Perfect People

130

Naomi clutched John. Her eyes danced with happiness, but also with a thousand questions. ‘Is this real, darling? It’s not a hoax?’

‘It’s a real email,’ he replied. ‘But I can’t tell who sent it.’

‘Can’t you find out where it’s from? Its source or something?’

‘It’s a Hotmail account. You can set one up in a couple of minutes from any internet cafe in the world. It won’t be traceable.’ He shrugged. ‘Who knows if it is real – but it would be a pretty sick practical joke.’

‘Do you think they’re coming home? Permanently?’ she asked.

‘I’ve no idea.’ He stared at the email again, reading the short message carefully. ‘They’ll be coming up to their twelfth birthdays. Who knows what their mindsets will be. Maybe they’ve outgrown the island, or perhaps they want to go to university here. Perhaps they’re just curious to see us. Or maybe they’ve been sent to teach us some lessons about how we should be shaping the world.’

‘I’ll have to make the spare beds up – they’ll have way outgrown their original little beds. What about food? What shall we get them?’

‘We could ask them when we see them. Maybe they’d like a treat, something different to the wholesome food they’d be getting on the island. McDonald’s or something?’

She kissed him on the cheek and put her arms around him and clung to him tightly. ‘God, oh God! I sooooo hope they are coming back to live with us. That we can be a family again. Wouldn’t that be incredible?’

John squeezed her arm. ‘Don’t get your hopes up too high, we have no idea what they will be like nor what their agenda is. It’s a pretty cold email. No love or kisses.’

‘We never have had love of that kind, from them.’

‘Exactly.’

‘But I think they do love us, in their own weird way.’

John said nothing.

‘Please don’t let this be a hoax, John. I couldn’t bear it. I’m so excited. I just can’t believe it, I really can’t!

‘Let’s see.’

She stroked his forehead. ‘Aren’t you just a teeny bit excited?’

‘Of course I am! I guess I’m in shock. And at the same time, you know, I-’

He hesitated.

‘You what?’ she asked.

‘I’m nervous. I don’t know what to expect. Maybe they need money – isn’t that why kids go and see their parents most of the time? They’re getting to an age now where they probably want to start buying stuff. You know, music, clothes.’

‘They’re not teenagers yet,’ Naomi replied.

‘Dettore said they would have accelerated growth and maturity. They may still only be eleven, but my guess is they’re going to look like advanced teenagers.’

Naomi stared at the bald wording of the email. ‘That reads like – like we just haven’t seen them for a few days. As if they’ve been away on holiday – it’s so strange to send that and no more after eight years.’

John smiled wistfully. ‘The sad thing is, I don’t find it strange at all. That’s how they always were. Clearly nothing’s changed in the manners department.’

‘Are we even going to recognize them?’

‘Of course. And, if for any reason we don’t, Luke and Phoebe are sure as hell going to recognize us.’