Police

34

Aurora sat on the swing looking at the sun filtering through the leaves of the pear trees. At least, Dad stubbornly maintained they were pear trees, but no one had ever seen any pears on them. Aurora was twelve years old and a bit too big for a swing and a bit too big to believe everything her dad told her.

She had come home from school, done her homework and gone into the garden while Mum went to the shop. Dad wouldn’t be home for dinner; he’d started working long days again. Even though he’d promised her and Mum that now he would come home like other dads, he wouldn’t do police work in the evenings, just do his psychotherapy in his consulting room and then come home. But now he was working for the police after all. Neither Mum nor Dad had wanted to tell her exactly what it was he was doing.

She found the song she was looking for on her iPod, Rihanna singing that if he wanted her he should come and take a walk with her. Aurora stretched out her long legs to get more speed. The legs that had become so long she had to fold them underneath her or hold them up high so they wouldn’t drag along the ground under the swing. She would soon be as tall as her mother. She leaned her head back, felt the weight of her long, thick hair hanging from her scalp. So nice. Closed her eyes to the sun above the trees and the swing ropes, heard Rihanna singing, heard the low creak of the branch whenever the swing was at the lowest point. Heard another sound as well, the gate opening and footsteps on the gravel path.

‘Mummy,’ she called, not wanting to open her eyes, not wanting to move her face away from the sun which was so wonderfully hot. But she didn’t receive an answer and remembered she hadn’t heard a car pull up, hadn’t heard the hectic growl of her mother’s little blue dog kennel.

She dragged her heels along the ground, slowing the swing down until it was stationary, her eyes still closed, not wanting to abandon the wonderful bubble of music, sun and daydreams.

She felt a shadow fall across her and at once it was cold, like when a cloud passes in front of the sun on a chilly day. She opened her eyes and saw a figure standing over her, no more than a silhouette against the sky, with a halo round the head where the sun had been. And for a moment she blinked, confused by the thought that had struck her.

That Jesus was back. That he was standing here, now. And it meant that Mum and Dad were wrong. God really did exist, and there was forgiveness for all our sins.

‘Hello, little girl,’ the voice said. ‘What’s your name?’

Jesus could speak Norwegian if push came to shove.

‘Aurora,’ she said, squeezing one eye shut to see his face better. No beard or long hair, anyway.

‘Is your father at home?’

‘He’s at work.’

‘I see. So you’re on your own, are you, Aurora?’

Aurora was about to answer. But something stopped her; quite what, she didn’t know.

‘Who are you?’ she said instead.

‘Someone who needs to talk to your father. But you and I can talk. Since we’re alone, I mean. Can’t we?’

Aurora didn’t answer.

‘What kind of music are you listening to?’ the man asked, pointing to her iPod.

‘Rihanna,’ Aurora said, pushing the swing back. Not just to get out of the man’s shadow but to see him better.

‘Oh yes,’ the man said. ‘I’ve got lots of her CDs at home. Would you like to borrow some?’

‘I listen to the songs I haven’t got on Spotify,’ Aurora said, establishing that the man looked quite normal, at least there wasn’t anything particularly Jesus-like about him.

‘Oh yes, Spotify,’ the man said, crouching down, not just to be at her height but lower. It felt better. ‘You can listen to all the music you like then.’

‘Almost,’ Aurora said. ‘But I’ve got the free Spotify, and there are lots of ads between the songs.’

‘And you don’t like that?’

‘I don’t like the talking. It messes up the atmosphere.’

‘Did you know there are records where they talk and they’re the best songs?’

‘No,’ Aurora said, tilting her head, wondering why the man spoke so softly, it didn’t sound like it was his usual voice. It was the same voice that Emilie, her friend, used when she was asking Aurora for a favour, such as to borrow her favourite clothes, but Aurora didn’t like lending them because it was such a messy arrangement. You never knew where your clothes were.

‘You should listen to Pink Floyd.’

‘Who’s that?’

The man looked round. ‘We can go inside to the computer and I’ll show you. While we’re waiting for your dad.’

‘You can spell it for me. I’ll remember.’

‘Best to show you. Then I can have a glass of water at the same time.’

Aurora looked at him. Now that he was sitting below her she had the sun in her face again, but it didn’t warm her any more. Strange. She leaned back on the swing. The man smiled. She saw something glint between his teeth. As if the tip of his tongue was there and gone again.

‘Come on,’ he said, standing up. He held one of the ropes, at head height.

Aurora slipped off the swing and darted under his arm. Started walking towards the house. She heard his footsteps behind her. The voice.

‘You’ll like it, Aurora. I promise.’

Gentle, like a priest administering confirmation. That was Dad’s expression. Perhaps he was Jesus after all? But Jesus or not, she didn’t want him in the house. Still, she kept walking. What would she say to Dad? That she had stopped someone he knew coming in for a glass of water? No, she couldn’t do that. She walked more slowly to give herself time to think, to find an excuse for not letting him in. But she couldn’t find one. And because she slowed down he came closer, and she could hear his breathing. Heavy, as though the few steps he had walked from the swing had made him breathless. And there was a weird smell coming from his mouth that reminded her of nail varnish remover.

Five paces to the doorsteps. An excuse. Two paces. The doorsteps. Come on. No. They were at the door.

Aurora swallowed. ‘I think it’s locked,’ she said. ‘We’ll have to wait outside.’

‘Oh?’ the man said, gazing round from the top step, as though searching for Dad somewhere behind the hedges. Or neighbours. She felt the heat from his arm as it stretched across her shoulder, grabbed the door handle and pushed it down. It opened.

‘Well, hello,’ he said, and he was breathing faster now. And there was a light quiver to his voice. ‘We were lucky there.’

Aurora faced the doorway. Stared into the darkened hall. Just a glass of water. And this music with the talking that didn’t have any interest for her. In the distance there was the sound of a lawnmower. Angry, aggressive, insistent. She stepped inside.

‘I have to. .’ she began, came to an abrupt halt, and at that moment felt his hand on her shoulder, as though he had crossed a line. Felt the heat of his hand where her shirt stopped and her skin started. Felt her little heart pounding. Heard another lawnmower. Which wasn’t a lawnmower but an excitedly purring little engine.

‘Mummy!’ Aurora shouted and squirmed out of the man’s grip, dived past him, jumped down all four steps, landed in the gravel and raced off. Shouting over her shoulder:

‘I have to help with the shopping.’

She ran to the gate, listened for footsteps coming after her, but the crunch of her trainers on the gravel was almost deafening. Then she was at the gate, tearing it open and watching her mother get out of the little blue car in front of the garage.

‘Hi, sweetheart,’ Mum said, looking at her with a quizzical smile. ‘That was quite a turn of speed.’

‘There’s someone here asking for Dad,’ Aurora said, realising the gravel path was longer than she thought, she was out of breath anyway. ‘He’s on the steps.’

‘Oh?’ Mum said, passing her one of the bags from the rear seat, slamming the door and walking with her daughter through the gate.

No one was on the steps, but the front door was still open.

‘Has he gone inside?’ Mum asked.

‘Don’t know,’ Aurora said.

They went into the house, but Aurora stayed in the hallway, close to the open door while her mother continued past the living room towards the kitchen.

‘Hello?’ she heard her mother call. ‘Hello?’

Then she was back in the hall, without the shopping bags.

‘There’s no one here, Aurora.’

‘But he was here. I promise you!’

Mum looked at her in surprise and laughed. ‘Of course he was, sweetheart. Why wouldn’t I believe you?’

Aurora didn’t answer. Didn’t know what to say. How could she explain that it might have been Jesus? Or the Holy Spirit. At any rate, someone not everyone could see.

‘He’ll turn up again if it was important,’ Mum said, going back to the kitchen.

Aurora stood in the hallway. That sweet, stale smell, it was still there.