Daisy. Then I saw it. At the bottom of the bush was a gap. I bent down to examine a green tunnel that curved away to the left. There was nothing for it; I was going to have to go in after her.

As I crawled into the musty entrance, the holly scratched my bare arms and pricked through my jeans. At the bend in the tunnel, I peered around. I could hear movement and see bright sunlight at the end. Slowly, I crawled on, head down to protect my face from the holly.

Daisy's tongue greeted me with enthusiastic licks, and I looked up. I had reached the end of the tunnel, and as Daisy backed away, I was shocked to see a boy, laying on his back, smoking.

'Hello there,' he said as if it was every day that you met someone in the middle of a holly bush. 'I take it that this is your dog. I did try to encourage her to leave, but she wasn't having any of it. She was making friends with Olly.' He pointed to the spaniel lying next to him on the rug.

I stared at him, dumbstruck, blond sun-bleached hair, tanned skin and periwinkle blue eyes. I guessed he was about fifteen or sixteen years old. It wasn't his obvious good looks that silenced me, it was the glossy veneer that coated him. He had a sheen, like honey, that exuded from every pore with confidence and self-assurance. So, this is what a respectable, well-brought-up boy looked like.

'Cat got your tongue?' He sat up and motioned for me to sit down on the rug. 'I'm Jez, and you are?'

'Sadie, Sadie Brown.'

He looked me up and down. 'Well, Sadie Brown, I'm delighted to meet you. I don't remember seeing you before. Are you new to these parts or just visiting?'

He spoke like some of the books we'd read in school, I was intrigued, but I remained standing.

'I'm new. Moved in last week.'

'Which road?'

'The Greenway.'

He whistled through his teeth. 'Great houses up there. What does your father do?'

Wow, I thought, he's nosy. Instinct told me to hold back from this interrogation. 'He works in a bank.' Well, he was the caretaker in a bank, so that was true.

'Splendid. So, after the hols which school will you be attending? I'm at St Bart's. Do you know it?'

I would be going into the first year at the local comprehensive. 'I'm starting at Hallsthorpe.'

'Oh! You're going to a state school? Progressive parents, eh. Playing politics with your future. It will be tough starting a new school just before your exams.'

Exams. What exams? I didn't understand half of what he was saying, but for some reason, I knew I wanted him to like me, so I mumbled and didn't ask.

He drew on his cigarette and blew a smoke ring into the air. 'Oh, how rude of me. Care for a ciggie?' He pulled a packet of Lambert and Butler out of the top pocket of his shirt and proffered it towards me. I sat down and drew one out, put it between my lips, and he leant forward and lit it for me.

I coughed. 'Haven't had one for ages.'

'I know what it's like. Parents always on your case. That's why Olly and I go for regular walks and spend our time here. Olly found it. It's perfect. Away from the prying eyes along the path and we have a place to store everything we need.' He indicated the rug, a pile of books and an old, battered trunk with packets of biscuits, bottles of coke and cans of lager inside.

I lay back and coughed my way through the cigarette, enjoying his eyes roaming over me. 'You are always welcome to join me in my den. I'm here most days in the hols,' he murmured.

And so began the summer of the Hollybush. The Sweetener and I became inseparable, my parents beamed with happiness to see my newfound love of the great outdoors, and Jez taught me all I needed to know about life. He was after all a respectable, well-brought-up boy.

Jaqui Fairfax