CHAPTER 16 WALKING AND RUNNING!

 

As mad as my decision was, I didn’t have a better idea. It was impulsive, intuitive, and every other adjective instead of Sane.

I ran towards the noise, my face creased with anger, at something I couldn’t see but was certain was there, coming towards me. Fists clenched, arms wide and roaring my head off, at something I could only hear coming my way. I had no idea where what was walking towards me was, but I remember the freezing patch of air I hit. I passed through what felt like ice and stopped. I felt like I had just stepped out of a freezer. Looking behind me I could see what appeared to be a distortion in the air. Then, slowly, it faded. Everything I saw through the haze, the doors, the office, was bent a little out of shape. It was like looking through a prism, and then it was gone. Everything was back to normal.

I just stood there, waiting. Nothing. No response, no noise, no reaction, nothing. I walked back, retracing my steps to the office and sat down in a chair next to the radiator. I was slowly warming up again when I heard John and Derek coming back down the corridor I had just run down. As if I needed confirmation, I stared at their feet. They were both wearing trainers, not shoes. Their feet made no sound. I wasn’t insane.

John made his goodbyes after Derek reassured me that he was ready take over from him. It wasn’t a difficult job, as I said before, it was ‘reactionary’. You dealt with what happened on a daily bases. I knew a lot about that. Anything could happen at a moment’s notice. I knew a lot about that too.

I shook hands with John and wished him good luck in his new role in East Ham as I walked him to the front door for the last time.

“I filled Derek in on what’s happened here Dave.” He said, “He had heard a lot from others in the council. It’s quite common knowledge it seems.”

I nodded, as I had been asked by at least 8 other caretakers and assistants about it so it was no surprise.

Every time we went to the Pyramid Building in Stratford to pick up our wages quite a few people I did not know nodded to me and the occasional whispering happened. Some even gave that pitying big grin that people use at funerals as if it conveys a message of ‘I understand what you are going through’.

I waved John off and he got to the end of Deanery road, turned around and looked back, waving. and giving me a double thumbs up.

As I waved back I noticed he looked to the right at the windows in the offices and staffroom on the ground floor of the school. Something had caught his eye. He backed away, around the corner of Water Lane towards the Romford road and he was gone. I never once saw him take his eyes off the school. He was staring at something.

I stepped back into the large Foyer and thought about locking the front door but thought better of it.

I walked back to the office and found Derek had made a cup of tea for us. We sat there in silence for a while. I kept thinking about John staring at the windows in the offices.

“I’ve got a dog. Only a little one. A Jack Russell. Would it be OK if I brought him in with me if I am doing a letting? He’s no trouble. If I give him a ball he amuses himself for hours.”

I was still miles away but had heard him. I knew dogs were very intuitive and picked up on all sorts of things.

“I think that’s an excellent idea, Derek. An excellent idea!”

“Thanks, Cheers!” he said clinking our mugs.

“What’s his name?” I asked.

“Bruce!” He said with pride.

“Well, here’s to Bruce!” I said. “Cheers!”

Yes. This was an excellent idea!