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Arthur loves it when Mum comes to visit, he really does. Douglas takes both of them to the park and there’s ice cream and sometimes chips that they all share out of one packet. Afterwards, they’ll all go to the play park and Douglas and Mum take turns pushing Arthur on the swings or pushing him round and round on the roundabout until his eyes spin and he’s all giggly. Yes, Arthur definitely likes it when his mum comes to visit him.
Usually Douglas would tell Arthur about the visit at breakfast time. Mum would ring the doorbell just after his morning snack but before lunch time and then Douglas would take him out into the hall so that they can answer the door together. They would have a cup of tea in the kitchen (Arthur would have orange squash) and they would talk about boring, grown up things before they went out.
However today, Douglas hasn’t said anything about his mum coming to visit and it’s just after lunch when the doorbell rings. Arthur is upstairs playing aeroplanes with Martin and they both ignore the door in favour of continuing their game, it is a very good game. It’s only when they hear Douglas’ surprised tone that Martin looks up and it’s not until Arthur hears the softer tones of the reply that he realises who it is, “Mum!”
Arthur drops the toy aeroplane he’s holding and runs for the stairs, “Mum mum mum mum mum!” It’s a surprise visit! They can go to the park and have ice cream and maybe chips! Arthur can hear Martin following behind him, curious to see what’s going on, he hasn’t met Arthur’s mum yet. Arthur is sure that Mum will like him though, he’s really nice and he shares all his toys with Arthur too! “Mum!” He’s partway down the stairs, slower now because he hasn’t quite gotten used to each foot separately on the steps. When he gets to the bottom one, he jumps of and looks up at the open front door and sees, “Mum?”
She doesn’t look like she normally does; usually she has make up on to look prettier and she wears a nice top and skirt. But today she has big bruises around her eyes and her lip is bleeding a little bit, she has a jumper on that’s been ripped down one sleeve and her trousers are all dirty too. Arthur bites his lip and grabs onto her leg. She reaches down to pat his head, wincing as she does so. Arthur hears Martin gasp and then turn and run back up to his room, he slams the door behind him. Arthur remembers that Martin doesn’t like blood; it makes him go all wobbly and fall over. He wants to go upstairs to check that Martin is alright but then he’ll have to leave Mum downstairs, what if she went when he wasn’t there? He sniffles.
Douglas turns to Mum and says gently, “You take Arthur through to the kitchen, I’ll be there in just a moment,” and then he walks past them and up the stairs. That’s alright; Douglas will make Martin feel better. He’s very good at that.
Mum untangles Arthur from her leg and takes his hand. She guides him towards the kitchen and when they get there, she collapses almost gratefully in one of the chairs. Arthur scrambles up onto her lap and sits across it; she wraps her arms around him and leans her head down against his. Arthur can see dark bruises on her arms as well, he covers one with his hands, “Hurt?”
“Not so much anymore.” She smiles and kisses the top of his head with her poorly lip,
“Better now?”
“Yes, dear, nearly better now.” Arthur smiles and sticks his thumb in his mouth, Douglas tells him not to do it but he doesn’t think Mum will mind. He doesn’t think that they’ll be going to the park today though, it doesn’t really matter; there’ll be other days when they can all go to the park together, today is for resting Arthur decides as he slips into a doze.
Douglas comes into the kitchen a while later, “Sorry,” he says to Carolyn, “Martin wasn’t expecting that, so it was a bit of a shock.” He looks at her bruises again, “I take it you’ve left him, then?”
Arthur’s mum nods stiffly and then looks down at Arthur, “This was the last straw; I’ll look into getting divorce papers tomorrow.”
Douglas nods, “Good, that’s the least the bastard deserves.” Arthur looks up, Douglas said a naughty word! Douglas never ever says naughty words!
“I bloodied his nose this morning too,” she smiles, “And I’ve got my eye on that little aeroplane he has at the airfield, I could probably wrangle it in the divorce settlements, use it as a charter jet. I could make a business out of it.”
“If you’re sure,” Douglas doesn’t look happy, Arthur isn’t sure why because it sounds like Mum is going to get an aeroplane and that would be brilliant!
“Why wouldn’t I be sure? I’ll need a job now anyway, why not that?”
Douglas sighs, “You’re just so young.”
Arthur never really thought about how old his mum was; she was just Mum. She looks the same age as Douglas’ grown-up daughter who visits them from university (Martin told Arthur it was a school where the grown-up children can go to). Arthur’s mum doesn’t go to university though; she lives in a little flat with Arthur’s dad, or did, Arthur isn’t sure where Mum is living now. Arthur’s dad isn’t as nice as his mum; he’s short and fat and has a horrible, scowly face. He was always mean to Mum even though she kept the flat really tidy and she even cooked them all dinner every single day! Sometimes they would shout in the night, it used to wake Arthur up and he’d cry and cry and cry until Dad came in and shouted at him too. Arthur hasn’t seen him since he’s gone to live with Douglas and he’s glad of it.
“I am perfectly capable of looking after myself,” she replies shortly,
“I’m not saying you aren’t, but are you capable of looking after Arthur?” Douglas leans back in his chair, “You don’t actually have anywhere to live at the moment, do you?”
“I won’t be able to look after him immediately, but eventually I’m hoping that I’d be financially stable enough to have him live with me permanently.” She looks down at Arthur, “You’d like to come and live with me, wouldn’t you, Arthur?” Arthur beams up at her,
“Yes! Yes lots and lots!” Arthur wriggles happily, “Yes please!”
Douglas sighs again and runs a hand over his face, “I take it you’ll want to spend the night here then, Carolyn?” Arthur looks over at him. Mum can stay here all night? All night long? With no shouty arguments that make him cry?
“If that’s alright with you,” she responds, “I appear to be lacking a house at this current moment in time.” Douglas laughs then, Arthur copies him. He likes it when everything is happy again. Sad things are no good at all; they should just be banned from all the world and everywhere, “Thank you.”