Chapter 7

At six forty five Karen, freshly showered and dressed to kill came downstairs and headed for the front door.

“Where’s the car keys?” she asked.

“Car keys,” Jon replied, “what do you want those for, and anyway, you have your own.”

“I left them at home, and I’m going to pick my date up,” she said, “we’ll see you at the club.”

“How am I supposed to get there?” Jon complained.

“See those things on the end of your legs? They’re called feet. You use them to walk with,” she replied, and left.

Jon’s parents and sister just sat there laughing.

“Poor darling,” Lady Todd crooned, “completely under the thumb already.”

“Right where he belongs,” his sister added, cruelly he thought.

“Hang on,” Jon said, “I thought John was taking you out. Shouldn’t he be picking you up?”

“He doesn’t drive, silly,” she replied, “how is he going to take me out if he doesn’t have a car?”

“Bus?” Jon suggested.

That got him glared at, by all three females present, who were obviously finding this amusing.

Finally, knowing he was defeated, he handed the keys over.

“Can I at least get a lift home afterwards?” he asked.

“Well that depends on how much John and I enjoy ourselves, we might want to park somewhere and canoodle for a bit,” Karen replied as she walked out of the door.

“Well,” Jon said, to no-one in particular, “I suppose I’d better set off walking?”

“You’re all right son,” Jon’s dad said, “I’ll give you a lift down. I’m sure one of your friends will give you a lift back if Karen’s busy.”

“Is it too late to put myself up for adoption?” Jon mused.

“No,” his Dad said, “what time do you need to be there?”

“Eight should be soon enough,” Jon replied, “the band won’t go on until about nine, but we’ll need to be there to grab a decent table.”

“Right then, just let me know when you’re ready to go.”

The club was about half full when Jon got there, but the gang had grabbed a couple of tables just off the small dance floor and pushed them together.

Arms were raised waving me over. Jon got himself a pint at the bar and walked over to join them.

Jenny, Mike’s girlfriend looked puzzled.

“I thought we were going to meet Karen tonight,” she said.

“She’ll be along shortly, she’s bringing her date.”

Now she looked really confused.

“Her date?” She queried, “but aren’t you her date?”

“Not tonight,” Jon replied, “she’s coming with John Noble.”

“Are you serious?” Brian’s girlfriend, Jane, asked, “you brought your girlfriend down for the weekend and you’ve let her go out with somebody else?”

At that point in the conversation John and Karen walked in and came over to the table.

“Hi guys,” John said, “this is Karen.”

Then they both sat down, across the table from Jon.

The greetings the girls gave her were a little subdued.

Judith, Keith’s girl, was a little less indirect.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing. You’re supposed to be here with Jon Todd, and you go out with one of his friends?”

“Judith” Keith interrupted sharply, “it is obvious that whatever is happening here, Sweeney is absolutely all right with it. Karen is all right with it and John is all right with it. It’s none of our business.”

She looked surprised and opened her mouth to reply, thought about it, and then closed it again.

“Sorry,” she said.

They settled in to the two serious purposes of the evening, drinking and listening to the band. Except that the band weren’t actually on yet, so just the drinking. Jon was a real ale fan. Like most teenagers he’d had a lot of it when he first started drinking, but, once he realised that nobody wanted a surgeon whose hands were shaking, he’d calmed down. Now he limited himself. None at all if he was driving, which tonight he wouldn’t be, and no more than two, or, occasionally three pints when he wasn’t. Once he got into practical doctoring, that would be it. Never on a work night. A work night being defined as any time he might have to go into work the following day.

But, tonight he wasn’t driving and he certainly wasn’t working tomorrow, so he could afford to let his hair down a little.

And he did. He had four pints that night, and when the dancing started, he danced. Not the up close ballroom style, but the standing around on the dance floor, wiggling and shaking kind. he danced with all of the girls in the group, except Karen, and a few others besides. All in all everyone had a good time, and at the end of the night he was offered a lift home. By Karen and John. Very correctly for the occasion, she dropped him off first then took John home, and returned over half an hour later.

“Hot chocolate?” Jon asked as Karen walked through the front door.

“Please,” she replied.

“Have a good time?” he asked.

“Yes thank you,” she replied, “you seemed to too, judging by all the dancing you did.”

“Yes, I did,” Jon replied, “well I had one or two bad moments, but overall I enjoyed myself.”

“Bad moments?” she asked.

“Have you ever sat in a bar and watched your girlfriend enjoying herself with someone else?”

“Oh,” she said, her bottom lip quivering slightly, “I’m sorry, Jon, I never thought of that. You do know nothing happened right?”

“You mean you spent the entire evening discussing philosophy?” Jon asked, with a smile in his voice.

“Actually we spent the entire evening discussing you,” she replied, “well and Susan too. You never told me they were twins.”

“Not deliberately,” Jon replied, “it just didn’t seem relevant.”

“No wonder he was so bereft when she died.”

“Absolutely inconsolable for months afterwards. Not that I was any better,” he answered.

“So how come he doesn’t have a girlfriend, he’s cute, intelligent doesn’t smell and knows how to treat a girl?”

“He had one,” Jon said flatly, “she dumped him just after Sue died.”

“What the fuck for?” she asked, her voice rising in pitch.

“She felt he wasn’t paying enough attention to her and moping too much.”

“That’s,” she spluttered, “that’s disgusting. Who is she, I’m going to give her a piece of my mind.”

“It doesn’t matter, she’s been dealt with,” Jon replied.

“Dealt with?” suddenly Karen sounded nervous.

“Don’t worry, not in a Mafia kind of way,” Jon reassured her, “she hasn’t had a date since. The word got around and there’s nobody in town that would touch her. A lot of people liked Sue and John.”

“We’ve got to do something,” she said, “find him someone.”

Jon didn’t know it at the time, but Karen had just adopted the first of what he’d come to know as her birds with broken wings.

She sat back and finished her chocolate, then stretched and gave a huge yawn.

“I’m knackered,” she said, “Bed?”

Jon agreed, held out his hand and they headed off upstairs after putting their mugs in the dishwasher.

Sunday morning started late in the Todd household. Later still for Jon and Karen. They walked downstairs at just before ten in the morning.

“Morning sleepy heads,” Jon’s sister said as they walked into the kitchen.

“How do you know we were sleeping and not doing something else?” Jon asked her.

“Ugh, gross,” she replied, “but it was easy. First you both snore which you were doing, and secondly as was adequately demonstrated the night before, there are times when my future sister-in-law gets rather vocal, which she wasn’t. Ergo, you were sleeping.”

Karen flopped down onto the chair beside Alison.

“Am I really that vocal when we make love?” she asked.

Alison launched into a very good impression of a young woman in the throes of orgasm.

“I don’t,” Karen insisted, “do I?”

His sister just nodded.

“Oh, shit,” Karen said, turning bright red from her hairline down as far as was visible.

Jon’s sister collapsed in a fit of giggles.

“What’s so funny?” Jon asked.

“I was just thinking,” Alison replied, “I hope I don’t sound like that when I...” she trailed off.

“Too much information baby sister,” Jon said.

“No,” she said, “I haven’t, that is I’ve never, er I’m still, you know.”

“Don’t worry Alison, we all do it,” Karen said, “it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Alison ran out of the room, blushing even more furiously than Karen had.

“Men,” Karen sighed, “now you’ve embarrassed your sister, go and apologise.”

“What have I got to apologise for?” he asked.

“Being born a boy for starters,” she replied, “she’s upset, she needs to be cuddled and told it’s all right, she adores her big brother. Go.”

He went.

He knocked quietly on the bedroom door.

“Go away,” Alison sobbed from inside.

“Ali, can I come in?”

“No,” she yelled.

“Tough I’m coming in anyway,” he replied, and turned the handle.

He stepped inside and was immediately hit full in the face by one of the cushions that adorned his sister’s bed.

“Hey,” he protested, then took a step towards the bed, “I’m sorry Ali.”

“What for?” she asked.

“According to Karen everything I say and everything I do.”

“She’s got that right, you’re such a boy,” she said.

“Anyway, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you,” he said, “I didn’t mean to.”

“No,” she replied, “I embarrassed myself. I still don’t believe I confessed that in front of you and Karen.”

“Like I told you sis, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about, we all do it.”

“Even you?” she asked.

“Why do you think I have to wear glasses to read?” he replied.

That got her laughing and a few minutes later they walked hand in hand down the stairs.

As they re-entered the living room, Karen looked at Jon’s sister, who smiled at her. Karen smiled back and then held out her hand to Jon and drew him down onto the settee beside her.

Karen and Alison looked at each other and just exchanged nods. They didn’t need words to say “MEN!”

“All right, back to the subject of John Noble,” Karen said, “we need to get him involved.”

“Involved?” Alison asked.

“Romantically,” Jon added.

“We could invite him to come and visit us in Edinburgh,” Karen suggested, “there are plenty of nice girls there.”

“What makes you think he’s looking for a nice girl?” Alison asked, “maybe he’s looking for something a little less nice.”