church – three good words

The first guests were already walking down the gravel path. Richter was waiting at the head, Angus next to him, laughing and grinning about something, slapping Richter’s back. Richter didn’t look too happy. Caden parked the car next to Matt’s and they all got out. Joan was all smiles for Richter, she basically loved him on first sight, straightening his tie and fiddling with his buttonhole as if Richter was Matt all over again.

‘My God, Tellis, thank God you’re here,’ Richter said once he got away from Joan. ‘Gus is driving me nuts, I don’t think he’s off whatever Matt gave him last night – I say, who’re you?’

Caden checked and saw Marla was actually right next to him, so he said, ‘Richter, Marla. Marla, Richter.’

Marla smiled politely and stretched out a hand, ‘Pleased to meet you.’ Richter took her hand and kissed it, he was worse than Matt sometimes.

‘My, my, Tellis, where have you been hiding this gem. What was your name again?’
‘Marla.’
‘There’s a singer out there isn’t there?’
‘Yes, but Marla’s just a nickname really.’

Caden almost said, ‘Since when?’ but Angus already joined them, laughing again, slapping Richter’s back before stopping altogether, staring at Marla and basically shouting,

‘Fuckin’ hell, you’re gorgeous! What’s your name, sweetheart?’

Marla looked nonplussed.

‘Gus, shut up,’ Richter frowned, annoyed. ‘I’m sorry, he has no manners. Please, come in – Gus, get off.’

Angus wasn’t listening.

‘Seriously, what is your name, gorgeous?’ but Marla already fled to Joan, not that Angus cared. ‘Fuck, Tellis, where’d you find that one?’ and in a lower voice, ‘Did you see those tits on her?’

Both Caden and Richter said, ‘Angus.’ together.

‘I’m just saying. Phenomenal. Does she have friends? Or sisters? Tell me she has a sister.’

Caden asked Richter, ‘How’s it been so far?’ Angus demanding, ‘She must have sisters. Tellis, tell me she has sisters.’

Richter sighed, ‘No meltdown yet, so we’re good. The flowers finally arrived so that’s a relief, and the padre’s here so we’re just waiting – Angus would you finally shut up?’
‘Seriously, Tellis, where did you find her?’

Caden moved to go inside, followed by Richter, but Angus wouldn’t have it, he actually held him back.

‘What?’
‘You and her. Is it serious?’
‘Hands off, Angus, I mean it.’
‘I fucking hate you so much. – Tell me that she at least has a sister.’

There was no point in fighting it. If he didn’t stop it now, the whole day would be like this, so Caden said,

‘She does and she’s in America with some tech-star fiancée, so forget it.’
‘She hot like yours?’
‘I don’t know, Gus, and I really don’t care.’
‘As if.’
‘So where’s Liza?’
Angus just grinned, ‘One dares to dream, Tellis, one dares to dream!’
‘She here?’
‘Of course she is. Up there somewhere getting manhandled by the stitches.’
‘Stitches?’
‘Steff’s bitches, they’re a whole hive.’

Angus grinned and Caden couldn’t help it, he did smile.

‘So how’s it going?’ Angus asked, sounding more like himself. ‘You’re place doing good?’
‘Yeah, it’s fine.’
‘How many bands d’you have signed anyway?’
‘A few.’
‘Richter said the last ones he heard were pretty good, where’d you get them all the time?’
‘They call, Gus, you know that.’
‘Just making small talk, mate, before the big man starts listening.’

They were in the church by then, the aisles slowly filling with guests, Marla standing a little to the side, scanning the windows and ceilings. Angus found out where he was looking and started again.

‘Fuckin’ hell, Tellis, look at that. Do me a favour will you, and fuck it up again.’
‘What?’
‘I want at least half a chance this time.’
‘What’re you talking about?’
‘What’s he on about now?’

That was Richter, coming down the aisle. Angus finally shut up.

‘Something’s on, Tellis,’ Richter said once he reached them. ‘Joan’s about to have a fit about something and I can’t make it out. By the way, are you bride or groom, your girl over there was a bit confused.’
‘Put me in bride otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it.’

Richter laughed, and before Caden could stop him, Angus ran off to Marla, all smiles once he reached her. Caden had no time to get irritated, he could already see Joan was… not pleased. Well, better get it over with now. He walked over.

‘Oh thank God, darling. Look at these flowers. Look at them. They’re dreadful! Who ordered this? Did that Richter woman start meddling again?’

Caden sighed, ‘They’re fine, Joan,’ but she wasn’t listening.

‘Pink! Pink roses! And those ghastly white things – oh, this is horrible –!’
‘Joan, they’re all right.’
‘All right? Flowers at a wedding aren’t supposed to be all right, darling, they’re supposed to be perfect, but apparently white was too sterile – sterile! That woman has no style –!’

It took him five minutes to calm her down, but he finally got her to see that the flowers weren’t the disaster she thought they were, so far no one had complained and Mrs Talbot-Hall had already told Richter how nice the set-up was. It was a complete lie, all he’d seen was the old crone look around and nod approvingly, but at least it calmed Joan down. With that sorted Caden went over to save Marla – except that Marla needed no saving. She was still standing where Angus found her, and they were laughing and smiling, Angus obviously gaining some decent ground. He’d have to warn her, but right then Sunny turned up right next to him, looking furious.

‘What?’
‘That. Woman.’
‘Which one?’
‘That mother of yours.’
‘Ok. What happened?’
‘She said she was glad I didn’t look like a prostitute this time. What a relief it was that you got me to dress well, she was already worried.’

Ah, yes. The old Joan vs. Sunny. Round five hundred probably.

‘I told you to stay away from her.’
‘She just turned up next to me, ranting about flowers!’ Sunny snapped.
‘You know how she gets at these things. Stay away from her.’
‘How’s that supposed to work if she just turns up like some harpy – oh, hi, Steve. Excited yet?’

Richter smiled at Sunny in a way Caden wished he didn’t. It was too obvious somehow. Caden had always had his suspicions, but he left it at that. It didn’t help to see them hug and kiss hello like that though.

‘So you came after all,’ Richter said after they finally parted.
‘Of course I came, I wouldn’t miss this for anything,’ Sunny grinned wide.
‘Sadist. She just came to see me slaughtered.’
‘You didn’t have to propose,’ Caden couldn’t help saying.

Richter laughed a loud, ‘Ha!’

‘Tellis, you mad? One more month and she’d have knifed me. It was life or death, mate, and I chose life. Come here, you, I need to put you somewhere before I start getting ideas.’

And off they went, Sunny giggling and Richter with that look that never meant anything good. They walked down the aisle and Caden turned around so he could legitimately say he had no idea where they went. Angus was still occupying Marla, but the pews were filling more and more, and the organ player had started a quiet solo to get people in the mood. There were hats and suits everywhere, people moving easily, steadily, filling up the space. The windows of this one were actually worth looking at, which reminded Caden of his camera, there was some seriously good light in here, and it’d be a great way to keep Steff quiet for a few months.

34 Willow Drive was a very tidy place, with a neat front garden and perfectly cut grass in the back. You took off your shoes before stepping into the main house, and you took your plate to the kitchen after dinner. Prayers were said before you ate, and on Sundays the whole family dressed up smartly and went to church where there were other families with Sunday clothes on.

In the beginning the other parents were very curious about Caden, and asked Mr and Mrs Corrigan questions, giving Caden pitying looks after those conversations. The children were more forward, asking him if his Dad really almost beat him to death and wanted to see his bruises. The Willow Drive children were fascinated, and Caden was thought to be tough and dangerous since he had survived such violence. Matthew and Stephanie, (who liked to be called Steff, with two fs), liked to brag and show off with him as long as Caden was a novelty. In school they introduced him as a cousin from far away who had a dark past that made everyone curious, but after a few weeks the latest computer game came out and there was Christmas to think of and Caden was like everyone else.

Matthew and Stephanie, who, after the excitement of novelty had worn off, realised that Caden was not a guest, but had actually come to stay, Matt and Steff lost their benevolence and did their best to ignore him. They enjoyed calling him Rice or Riceboy when their parents weren’t listening, simply because Caden liked rice. He’d never eaten it outside the curry shop, and they only went if Aunt Vicky remembered to. When allowed to join in their games, Caden was responsible for all the menial jobs. He was always the servant, the worker, the villain. He enjoyed being the Red Indian most. Others might have thought Matt and Steff’s behaviour mean, but Caden, who had never lived a day in peace at home since Mother left, who never knew how it was to have siblings, who had never had the opportunity of regular meals, clean clothes and a bed that didn’t turn into a trap if someone came home drunk and violent, Caden did not feel the effects of their behaviour until much later. In the beginning he was just content with having another life. He often looked to the sky and wondered if his mother had seen how bad things were and finally found a way to save him. He didn’t know. He went to church and heard about God, but what the Vicar said didn’t really interest him. Caden said the prayers at dinner and made sure to tie his tie correctly before church, (Aunt Vicky had shown him, mumbling there was nothing sillier than a man who couldn’t tie his own shirt, her cigarette hopping up and down while she talked, ashes flying everywhere) but otherwise that part of life at the Corrigan’s remained closed to him. Caden preferred thinking that his mother was on a cloud somewhere, or that the Force actually existed. To Caden at ten, that made much more sense.

Mr and Mrs Corrigan were what people called ‘steady’. They treated Caden as one of their family and never favoured him to their own children, nor their children to him. They worked hard, had strict schedules and did not like being interrupted if they were busy unless it was serious. Every Wednesday, Mrs Corrigan went to her bridge evening and on Thursday nights Mr Corrigan liked to play darts with his friends. He always came home smelling of cigarettes. The Corrigans were not the kind of happy couple you saw on TV, the kind that always laughed and cuddled their kids, living in the big shiny houses. They smiled if you did something well or patted your head. Physical contact, as they called it, was rare in the Corrigans’ house, even between Mr and Mrs Corrigan. They did not hug or cuddle Matt and Steff either, and Caden, who had had too much physical contact for his first ten years, Caden was relieved that no one would be touching him constantly like Aunt Vicky liked to do.

Speaking of Aunt Vicky, she always came at least once a year to see Caden after he moved to the Corrigans’. In the beginning Caden thought it a little tedious to have her come, but in later years he came to enjoy Aunt Vicky’s chaotic visits that always lasted a whole weekend. In his teens he discovered her great talent of making people laugh. She was someone who didn’t expect anything from you except to enjoy yourself and have a good time. She smoked, she drank, she was loud and what Mrs Corrigan called ‘vulgar’, but she was also the kind of person you could ask anything, and Caden took advantage of that when it came to those questions he would never ask the Corrigans. To them, the world was made up of fixed facts of good and bad, order and chaos, enemies and friends, and for a teen like Caden who knew how twisted and out of sync things could be, their answers were always lacking.

At least Aunt Vicky heard you out, maybe asking a few questions in this direction or that. Caden never fully understood them, but at least she asked. And she tended to let him come to his own conclusions. If it was good she smiled and nodded, if she thought it could do with some improvement, she would purse her lips like Mrs Corrigan and continue whatever she was doing. Another thing Caden enjoyed about Aunt Vicky was how she irritated Matt and Steff. They never knew how to take her. She wasn’t fashionable, but she was fun. She wasn’t posh, but she was funny. And she made Caden feel normal again. Having Aunt Vicky come visit always felt like a holiday, a three-day holiday outside his usual life in 34 Willow Drive and by the time Caden passed his GCSEs her visits weren’t something he would have wanted to miss.