‘Ah …’ Pa nodded. But Clancy thought he didn’t look too sure.
Tash slammed the album shut. ‘What about a game of chess?’ She rummaged in the cupboard. ‘Memory? Snap? Monopoly?’
‘Not Monopoly,’ said Clancy.
‘Sp-sp-sp?’ asked Pa.
‘Because she’s a nightmare to play with!’ Clancy glared at Tash. ‘She steals all the one-dollar notes, so no one ever has the right change to pay rent, and she always builds hotels on the Jail and you’re not allowed to.’
‘That’s what developers do in the real world. Get over it,’ said Tash. ‘I’m not as bad as Bruno. He buys one property of every colour to make a rainbow, and then no one can win. Want to play, Pa?’
Pa waved his hand wearily. ‘Nah.’
‘It’s no fun with only two,’ said Clancy.
‘At least with two, you always get a winner.’ But Tash put the box back on the shelf. ‘I guess we’d better go,’ she said. ‘Lunch time.’
Clancy slid off the bed in relief. ‘Is it lunch time for you, too, Pa?’
‘Pfft!’ Pa fired up briefly, tapping his watch indignantly. ‘Sp-sp-sp!’
‘Pa’s had his already,’ said Tash. ‘They have lunch at twelve, and dinner at five, don’t you, Pa?’
‘Sp-sp-sp,’ agreed Pa disgustedly.
Tash grabbed the handles of the wheelchair. ‘Come on. If you’re lucky, you might catch the end of The Great Escape.’
Clancy and Tash left their grandfather parked in front of the television. The movie had finished, and now there was a concert playing, with a violinist in a flamboyant cravat and a sparkling waistcoat. Pa snorted, but he seemed resigned to enduring it.
At the front door, they found pandemonium.
Half a dozen residents who were not supposed to leave the building had discovered the open door and taken their chance to shuffle through it. Now they had scattered along the street, or trundled across the road, as fast as their shaky legs and walking frames could take them.
Blue-uniformed staff were frantically sprinting out the door to bring them back, and the foyer swarmed with staff and residents and visitors, all talking excitedly. An announcement from the agitated receptionist echoed through the corridors: ‘Staff to the front door. Code purple, repeat, we have a code purple!’
‘Oh, Clancy.’ Tash shook her head sorrowfully. ‘What have you done?’
Clancy was struck silent with horror.
‘But there’s a sign on the door!’ The manager of The Elms, a youngish white woman in a red jacket and unsteady high-heeled shoes, wobbled across the foyer. Her name tag read Belinda. ‘Who is responsible for this?’
Clancy’s face glowed hot with guilt and embarrassment. ‘I’m really sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t mean to. It was for the cat.’
Belinda wheeled around sharply. ‘For the cat?’
Miserably, Clancy scuffed the toe of her shoe on the tiled floor. ‘He ran out,’ she mumbled. She wished Tash would say something. Tash was so much better at talking to people.
‘What cat? There is no cat.’ Belinda frowned. ‘Are you visiting someone?’
‘Yes, Pa – I mean, Godfrey Sanderson. He’s our grandfather.’
‘Godfrey is your grandfather?’
Belinda blinked. Clancy could guess why. Their mother was Chinese, but Pa wasn’t – he was Tim’s father. Tash and Clancy didn’t look anything like Pa. Belinda’s reaction was the kind of thing that made Tash furious, but it just made Clancy feel sort of tired.
Belinda recovered quickly. ‘Didn’t you see the sign on the door? Do Not Allow Residents To Walk Out Unaccompanied? Or did you think it would be funny? Is this some kind of prank?’
‘No! The cat—’ But clearly Belinda didn’t believe in the cat. Clancy said miserably, ‘I just didn’t realise—’
‘So if Godfrey is your grandpa, your mum is Polly, is she?’
‘No, she’s our aunt,’ said Tash.
‘I see.’ Belinda turned to the receptionist. ‘Lorraine, could you look up Polly Sanderson’s number for me?’ She swung back to the girls. ‘Your aunt knows you’re here, yeah? Maybe she’d better come and pick you up, and I can have a word to her about not letting children wander around without adult supervision. Don’t you know how dangerous that is?’
Tash’s eyes narrowed. ‘We’re not children. I can learn to drive next year.’
‘Please don’t call Polly,’ begged Clancy. ‘I’m really, really sorry. It’ll never happen again, I promise.’ Because I am never, never coming back here as long as I live. Everyone was staring at her. She wished a black hole would swallow her up.
‘You can call Polly if you want, but she won’t pick up,’ said Tash coolly. ‘She switches her phone off when she’s at work.’
Those were both true statements, thought Clancy. And Tash hadn’t actually said that Polly was at work today.
Belinda raised her thinly plucked eyebrows. ‘Let’s make sure. Lorraine?’
‘Just checking,’ said Lorraine hastily, tapping at her computer keyboard.
But before she could find Polly’s number, there was an interruption.
‘Sp-sp-sp?’
Clancy spun to see Pa in his wheelchair, rolled into the foyer by one of the staff, a cheerful-looking young African woman whose name tag read Neneh.
Pa waved his hand at the chaos in the foyer, the residents milling in confusion, staff rushing in and out. ‘Sp-sp-sp?’
‘There was a breakout,’ Tash told him. ‘Kind of slightly our fault.’
Clancy could have hugged her for using the word our.
Neneh shook her head at Pa. ‘Oh, Goffrey, you in trouble again? Belinda throw you out this time for sure!’
Clancy gasped.
‘She can’t do that!’ cried Tash. ‘It had nothing to do with Pa!’
‘I will be speaking to your daughter,’ said Belinda to Pa. ‘I can’t let this pass without consequences.’
Pa gave an indignant, wordless roar.
‘Pa doesn’t want to stay in your stupid home anyway!’ Tash’s black eyes blazed, her chin jerked up, and in the next instant, she’d grabbed the handles of Pa’s wheelchair and thrust him toward the doors. One of the staff was just guiding Myrna back inside with his hand on her walking frame. Tash shouted, ‘Clancy! Door!’
Instinctively, Clancy sprang to obey. She heard Neneh burst out laughing, and Belinda shout, ‘Wait a minute!’
But it was too late. Pa and Tash were already halfway down the drive. Clancy sprinted after them, and the doors hissed shut behind her.
‘What are you going to do now?’ panted Clancy. She had to jog to keep pace with Tash, who was marching Pa swiftly along the pavement, her face flushed with rage.
‘Dunno,’ said Tash shortly. And she muttered something that sounded vaguely swear-ish.
Clancy glanced over her shoulder. ‘Tash! Someone’s coming!’
‘What are they going to do? Arrest us?’
‘You shouldn’t have taken Pa. That’s kidnapping!’