Putty

My mother was not cast in stone but something malleable and occasionally combustible. Some days she was the life and soul of the party, others the spectre at the feast.  She was benign one day, and a raging storm the next.  She once, in anger, hit my sister with a cucumber (the nearest thing to hand), and then hit her again because it broke. That was my mother in a nutshell.

I 'd lie in bed in the morning listening for the signs of her mood for the day: the way she moved about the kitchen, the crash and bang of the utensils and the speed of her step as the breakfast cereal made its way to the table, the tone she used to rouse us, the swearing if inanimate objects refused to bend to her will. It sometimes helped, but often she could turn on a sixpence: a shrug of a shoulder from one of us, a misdirected sigh and wham, we were on a different track.  She was unpredictable.

One summer holiday day, my brother K, my sister KM and me were arranged in a police style line-up in the kitchen. The baby, T, was still in his pram - I honestly believe he'd have joined us if he had mastered standing.

"Who did it?" she asked.

We looked from one to the other - there was a dangerous silence.  No one wanted to say anything.  She walked in front of us, staring closely at each of us in turn as though she would need to identify us at a later stage. We were clearly guilty criminals.

"I know it was one of you," she said.

We none of us spoke.  It was potentially fatal to jump before being pushed.  And besides, the exact nature of the accusation had not been revealed. I tried to look innocent.  I was innocent.

"That mark in the putty," she began her walk in front of us again: up and down.

In turn, we each denied it.  At first, I didn't even know what putty was.  And it didn't seem a good time to ask.

"In the greenhouse window pane. The new one. A fingerprint." My mother looked down the line-up. I looked at KM.  She looked steadfastly forwards. K seemed more nonchalant.

"It wasn't me," he said.

"Or me!" KM half shouted.

"Well?"  My mother said, leaning over towards me.  She should have been in the Gestapo.

"I didn't do it."  I hadn't either.

"I suppose it was Mr Bloody Nobody, was it?"  There was not a hint of humour in her tone.

"I've had enough of you all," she said with controlled contempt.  "I'm leaving.  And I'm not coming back."  She paused.  "Tell them to look for me in St Andrew's dock."

You can read the rest here