If things carried on like this, I’d be the one paying Arthur to sortmylife out.
* * *
On Saturday, there was no football match due to it being the Jubilee weekend. Isaac was working and Arthur was out with Elsa, so after faffing around until almost lunchtime, I plucked up my courage and asked Elliot if he wanted to come on a walk with me.
‘No. Thank you.’ He kept his eyes on the video game, jerking the controller as he shot at some baddies. There was barely a trace of the man who’d been shopping with me the day before.
‘Are you going to play this all day?’
‘Probably.’
‘You don’t want any lunch, or a drink or…’
He swore, dropping the controller into his lap in frustration at the game.
‘Or some company, at all? I know how to control a joystick.’
‘I’m fine.’
He immediately started playing again.
‘Really?’ I took a deep breath. I wasn’t about to give up. ‘Because you’ve been in that chair for nearly five hours, so I’m wondering if you’ve lost track of time, or forgotten to set a reminder on your phone to stop and eat. You didn’t get up to make Friday breakfast yesterday…’
‘I’m very sorry I had a lie in, and you didn’t get your breakfast.’ More beeps and blasts as Elliot continued staring at the screen.
‘That’s not what I’m saying! I’m worried because I don’t think youarefine. This isn’t about me.’
‘Really? This isn’t part of the fix-Elliot project? Because I don’t need you trying to fix me, Jessie. If you hadn’t realised yet, I’m unfixable. I certainly don’t need you monitoring whether I’ve eaten or not.’
I fled the room before he could hear me burst into tears.
* * *
Sunday, at the picnic, I asked Isaac if he thought Elliot was okay.
‘Of course he’s not okay. Have you heard that some of the parents have started a petition to get him kicked off the team?’
‘How do we help him?’
‘I don’t know.’ Isaac shrugged. ‘Nothing much we can do until the club committee make a decision. You have to admit, the team wasn’t going that well. Maybe it’s best to let it go.’
‘The team was going brilliantly!’ I shook my head in annoyance. ‘The difference it made to those boys can’t be measured in goals or matches.’
‘Maybe not.’ Isaac looked apologetic. ‘But in the real world, it’s results that matter.’
‘So, if they won a match, that would count in Elliot’s favour?’
‘Jessie, if by some miracle they didn’tlosea match, that would be a start.’
So, I had a new mission. Firstly, I needed to get Elliot to agree to re-enter the Harriers in the Sherwood Forest Cup in a month’s time, where twelve local teams would play two matches each in the first round, the winners then progressing to the quarterfinals. Secondly, the Houghton Harriers under nines needed to draw one of those matches.
I wasn’t sure which of those tasks would be harder.
33
I initiated the first stage of my plan the very next day. It was the trial animals’ day at the Barn, and I was confident that it couldn’t fail to lift even Elliot’s spirits. We had six puppies in the morning, all of whom were undergoing training to be various types of support dog, along with their owners, who were more than happy to sit about in the sunshine while other people petted and played with their animals. Penny was also there, making a point of saying hello to every single person in turn, in between checking that Elliot was coping with the noise and busyness.
Initially I felt as concerned as his dog about his stiff shoulders, the tight smile, but once Mum had shooed him to a quiet corner, beside an older man nodding off with a Yorkshire Terrier in his lap, he eventually sat back and started to ease into himself again.
