He didn’t say thank you but looked at the money angrily. ‘That won’t get me far.’
‘It’s enough. I need the rest for our food,’ said Ellen.
‘How am I supposed to get lunch with that?’
‘I made you a sandwich.’
‘What’s in it?’
‘Marmite. It’s all we’ve got.’
‘I don’t want a Marmite sandwich,’ Joe roared suddenly, and he snatched the tinfoil package from Ellen and threw it, splat, on the floor.
Ellen looked furious.
‘You ungrateful PIG,’ she yelled. ‘I’ve given you money, I’ve ironed your shirt and I’ve made you a sandwich. Now you chuck it on the floor.’
I knew what was going to happen next, and it did.
Jessica grabbed the Marmite sandwich between her teeth and reversed out of the cat flap with it.
‘Serves you right,’ said Ellen. ‘I’m not making another one.’
Joe wrenched the door open, his eyes glittering with rage.
‘Don’t call ME a pig! I happen to like a pint and a pasty for my lunch, if you weren’t too mean to give me the money.’
‘What you mean issix pints and a pasty,’ said Ellen. ‘I thought you were going to look for work, Joe? You keep off the drink when you’re driving.’
‘Yeah, yeah. Stop nagging me, woman.’
Joe looked at Ellen as if he hated her. A glow of strength came into Ellen’s eyes. I felt like cheering. The real Ellen was back, good and bright and very stubborn. She marched to the caravan door and stood there like a warrior, her golden hair rippling in the wind. Beside her was the tallest of angels, its brilliance sparking across the grass and lighting up the moisture that hung from the trees, turning the raindrops into fairy lights. The angel brandished a sword of light and stuck it into the earth between Joe and Ellen. I could see the jewelled handle sparkling and I heard the angel cry out, ‘It is done.’
Ellen looked ready to explode with the words she wanted to scream at Joe. But the angel had wrapped a shimmering cloak around her, and she stayed silent. She turned her back on Joe, swept into the caravan and shut the door.
‘Sanctimonious cow,’ he yelled and flung himself into the car, fired the engine and left in a screech of tyres. Meanwhile, Jessica stayed under the caravan picking the tinfoil off the Marmite sandwich in little strips of silver.
I followed Ellen into John’s bedroom, and his teddy bears had a conspiratorial twinkle in their eyes as if they shared some secret knowledge. Ellen sat down on John’s bed with me on her lap. She didn’t say a word but just rocked me and stroked my tingling fur, her hands moving from my head to the tip of my tail.
We stared out of the window at a hard shower of rain which passed over, leaving a dark cloud with a beautiful rainbow. Ellen seemed to stop breathing as she gazed at it, and then she began to tell me a story.
‘They say that a rainbow is a promise, Solomon,’ she said in her bewitching storytelling voice. ‘And there’s a legend that the rainbow is really a bridge, and when dogs and cats die they go over the rainbow bridge into a beautiful land where they wait for their loved ones to join them. Whenyou die you’ll wait for me, won’t you Solomon?’
I purred and stretched my paws out, one on each side of her neck as if I was hugging her. Today she needed me to be extra loving. But when Ellen told me why, I didn’t believe her. I thought it was part of the story.
‘I’m going away, Solomon, with John, and I can’t take you …’ She started to cry. ‘I can’t take you. No one will let me have a cat, and I have to leave Joe, Solomon, I have to. Do you understand?’
I did, but I didn’t believe her.
‘I want you to stay here, Solomon, and wait for me, like the cats by the rainbow bridge. You and Jessica must stay here. And when I’ve found a place, I’ll come back for you and … and we’ll be together again. I promise.’
I purred and snuggled into her neck, but still I didn’t believe her.
Everyone except me seemed to know what was going to happen that day. My angel tried to talk to me but I wouldn’t listen. It was something I didn’t want to face.
Suddenly Ellen put me down. She rummaged in her handbag and fished out a plastic card with numbers and letters on it. She stared at it for long minutes. She turned on some loud music and pranced around, picking things up and piling them on the table. She opened a cupboard and dragged out a big bag, unzipped it and put the stuff inside.
Ellen put some of John’s toys into another bag. His shoes and wellies, his pyjamas and two teddies were stuffed in and zipped up. Ellen lugged the two bags outside and hid them under the caravan. She spread a map out on the table and studied it, talking on the phone with the plastic card in her other hand. She kept looking at me, and several times I heard her asking ‘Do you take cats?’ and the funny little voice inside the phone was saying, ‘No.’
Joe came back in an ugly temper. He chucked the car keys on the table and headed for the fridge.
‘Don’t ask,’ he growled at Ellen. ‘Just let me have a drink.’
He didn’t kiss her or ask how she was. He didn’t even look at her.