I took the skewers out as instructed. Leaving them to be slathered with gloop and slapped onto the grill, and then stood for a few seconds to put my thoughts in order. There was something about him, something off, that didn’t match the Norman Rossiter I remembered from that school. The lad I had known had been one of the rugby crowd, exactly the people I had spent so much energy in avoiding., and their behaviour could never have been fairly described as ‘accommodating’ or ‘inclusive’, unless it was a matter of intersectional hatred. The Venn diagram of their world had been a classic double circle: ‘Us’ and ‘every lesser being’. That second circle could just as easily be labelled ‘targets’.
Sod it. He was here as a guest, and I was, after all, just another one. I turned and headed back to the kitchen for the lamb, adjusting my expression as ordered.
“Smile brought., along with my own questions, as we both clearly remember each other”
He was doing something with feta, spices and foil, but he gave me his own smile over his shoulder.
“Go ahead. And with you, well, you hid well, Who you are, that is. Nice to see you being honest with yourself and the world”
Definitely not the attitude I remembered from the egg chasers.
“What did you do after sixth form? I mean, as I said, I was at Pompey, doing Physics”
Slow down, woman. He smiled again.
“Me? I went off to Loughborough, to do mechanical engineering, along with a lot of sport, he says to nobody’s surprise”
His face twisted a little as he said that, so I pushed.
“What happened, Norm?”
“Ah, someone didn’t like the way I played. Stamped the back of my knee after a tackle. Bit sort of buggered my leg. End of rugby career, in essence, so I had to find a real job. Ended up in structural stress analysis, for Thales”
“What? In Manor Royal?”
“That’s the one. They’ve moved now, so I’m working with a design office in Crawley. We do all sorts, from F1 cars to bridges. Pays the bills”
“Can I ask a question?”
“Another one?”
“More personal, okay? Not a threatening one”
“Go ahead. I’ll tell you if it is too personal”
“Okay. Given… Jules and me, we weren’t mates at school. I was so deep in hiding I was like wallpaper, but Jules, well, she was the one with the crosshairs on her back. ‘Kick the shit out of me’ sort of thing. Her main readers were from the rugby set. That included you”
“I think the question’s implicit in the statement, to try and be flash and pompous. I had more than a few differences with what you call the rugby set. Want to take that lamb out? I’ll still be here”
Not quite a ‘change the subject’, but I did as asked, along with a couple of foil parcels. When I returned, he was doing something to some chicken breasts. How much food had he brought?
“Gemma… I had my differences, as I was saying. What I don’t want…”
He put the chicken down, rinsed his hands and turned to face me, leaning back against the worktop.
“Look, this day is supposed to be for Jules and Bri, right? Mix and mingle a few friends, dig out the awkward photos, all that sort of thing. She’s head over heels, isn’t she?”
Keeping confidence was out the window, as I simply nodded. His smile was oddly sad.
“Thought so. How long has she, you know?”
“Fancied him? I suspect since she first saw him”
“Awkward. Anyway, he is a good-looking lad, so can’t blame her”
“Yes, but there’s more to it. She, well, me and her, we can both speak to this. He never, ever joined in with the shit she was getting, and then there was that day when he got the black eye”
“Sorry?”
“He came in with a black eye, from one of the rugbyanderthals”
Norman was looking more than a little off.
“Explain, please”
“Hannah-the-slut told us”
“Hannah with the curly hair and the margarine legs?”
“That’s the one. Said Bri had been defending what she called ‘the fairy’, and pointed at Jules”
“I see. She always was thicker than a constipated pig’s shit. Sorry to spoil the story, but that wasn’t over Jules. Brian did stick up for her, but that shiner was for other reasons”
He took a few slow breaths, then looked up again, or rather down, given his height.
“I will be kipping on the sofa tonight, as Bri tells me his spare bed is occupied. I assume that will be you. Could we please finish this discussion later, once we have fewer people about?”
Another slow breath.
“I have outed you, if only to myself. Lots to discuss; I would prefer some peace to do it in, if that’s okay. Now, I do believe Brian’s lover could do with a smile. Take these butterfly peri-peri breasts with you, and I’ll be out with the shish kofte skewers in a couple of minutes”
I was surprised at the sudden shutdown, but did as I was asked, realising as I delivered it all that I hadn’t actually tasted anything thus far. I filled a paper plate with a mixture of my veggie kebabs and several of Norm’s offerings before tossing a chop bone to a suitably ecstatic Diesel. Jules was in her now-usual position, joined at the hip to Brian, as a number of people asked them all the usual questions, so I ambled over, nibbling on the contents of one of Norm’s foil parcels—OOH! That’s nice!
Brian smiled at me, which was almost as nice, and Jules grinned.
“We have a couple more guests on their way. Gem. The people who do the security system. Oh dear how sad never mind!”
Brian snorted.
“Just hope we’ve got enough bloody food”
I did my best theatrical shrug.
“I wouldn’t worry. I suspect that cool bag Norm has is bottomless. Tried some of his feta? Nomtastic. Normtastic? Anyway, where are we with The Plot?”
Jules brightened up, giving Brian a hug that I suspected involved a squeeze of his backside, but then, who was I to judge? She was glowing with joy, and he was most certainly not pulling away. Brian was the one laughing, however.
“Well, apart from the camera people, Annie and Steph have each spoken to someone called Phil in South Wales, and he said he will speak to someone called Paula, and, and, and. Nobody’s guaranteeing anything, but if, well, someone said about making needlework as fine as possible when stitching someone up. Can’t argue with that!”
I couldn’t, in any way, but I was still wondering why Norm had pulled back on his comments about Hannah-whichever. Something felt rather off.
The afternoon proceeded in a manner that could be described as predictable only if you knew the people involved, especially when Annie, Steph and others produced a variety of musical implements and began implementing. I don’t think anyone cared about the style—it was happy, and more than competently played, and alcohol had been consumed. The camera people were a rather tweedy and elderly couple, but they had also brought supplies, in their case a variety of petits fours, fives and sixes, as well as even more booze.
Oh: and a couple of discs for later viewing.
Brian was a little anxious about that one.
“Don’t we need her permission, Naomi?”
Mrs Security had a surprisingly sharklike smile.
“Not only does the school have appropriate signage about our cameras, but it’s a place accessible by the general public. As such, there is no legal presumption of privacy. In short, no we sodding don’t”
Caroline was also grinning, in a remarkably similar manner.
“And we have another angle, folks. My beloved husband here has just spoken to some German friends with connections. They just need the right approach agreed”
Jules was the one to grunt her incomprehension, and the taller woman shrugged.
“It can either be ‘look what bigots they are in the UK’ or ‘sad racist bigot tries to undermine inclusion initiative’. I think we need a go/no go from the Head”
I held up a hand, breaking that rule about never volunteering. Then again, what Hannah had said about me in that phone call effectively made it more like being drafted than stepping forward.
“I’ll see him on Monday, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be the second option.. Mo? And Mo? Why the smirks?”
Our pilot was yet another channelling ‘Jaws’ that day.
“Oh, just setting something else up. I know where she lives”
Annie simply said, “And?”, which produced an even wider grin.
“And I have a mate from the Islamic Centre near the outlet shop. He has a corner shop. It’s not on a corner, but you take my meaning. And HIS mate, Mehmet, he runs the name-your-fast-food place next door. My own bloody flying monkeys are ready to soar, folks, once the press stuff is out”
I realised that Norm had actually joined us, standing just behind me, only announcing his presence with a hearty laugh.
“Any of you really spooks? This is like I imagine MI5 or whatever. Why weren’t you this capable when we were all at school?”
Jules looked him in the eye, smile gone.
“Not only were most of this lot at different schools, but some of us had other issues that sort of took all our attention”
Oh: of course. Rugby set; Norm wasn’t going to be on her list of happy memories. I needed a word with her at some point, but I could understand her reaction. She clearly remembered him in greater detail than myself. Brian whispered something to her, and then, to my delight, kissed her gently on the cheek. She reached up to stroke his cheek, then almost whispered a ‘sorry’ to Norm. I felt his hand drop onto my shoulder; a quick squeeze and away.
“Gem here has given me some background, Juliet, so no need. Entire ocean under the bridge since then, okay? Now, I’ve done a shitload of preparation here, so don’t mind me while I pig out for a bit”
He strolled off to the barbie, a bottle of beer in hand, to begin loading a plate, as a couple of Brian’s neighbours called very hinting greetings over opposite fences, and our numbers grew even more as the evening came on.
It had to end, of course, and various ‘designated drivers’ and non-drinkers began to gather their passengers as others helped to put the remaining food and drink away and stack dirty dishes in the sink and washer. Steph looked wistfully at the lawn.
“We do this next time at our place, Gem. With tents. Speaking of which, are you coming to the music event this year, at St Nick’s? Oh, and Merry tells me her hubby gas a sermon ready to go as well”
To my own astonishment, I burst out laughing.
“It’s like Norm said, love: bloody MI5”
“Well, I always say that if you intend to stitch someone up, ensure the needlework is competent and bloody thorough. We’re off, but keep us in the loop once things are running”
A hug, and gone, repeated until there were only four of us left. Brian started making a round of tea as Jules brought down some bedding for Norm, which told me exactly how much of a free run she had in the house. We sat and sipped, and I fought back my urge to giggle at her clock-watching: ‘is it time to go upstairs for a shag yet, or will these two think we’re sex mad?’ Eventually, I simply told the two of them that I knew my way, and still had tea in my mug, and they were gone. I felt some of my tension leave me as I turned to the big man.
“So, Norm. It’s later, now”
He nodded, a little unhappily.
“Right. It was… something you said earlier, okay? I missed a bit out. I was working for Thales, remember?”
“Yeah, and they moved, so you found work in Crawley”
“Not quite. I moved with them, cause I was married to another employee. Came back here when the marriage didn’t work out”
“You want to talk about why, or should we move on?”
“Ah, easier to explain. Adultery. Shagging another man, another colleague”
“Was it the cliché thing? She ended up with the house and labradoodle?”
“He got the house, yes, but paid me for my half”
What the actual fuck?
“Not a good look, Gem, a wide open gob. I suppose that’s the important point here, and it’s actually quite funny. Brian was indeed very vocal in defending Jules, and he got a lot of shit for it, but that black eye had nothing to do with her. Hannah got that completely wrong, as wrong as her claims about shagging him. I’m the fairy he was defending”