CHAPTER 5
Walking Harry the next morning is when I notice the snowman in our garden has moved. Not much. Almost imperceptibly, in fact. There can only be a few inches in it, but he’s definitely a bit further left than he was yesterday. A bit closer to the door.
I walk outside and stare at him. I don’t know what I’m expecting. Maybe for him to jump up and down waving his stick arms about and shouting, “Hi! I’m alive! I moved in the night! Hah!”
Er. Yeah, maybe not.
A quick trip down the street makes me think that our snowman is not the only one to have moved in the night. It’s very hard to judge, and I have to question my sanity in even thinking it, but I think the neighbours’ snowmen have moved too. Not very far, just like ours hasn’t. Enough that you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t looking for it.
But I swear they’ve moved.
They’ve all moved.
I’m still thinking about the snowmen as I head over to the mall as school finishes that night. It’s cold and I pull my stripy scarf closer around my neck as I look up at the sky that is almost dark even though it’s not even four pm yet.
The mall looks amazing at this time of year. The dusk makes the lights seem even brighter than normal, and although the Christmas decorations are up, the lights aren’t switched on yet. That doesn’t stop the tinsel glistening from every post I walk past. The switching on of the lights is kind of a big deal around here. The locals make such a thing of it you’d think it was Oxford Street in London. We don’t get any celebrities coming to switch the lights on here, but there’s usually a big gathering right here in the mall which everyone goes to, and the mayor wishes everyone a Happy Christmas and switches on all the lights, from the shopping centre to the street light posts to the huge Christmas Tree in the centre of town. The following day is always a Saturday, and everyone puts their house decorations up on that day. It’s considered bad luck to put your Christmas decorations up before the mayor has switched on the Christmas lights. The Christmas Light Up is this coming Friday, and as much as I love Christmas, I don’t really want to go. Every single year we go as a family, like all the other families in the village. This year, well, we’re not a family anymore, are we? I can’t see Mum and Dad wanting to go together so we can’t even pretend to be a family, especially with Seth in the picture. I just know that it won’t be the same as it usually is, and I don’t want to remember Christmas like this. I want to remember Christmas the way it has always been. I don’t want people looking at me the way some of the neighbours do now when I walk past their houses. This is a small village and everyone knows everyone else’s business. I wouldn’t mind betting that Mr and Mrs Gibson next door knew my mum and dad were separating before I did. So all the neighbours know that I’m a “child of divorce”, and god, don’t I hate that term. They all look at me with sympathy in their eyes when I walk Harry in the mornings. I don’t need sympathy. I want them to understand that this is not forever. My mum and dad will get back together because I can make them. Just as soon as Seth is out of the picture, things will go back to normal, you’ll see. They’ll all see.
Urgh. Thinking that makes me think of Seth again. What if he wants to come to the Christmas Light Up with us? No, that’s not allowed. Surely Mum wouldn’t let him? He can’t come and stand with us and pretend he’s part of our family. Can’t pretend that we even know him. The thought of the neighbours and all my friends from school seeing me with Mum and Seth makes me feel sick. He’s not my dad, he never will be, and even though he says he’s leaving after Christmas, I don’t want him here at this time of year. This time of year is really important to me. Some of my favourite memories are of Christmas, and Seth doesn’t belong in any memories, certainly not in the new ones that we will make this year. This is going to be the year that I put my family back together again.
I’m so lost in thought that I don’t realise I’ve reached the mall until I almost walk head first into the door.
“Woah, careful there, Kaity,” Don says as he pulls the door open and holds it for me.
“Oops.”
“Watch out for the icicles,” he says. “They look dangerous to me.”
I take a step back and look up. Sure enough, there is a strip of icicles hanging right across the big double doors of the mall. They’re glistening in the late afternoon sun, and very sharp looking. They look like a perfectly placed Christmas decoration.
“They could really hurt someone if they fall off. I don’t even know how they got there,” Don is saying. “It didn’t even rain yesterday. I don’t understand how that much water could’ve been running down the building last night. But they were there when we got to work this morning.”
“I’m sure they’ll melt soon,” I say.
“I’m surprised they haven’t even started to melt yet,” Don says. “It’s been quite sunny today.”
Don is one of the security guards here who works with my dad. One of the benefits of being the boss’s daughter is that everybody knows you. My dad is the head of security at the mall. He’s not just a security guard, he’s also directly responsible for managing security. Dad picks which equipment to use, where to put security cameras and signs, where to position the other security guards, and what weapons they can carry. Anything like that is my dad’s decision. It’s actually a pretty important job when you think about it. The man who owns the mall, and everyone in town I suppose, would totally blame Dad if anything goes wrong. I know I said we don’t get a lot of crime around here, and we don’t by comparison, but still enough to warrant so many security measures. Don is the door attendant, he’s part security guard and part hospitality man—he holds the doors open for women carrying too many shopping bags, tells people where the nearest loo is, and at the same time he’s trying to stop trouble before it starts. He breaks up fights, watches for anyone suspicious who comes in and out and has the power to search people if he thinks they’ve stolen something. Being the boss’s daughter you get to hear all the stories of what people try to get away with. Someone tried to smuggle a microwave out once, by stuffing it up his jumper of all places. Don spotted him and nicked him straightaway, but seriously, who thinks they will get away with putting a microwave up their jumper and no one will notice? And the funniest part was that if the man had just been carrying the microwave and not tried to hide it, Don would have thought he’d just bought it and not suspected a thing. The security guards are all in contact with each other and the shopkeepers via radio too, so if one of the shopkeepers has had something stolen, he can get on the walkie-talkie and tell Don what and who to look out for and Don can attempt to stop them leaving.
I like Don. He always smiles and keeps a supply of Glacier mints in his pocket and he always gives one to me when I see him.