I knew the best way to stop replaying my encounter with Mum, each time imagining increasingly convoluted conversations that brought me no sense of satisfaction whatsoever, was to keep pushing forwards. After a day of meetings and admin, followed by Nesbit dragging me around the woods for half an hour, I sat and pondered the Dream List, wondering which item to tackle next.
Something simple, and stress-free, given the tender state of my heart. Item one was perfect.
I decided to wait until Friday, given that I had a new reader on Wednesday to prep for, and Yasmin had insisted on meeting me in the park on Thursday for some puppy training (‘No, it isn’t fine and you can’t sort it yourself and if we wait any longer you’ll have trained him to do everything youdon’twant.’)
That also gave me enough time to make sure I could create the type of evening I’d intended when I originally added it to the list. I was going to cross off item one in style.
* * *
But before then, I met with my third new reading client in the library. Jaxx was fairly typical for ReadUp. He’d left school at sixteen with no qualifications and no aspirations beyond hanging out with his mates and having a laugh. However, a few years on he’d learnt that having no money was no joke. He was bored and his parents were always on his case. It was time to grow up.
‘So, Jaxx,’ I asked, once I’d shown him to my usual table. ‘What are you hoping to get out of this?’
He shrugged. ‘I want to set up my own business.’
‘Okay, that sounds interesting. What kind of business?’
‘Like, sellin’ stuff and that.’
‘What type of stuff?’
Jaxx sat up in his chair; he held up his hands as if displaying an imaginary sign to accompany his grand announcement. ‘Nomato!’
He then sat back, grinning slyly as though he’d just revealed a hitherto unknown secret of the universe.
‘Nomato? I’ve never heard of that.’
His grin grew. ‘That’s because I’m ahead of the game.’
‘So… what is it?’
‘A substitute for tomato sauce, innit? Only without any tomato.’
‘Of course!’
‘Cheaper, tastier, one hundred per cent laboratory manufactured, so no need to rely on natural ingredients once the environment’s gone whack. No stress about tomatoes going rotten, stuff like that. Don’t need to keep it in the fridge or nothin’. And it lasts for years.’
‘Wow. Did you invent this yourself?’
‘Nah. A gaming mate told me about it. He’s sold bucketloads where he’s from, in Russia. People can’t get enough of it. Raking it in.’
‘And it tastes better than actual tomato sauce?’
He pulled out a tiny jar, like the type a hotel might use for individual jam pots, and reverently placed it on the table. ‘Tasting is believing.’
‘Um. Thank you. But we aren’t allowed to consume our own food or drink in the library.’
I could see Irene’s nostrils twitching from here.
‘Take it home, try it later. You can use it on anything – pizza, pasta, stick it in a curry. Use it as a dip, or in burgers or wraps – literallyanythingtastes better with a dollop of Nomato.’
I took the sample. ‘There’s no list of ingredients or nutritional information.’
‘Nah, that’s just a prototype, innit. Most of the ingredients people here wouldn’t understand anyway.’
‘I think you still need to list them, by law. There’s quite a lot of regulations involved with importing and selling food.’
Jaxx winked. ‘That’s where you come in, so I can figure all that out before I invest any more capital. Get my website set up. And I need to read the fine print when I’m making serious deals. I don’t want no one taking advantage because I was too busy developin’ my social game in school to bother with books.’
