Beneath The Skin Episode 37

You’re on Facebook, Walt,” the kid said. Suddenly, horribly, that impetuous marriage proposal burst into life

When he came down the stairs, Alys was sitting on the bottom step in the shadow of the great polar bear. Shackleton made her look tiny, like something out of Narnia. He paused on the half landing where the stair turned, his gut was already clenching. What did this mean? Only her back was visible to him, the long sweep of her spine, a twist of hair, unwashed. Her backside looked childishly narrow perched on the stairs.

She was wearing mismatched pyjamas: the top a washed-out pink, the bottoms stamped with purple butterflies. He thought of the butterflies pinned to the beams in her studio.

She didn’t look back when he resumed walking, just tilted her head, as if she was listening. She spent far too much time with birds.

“If this is a joke,” she said, “it isn’t funny.” Mouse’s laptop was open on the kitchen table. William was hunched over it, his face washed-out and baggy in the blue light from the screen. His mother was standing behind his chair, arms folded, leaning in. She was biting her lip. They both looked up when Walt came in.

“What’s wrong with her?” He jerked his head back towards the hallway.

“Oh, this is just great,” Mouse flinging up her hands. “Just great.”

William said, uncertainly: “Mum has been tagged in a post, Walt.” Walt crossed the space between them, heart hammering. “What post? What do you mean?”

They stood in silence, staring at the screen. Walt didn’t know what he was supposed to be looking at.

His eyes scanned over a jumble of meaningless photos until Mouse’s name jumped out at him. There was a line of writing, just one sentence book-ended with smiley faces and champagne glasses: “Maura, you kept this quiet!”

Next to it was a little image of Fee, pouting in her trendy specs. There was a fuzzy picture below, with a “play” button in the centre.

“You’re all over Facebook, Walt,” the kid said solemnly, as he clicked on the button.

S u d d e n l y, h o r r i b l y, that stupid, impetuous marriage proposal burst into life. There was Walt in St Andrew’s Square, down on one knee, the Field of Light said, swaying gently behind him, and Mouse giggling.

You could hear her saying: “Walt! Get up, you moron!” Behind them, the Japanese girls were clicking away on their phones.

Fee must have seen it too, and decided to film the whole thing, sharing the happy moment with the whole Facebook universe.

“S**t!” Walt scraped back his hair with both hands, holding onto his scalp. “Who can see that? Can anyone see it? Delete it. Just delete it.”

“I’m not sure how.” William shrugged. “Then find out!”

“Don’t shout!” Mouse squared up to him. He hadn’t realised he’d been shouting. He turned away, crossing his arms over his chest. He felt sick.

He’d been so careful. He’d left his phone at his mother’s, paid for things in cash so there’d be no electronic trail. And now here he was on Facebook, proposing in an Edinburgh square. What if it went viral? Steven was on Facebook.

“Alys saw it,” Mouse was saying. “She was horrified. She seems to think you two are an item.

“I tried to explain it was a joke but. . .” She pressed a hand across her lower face. Her eyes seemed huge, fixed on the screen “I tried to tell her it was a joke.”

“She doesn’t do jokes.” Walt was pacing. He had to go, get out of here.

“She’s very literal.”

“So are most people.” He came back to the table. “We need to get that off there. Fast.”

Mouse reared back to look at him, and he moved away from her questioning eyes, started to fill the kettle, playing for time. He wanted to bang his head against the cupboard door.

“I’ve already made tea,” she said. Her voice was clipped. “There’s a full pot of it on the table.”

“Oh, because tea will fix everything.” He slammed off the switch and turned to face her again.

William, oblivious, was trawling for videos of cats and dogs. “Don’t take it out on me! You were the one acting the idiot!” They stood glaring at each other over the kid’s head. Alys wandered back in, all little girl lost in her mismatched pyjamas.

She paused for effect at the other side of the table. Walt could not escape her gaze.

It peeled away his veneer, exposed the bits he wasn’t proud of.

“I thought you liked me,” she whispered. “I thought we were getting close.”

He opened his mouth to deny it, but Mouse said: “I told you not to mess with her, didn’t I? I told you to keep your distance.”

“And now you want to marry my sister!” “No, I don’t! I don’t want to be close to anybody! I should never have come here.” This burst from him, surprised him. “You know what? I quit – the job, the house, this whole family.”

William was staring at him, but he knew better than to catch his eye.

Mouse made a little, satisfied noise in her throat: hmm. I knew this would happen, that’s what she was thinking. The room was suddenly too small. He felt like thumping someone, was dizzy with the redness.

“When did you decide to marry?” Alys said, as if he hadn’t spoken. She stepped forward, picked up the teapot and began to pour a thin trickle into her red mug. It had never been a good pourer, that teapot. And it was heavy. He could see the sinews in her wrist popping with the strain. Her pulse fluttered among the blue veins like a bird’s heart. No one answered her.

Then William piped up: “Look, Auntie Alys. There are loads of jokes on here, like puppies falling asleep in their food bowls. And cats. Lots of cats.” His voice was soft and wheedling, the sort of voice he might have used to call a truce in the playground.

“Pax”, that’s what they said in Walt’s day. Shout “pax” and everything stops, all the pushing and shoving and hostage-taking. Everyone is disarmed, for just that millisecond of peace.

Pax.

Walt tried to slow his breathing. Alys was still holding the teapot. She looked at him again, skinned him. He felt the chill on his innards. Her face was calm, a mask. And then she let go of the teapot.

More tomorrow.

Beneath The Skin, by Sandra Ireland, is published by Polygon, £8.99. Her latest book, Sight Unseen, is out now.