Chapter 5

The parents all nodded and Sharon said that she didn’t mind looking after an extra one, there was room and it did give her an extra interest, being able to use her teaching skills. She told the other parents that she had given up teaching when she married so was only helping out as a teachers’ aide for the moment.

When asked, all of the original three said that Geoff deserved the chance and they would be happy to help him as long as he was more protective of them during the following year, being a bit bigger than them. Geoffs’ father said that, as they lived just a street away from Sharon, Geoff could walk home after the study session. When they finished with the meeting, Geoff went with his father and John went with his parents so Sharon dropped Timothy and his mother off at home. On the way he caught Jason looking at him and he smiled, which made Jasons’ face light up as well.

When they got home they found his father sitting on the couch with an empty pizza box in front of him and a bottle of beer by his side. Timothys’ mother tidied up and told his father that just because they had been out it was not an excuse to be a slob. Timothy went up to his room with his bag but decided that homework could wait. When he got back down his parents were in a discussion about him and the events of the afternoon. His father was insisting that Timothy had enough brains to do whatever he wanted but, if he didn’t pass the exams, he would be able to work with the trucking company when he got old enough.

Timothy was amazed when his mother laughed and said, “No way, buster. Do you think that he can be a long distance driver with a girl at every stop, he is way better than that!” His father said “What’s this about a girl at every stop, it’s not like going to sea.” His mother said “OK, what about those trips you took to Warsaw, then. Whoever she was, she had a good nose for perfume.” His father sat down and went white. “You knew?” he spluttered. “Of course I knew. Every time you came back from there I could smell the Number Five on your collars. You have been inhaling diesel fumes for so long by that time you wouldn’t have smelt a rotten egg if I had cracked one on your head. The thing was that you came home every time and we did have fun for a few nights after those trips.”

Timothy thought it would not be a good time to go into the room so crept back upstairs to his room and it wasn’t long before he heard his parents go to bed very early and his mother was giggling. He lay in bed for a long time before he went to sleep. It had only been a week since he had found the Unicorn and so much had happened. The one thing that amazed him most was just how much more he knew about his parents and how much more he loved them for it. He reached out and picked up the Unicorn and held her to him as he drifted off to sleep. That night they did not talk, they just spent a lot of time on that beach, watching the ship get a little closer and Timothy felt a wave of strength drift over him and he woke up Saturday morning with hope for the future.

Saturday morning they had a cooked breakfast and he helped his mother tidy up. She had to go to the library and his father asked him if he wanted to go to a museum or something. He suggested the Art Gallery and Museum so they could drop his mother off on the way. They went in the car and Timothy sat in the back. When they got to The Hive, he couldn’t help but notice the lingering kiss his parents had when his mother went to get out of the car. As the Museum and Art Gallery did not open until ten thirty, his father parked the car and the walked in the Arboretum where his father pointed out some of the more exotic and oldest trees.

Timothy was learning that his folks had depths never before shown to him and when they got into the museum he found that his father was also a history buff, pointing out a lot of items from the military history of the city. It shook Timothy that the place had been fought over so many times, burnt down, rebuilt and burnt down again. It was a lot to take in. Even more to take in was how much closer he felt to his father who seemed to open up without the sullen Brenton beside them. At one point they were looking at an exhibit and Timothy read the information sheet at a glance and, as he went to look at something else his father told him to read the sheet. When he said he had his father looked at the sheet and asked questions about it and was totally gobsmacked when Timothy could look him in the eye and answer them.

They had a light lunch in the Museum café and then went into the art gallery part of the building. Timothy stood looking at some modern art which he thought was not as good as the pictures in the Non-Verbal Exam. He had a sudden flash of wisdom and he turned to his father and asked “Dad, Brenton really has not gone to a special school, is he sick?” His father thought for a while and answered “Your mother has been telling me for a while that you were really bright but I did not see it until today. Yes, Brenton actually is in a special hospital. It was ordered by the police doctor as he had seen the symptoms before. I am afraid that your brother has been dabbling with drugs and that has been why he has been so hard to get on with. He doesn’t hate you, he is just jealous of your abilities.”

When they had seen all they wanted, they walked to the library to see if his mother was ready to leave. She just had a few things to tidy up so Timothy was left with her while his father went to get the car. His mother asked him if he had enjoyed himself and he said he had. When they went outside the car was there and they went home. That afternoon all three of them prepared the evening meal and Timothy felt that he was now an integral part of the family and was closer to both his parents than ever before. That night he cuddled the Unicorn again and had a very good night with the two of them just watching the gulls as they sat together on the beach again. It made Timothy feel very settled and it really didn’t matter if the ship was not any closer. He had come to realise that there are some things you cannot rush.

Sunday he did his homework, remade his bed, and checked his clothes to make sure he had enough for the next week. He sat for a while with his now-favourite exam paper. He was really getting his head around it now and looked forward to seeing more of the same to see how quickly he saw the differences needed. He then spent a while looking at the other papers before helping get the evening meal together. Nothing more had been said about his brother and he know not to ask in case it upset his mother.

That night he left the Unicorn on the bedside cupboard. She did visit him as he dreamed about the battles and bloodshed he had seen reports on the day before. He was on a battlement, looking at an army marching towards the walls and then the Unicorn was beside him. “Don’t worry; they are not coming for you anymore. I think they will just march by”. And, as they watched, that’s exactly what the army did. In the morning he made ready for school and felt good about it. He knew that they would need to study well and stay attentive to his teachers they had a chance to do well enough to be accepted by the big grammar school. There also would be the new exam papers that he would be looking at during the week.

That week and the weeks that followed they got into a rhythm of looking at the old papers for the general exam on Tuesdays and the grammar school exams on the Thursdays. He was very happy at being picked up and dropped off as the year moved on and winter settled in. Geoff was getting back into the swing of learning and they started to get noticed by the teachers and some of the other students. There was about half a dozen girls who had picked up on the changes in them and sat with them at lunch, asking questions. In the end Sharon had to get a talk with the headmaster and he agreed to set aside a room big enough for an after-hours study session starting on the first week of the next term and sent out a memo to the parents.

Over the course of the weeks leading up to Christmas the dynamics slowly altered. Sharon and Harold had been getting together more and more. Geoff told the others that his mother had died in the first month of the pandemic and he was glad that his father had found someone else for some companionship. Jason said it would be funny to have a brother. He was actually smiling more now, most of the time when he looked at Timothy and Timothy was feeling a bit odd about it, not knowing how to react.

John and Geoff spent a lot of spare time together playing soccer, something that Timothy had stopped to give him more time for his studies. They had a small Christmas party for just the four of them and when it came to exchange presents Jason gave Timothy a silver bracelet. Timothy gave Jason a very small Unicorn on a silver chain and Jason put it on, looked in the mirror and started crying before hugging Timothy so hard he thought he would never breathe again.

The following year started in a snowstorm and the news that Bruce and Tommy would not be coming back to school. It took a while to filter through but they did eventually find out that they had absconded from the ‘special school’ and were last seen on a train heading south. Brenton did not come home either. He walked out of the hospital one cold day with just his pyjamas and a robe on and was found, a week later, in a ditch, frozen solid. His funeral was very low-key with his parents crying. For Timothy the oddest part of the day was standing next to the grave as his brother was being lowered into it with his three friends holding him in a mass huddle, Jason being the closest.

The start of school saw a group of twenty in the study sessions, most of the new ones being girls. The headmaster had asked for volunteers to help out and two of the teachers were on hand to help Sharon. The majority of the new students only wanted to get ready for the general exam but there were a few brighter ones who wanted to try the grammar entrance one. Because they had already worked on the papers, the four friends were helping some of the new students which strengthened their knowledge of the work even more.

Marianne G 2021