The Piper

SEVENTEEN




Olivia told herself that she was humoring Teddy when she agreed to take Winston to work the next morning. Her daughter had seemed happy when Olivia picked her up from school, checking carefully that Winston was safe in the car. She had news of Mr Ogden, who had brought in an aquarium and introduced them to a gecko named Eduardo. It would appear that geckos ate crickets and worms, loved honey, communicated with chirps and had special toe pads to help them walk across ceiling tiles. Mr Ogden was very hands on when it came to science.

‘Because,’ Teddy said, ‘Mr Ogden says that science is how you understand the world.’

Olivia looked up from her computer screen at her daughter, who was curled up reading. Teddy’s color was good, there was no fever and she seemed her usual self except that she had refused her after school snack. Even McNuggets from McDonald’s didn’t tempt her.

Olivia’s office was shaping up. It was good to have her own desk, photos of Teddy on the wall, and the special client chair that Teddy helped pick out in the far left corner of the room.

Teddy had seemed so afraid, in the night, but back to her usual self today. Was it possible that once her cousin Janet planted the ghost stories in Teddy’s mind, she was using them to get attention from her dad?

Olivia knew the attention seeking was fallout from the divorce, but she missed the old Teddy, the quiet child who entertained herself. When she was little she had spent hours quietly coloring, using two crayons only, pink and yellow. Olivia herself had gone through a pink and yellow phase at the same age – she wondered if that kind of thing could be genetic.

She did not like not trusting Teddy, did not like wondering if Teddy was sliding away into lies and drama. Olivia reminded herself that Teddy was only eight years old. That this was the third time she had changed schools. It was the adults who were having the drama. Teddy needed structure, patience, and a firm but loving hand. She needed stability in her life.

Robbie gave them a cold glance from the hallway as she headed toward the shredder in the back.

The figures on the screen began to waver and jump, which always happened when Olivia got tired or stressed. ‘Shut the door, will you, Teddy?’

Teddy folded a page of the book and set it on the floor. ‘Good idea. That person doesn’t like me.’

‘What person?’

‘Mrs Arliss. She gives me funny looks.’

‘If she doesn’t like it, too bad.’

‘Yeah, ’cause you’re the boss.’

Olivia smiled but her stomach was tight. She was on very shaky ground. Kids at work were questionable enough, but dogs were strictly against corporate policy, and Olivia wondered if having Winston in the office could get her fired. Robbie had been very unhappy when Winston had chugged through the back door with her that morning, though he had been good as gold and only barked once. Robbie did not seem to be an animal lover. Admittedly, there was a certain amount of shedding, but that was what vacuum cleaners were for. Olivia wondered if putting Winston in a UT football jersey would help.

‘Can we go back to California, Mommy?’

‘No, Teddy, we live here now.’

‘I miss Daddy.’

Olivia nodded. ‘I know you do. Why don’t you call him tonight, after we get home from work.’

Olivia’s cell phone rang.

‘Maybe that’s Daddy. Maybe he knows I needed him to call.’

‘No, it’s Dr Amelia. She told me she wanted to talk to you today, when you got home from school.’ Olivia handed Teddy the phone.

‘Hello?’ Teddy stood at attention right by Olivia’s desk. ‘Yes. Yes. Okay. Uh huh. His name is Mr Ogden.’ Teddy turned pink. ‘You might say so.’

Olivia wondered what Amelia had said.

‘We have a lizard in our class room, his name is Eduardo. No, he doesn’t have a last name, or if he does, Mr Ogden didn’t tell us. What?’ Teddy crossed the room and picked up her book. ‘No, it’s The Ghost of Blackwood Hall, I finished The Secret of the Old Clock ages ago.’

Teddy slumped suddenly, shoulders sagging, little tummy poked out. ‘No, ma’am. No, ma’am. No, there aren’t any red leather belts in the book. They don’t hurt animals in Nancy Drew.’

Teddy snapped the phone shut and slammed it down on the edge of Olivia’s desk.

‘Didn’t she want to talk to me?’ Olivia asked.

‘I hung up.’

‘Teddy.’

Teddy grabbed her Nancy Drew book and threw it at the wall.

Olivia stood up. ‘Teddy. What’s the matter with you?’

‘You told her, Mommy. You told Dr Amelia about Duncan Lee and she said it was all a dream. It was supposed to be private, just between you and me, and now we’re all going to get it, because he told me not to tell.’