Chapter Five #2
‘I’m twelve – it’s perfectly acceptable to be kissing at twelve.
It’s another world of tragedy if you haven’t kissed anyone and you’re, I don’t know, thirteen.
’ She said ‘thirteen’ in a really exaggerated way and Luna went bright red, as if she was being filled with cherry aid at lightning speed. Emmett just laughed.
‘Plus, I got my period already,’ Mae carried on. ‘I’m practically of childbearing age.’
It was Luna’s turn to laugh now, as Emmett basically choked on his scone.
‘Ignore her,’ she told him. ‘Second child problems. As you know, she’s literally always this dramatic.’
They were almost at The Edge.
‘Nothing else exciting has happened really,’ she carried on their conversation. ‘I managed to get Mum to agree to me taking art at school next year. She wanted me to drop it.’
‘Mental.’ Emmett agreed because he knew how much she needed it.
‘I know. She thinks that Earl is a bad influence. Said that I’d end up living on a caravan park my whole life if I tried to be an artist.’
Luna glanced at Emmett quickly. He was frowning.
‘Not that there’s anything wrong with living in a caravan,’ she said and she meant it.
She’d rather live at The Edge than her house at home even though it had two garages and French doors into the garden.
To her, Earl was living the most perfect life.
He got to live here, in her favourite place in the world, surrounded by people he loved, and he got to paint too.
For Luna, it didn’t get more perfect than that.
Emmett had gone quiet. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘What are you taking?’ she asked him, forcing her voice to be cheerful.
‘Triple Science, Economics, French and Spanish.’
‘Mate,’ Mae said, ‘those are the worst subjects I ever heard in my life.’
He laughed, and Luna’s heart soared. There was nothing better than Emmett being happy. ‘I like them. Doing Critical Thinking with Mr Stubbins after school too.’
Emmett was clever, like crazy levels of clever.
He already knew the name of every single bone in the human body.
He got all these science books out of the library in a bus that came around sometimes, just so that he could learn more science, for fun.
And every year on his birthday, Earl bought him a subscription to National Geographic magazine.
Earl said that Emmett needed to learn to control his temper, though.
Because if he didn’t stop lashing out, it wouldn’t matter how clever he was – he’d get nowhere in life.
Luna hated the thought that Emmett might get nowhere in life.
It was one of the reasons she wanted him to be happy all of the time.
They made it to the drive that led down to the caravan park.
It was on the edge of a cliff – that’s why it was called The Edge.
Earl told Luna once that the people who built it thought that the views would make all sorts of rich people want to buy caravans there, but the drop put people off, so they just let any old person buy them for really cheap.
There was a sign, ‘Welcome to The Edge’, in fading white paint over the road that led to the park.
Luna thought it looked a bit like that one they had over Auschwitz, the one that said that work sets you free, so maybe that might have also had something to do with people not wanting to buy caravans there, too: the drop and the concentration-camp sign.
The path split once they passed the entrance. They took a left, passing caravans with washing lines hanging between them or toddlers toddling around at the front. They called hello to the people they saw. To Luna, it always felt like coming home, being here.
Some of the caravans were used just for summer. Emmett said you could tell those ones because they weren’t as bedded in. The permanent residents had plant pots and satellite dishes. The people on holiday had bikes and tubs to make sandcastles with.
Earl and Emmett’s caravans were right at the front of the park, looking over the cliff to the sea and the waves.
They liked to hang out there, looking out across the sea. The sea was one of the reasons why Luna wanted to move here when she was older. Plus Earl and Emmett, of course. Mae said she was in for any plan that put half the country between her and Mum.
Earl was sitting outside his caravan, wearing a faded suit and a top hat.
Mae took off at a run. ‘Earl!’ she called, launching herself at him.
‘Ah Mae, you’re looking all grown up. And you, Luna.’ He smiled, still with a hint of his French accent. He was missing a tooth, just at the side of his smile.
‘I know, right,’ Mae told him. ‘I got my period and everything.’
Earl laughed. ‘We’ve missed you both a lot, haven’t we Emmett?’
Emmett went red, but Luna was beaming. ‘We missed you too.’
Just as they were talking, the door to Emmett’s caravan opened.
Emmett’s caravan was probably the worst-looking one in the whole park.
There were no plant pots, and instead of the little curtains that the other caravans had, they just had some flattened cardboard boxes that Emmett’s mum never took down because the light hurt her eyes.
His mum was coming out, and Luna was sure she was way thinner than last year; her clothes sort of hung off her as if she were a coat hanger rather than a person.
Emmett froze as soon as he saw her. They all did except for Mae, who said, ‘Hiya Tanya, you’re looking well.’
Tanya ignored her. Instead, she fixed her eyes on Emmett.
‘Tell me what you’ve done with them.’
Emmett’s cheeks were red but he was frowning at her. He stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets and shrugged his shoulders. ‘I haven’t done anything with anything.’
‘You’re a lying little shit and you know it.’
Tanya launched at Emmett but tripped and landed in the scuffed-up grass between Earl’s caravan and her own.
‘Hey now.’ Earl knelt down next to her and started rubbing her back. ‘It’s alright.’
Luna felt helpless. She hated feeling helpless.
‘Makes Jennie look like mum of the year really,’ Mae said and Luna hissed at her to be quiet. Emmett’s mum was sitting up now, sobbing big sobs with her head between her knees.
‘Why don’t you and Luna go for a walk, Emmett? Mae and I can handle this, can’t we, Mae?’
‘That all depends on what you’ve got in that caravan of yours, Earl?’
‘Triple chocolate fudge cake?’ Earl raised an eyebrow.
‘Then lead the way. Come on, Tanya, let’s go eat. You look like you need it, to be honest.’
Emmett and Luna watched while Mae and Earl half walked, half carried his mum into Earl’s caravan.
Finally, they were on their own.