The Animal World

Johnny tried to wake his Dad, but shaking his arm gently didn't work and neither did calling to him softly, so he couldn't think what else to try. After pacing up and down the landing in a turmoil of indecision, he decided to stay up in the bedroom, just in case Steffi should come back.

00O00

He did not mean to drift off, but he did anyway. When he awoke it was already dawn! He hurried into his parents' bedroom and there to his amazement was Steffi, lying asleep beside his father, her long blond hair loose on the pillow. "Dad!" He shook his father's arm again.

Dad began to stir. "Alright, Johnny, what time is it?" He glanced at the alarm clock. "It's not even six AM!" Johnny had moved round the bed to peer at Steffi. When had she come back?

"Oh don't wake her at this time, for Goodness' sake, she doesn't get a decent night's sleep as it is."

Steffi's eyelids fluttered and her eyes opened. She stared blearily upwards, but then her blue eyes focused on him. She smiled. "Morning, darling." She sat up and put her arms around him, kissing him on the cheek. Her face felt very cold. She must have been outside all night.

"Sorry about this. Johnny's woken us up before six," said Dad sternly.

"That's quite alright, Henry. We've got a lot to do today, can't spend it in bed." But then she groaned and put her hands to her temples. "Ohh my head."

Johnny looked closely at her. She did look very pale and there were dark circles around her eyes. "Steffi, did you go out for a jog or anything last night?"

She laughed. "Oh Johnny, what an idea! I slept like a log as soon as my head touched the pillow… but to be honest, I feel as though I spent the night running a marathon. I don't understand it."

Well neither did Johnny.

"Get your mother a cup of tea," said his Dad curtly. "I've got to get ready for work."

"Really, Henry," Steffi tutted, "the sweet boy is concerned…"

But Johnny was hurrying downstairs to prepare a cup of herbal tea just as Steffi liked it. Did his stepmother not know she had been out of the room in the middle of the night? Or did she not want to admit it?

Back upstairs, Dad was in the shower and Steffi was sitting up in bed, looking tired and wan. He sat beside her on the bed, handing her the tea. She gave her small contented sigh and put an arm around his shoulders. "It's too bad Daddy must work on Saturday, but we're going to London Zoo. I've been wanting to take you there as my son for so long."

Johnny suddenly noticed the ugly doll with twigs for arms and legs hanging above the bed. It hadn't been there last night. The beady little eyes seemed to be staring down at him. Following his gaze, Steffi looked up as well. Johnny glared at the hanging doll. "What is that thing called?"

"It's a night doll, Johnny. See it's dress? The back looks like a pair of folded wings. Flying through the night symbolises dreaming."

Now Johnny looked at the crude figure again, he supposed he could see it. "The skeleton has more… personality. If I were making a puppet show I know which I would choose."

Steffi laughed, scrunching her nose. "You're my little showman, brimming with confidence. Love it."

Dad had to leave early, before Johnny had finished washing, so after he left, Steffi cooked porridge along with bacon and scrambled egg. Johnny sat the skeleton on the chair beside him again.

Steffi served Johnny his porridge first, but when she was about to serve the scrambled egg, she clapped a hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom. Johnny could hear her retching all the way from the kitchen. He was a little worried. Something had happened that she wasn't admitting. He quickly served the scrambled eggs himself and then the rashers of bacon.

Steffi came back into the kitchen looking very pale and clammy, her long yellow hair dishevelled. "Good boy," she said weakly, seeing that he had served the eggs and bacon himself.

Johnny had to broach the subject. "Mum," he began. He bit his lip. He didn't want to accuse her of lying. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Her bottom lip quivered. "I – can't darling. That is…" she sniffed. "I may have a stomach bug. Nothing to worry about though. Tea and dry toast will help."

Steffi sat opposite Johnny and the skeleton and nibbled her toast. She then took a while getting ready to leave, applying makeup in front of the mirror for a long time, but afterwards she no longer appeared so ashy pale. Pausing as if struck by a sudden thought, she picked up a silvery gold arm ring from the mantel piece and slipped it on.

"Got everything, darling?"

Johnny held up the skeleton and nodded.

"Great!"

Hand in hand they walked to the bus stop. Steffi blinked in the bright sunshine and put a hand over her eyes. Murmuring something, she took her sunglasses from her sequined handbag and put them on. They stopped at the newsagents where Steffi bought Johnny a copy of the Hasbeano and the Nutter comic complete with its free gift of phantom fizzes.

Johnny spread the Hasbeano over both their laps as they sat on the bus where they read the strip about Lord Ashcroft. Johnny was disappointed. "Hmm. Not a lot happens this week. The taxman asks Lord Ashcroft whether he has paid any taxes, Lord Ashcroft tells him to mind his own business and the taxman goes away…"

Steffi burst out in raucous laughter, scrunching up her nose. Some of the other passengers glanced at her curiously. She pointed at the last panel. "They've drawn his smug face well. When he says: 'That wasn't too taxing, eh readers?'"

Her laughter was quite infectious and Johnny gave a chuckle. "Yes mum, dodging taxes is funny."

Steffi pulled that silly face she sometimes made to amuse him. "It is for those of us who can only dream of such a thing."

Next Johnny spread the Nutter comic over their laps and opened it on the page with the strip about the hypochondriac. The hypochondriac character kept complaining that he had some strange illness or other. In one panel he insisted that he couldn't make a fist because his hand kept opening again.

"Faust, Faust," muttered Steffi. Steffi was German and Johnny knew that the word for "fist" in German is "Faust" and that Faust was also the name of a fictitious wizard who sold his soul to the Devil. In Christopher Marlowe's version of the story, the devils carted him off in the end, but in Goethe's version he was redeemed.

When they were about to disembark, Johnny glimpsed the hooded figure from yesterday afternoon. It was as tall as a man and standing near the back of the bus. He pointed to it, but Steffi's mood had changed and she hurried him off the bus without speaking.

00O00

In the zoo she became happy again as she lead him to the elephant enclosure. "I always liked seeing the elephants."

"There's a phrase, 'elephant in the room' for a problem that everyone can see."

"There certainly is, darling. I believe it should be 'rhino in the room.' That would please no one."

"I love what you do with our language, mum. You did say it was more flexible than German."

She giggled. "And I love that the grammar is almost non-existent compared to the grammar I grew up with."

There was a crowd by the elephant enclosure. One of the elephants was reaching out its trunk towards the onlookers, looking rather forlorn. "Ah, this elephant remembers the days when people were allowed to feed him. They say an elephant never forgets."

"I wonder why they can't anymore."

"Bad people used to feed them rubbish. It was simplest to forbid everyone…" Steffi put a hand to her forehead. "Oh darling, my head hurts. We'll have to go into the shade for a bit."

She led him into the aquarium and they sat on the stone bench in the near darkness. Steffi took off her sunglasses gave a little groan. Johnny peered at her anxiously. The eerie light of the ray tank played over her face, making her look ghostly pale. "Mum, I think you are ill."

She put her arms around him and he sat on her knee. "You're a good boy. Everything is OK." He relaxed as she held him, but he couldn't help noticing that she felt strangely cold and there was a faint musty smell about her that her perfume could not conceal.

The spooky forms of the rays in their tank kept swooping up to the glass and showing just their mouths and colourless underbellies. It was like glimpsing creatures from another world.

"Water, darling?" Steffi was suddenly brisk again. He took a small drink from the water bottle she offered and then she led him to the shark tank. He kept his hand in hers as the shark drifted lazily around its glassy prison. Steffi gazed at it, the light of the tank glimmering in her blue eyes. "There's a true predator of the deep."

"He's little for a shark. Too bad they couldn't get a great white shark."

Steffi giggled. "A great white shark would never fit in this building, darling. And I bet they cost a lot to feed."

They went round the smaller tanks of colourful fish chatting happily about each one. Johnny was interested to see the stone fish, having read about them recently. "Isn't he ugly? And if you step on him, he's poisonous. I don't think I would spot him."

Steffi pulled a face at the stone fish. "In here, he can't catch people out in that nasty way."

Next they went to see the birds of prey. It was the eagle's feeding time, which Johnny was curious to see. Steffi suddenly tensed again as they stood by the eagle enclosure and heard the eagle's piercing scream. Johnny looked up at her. She was staring fixedly at the eagle as if horror stricken at it gorging itself on dead animal. He tugged at her arm, but she did not respond. Beginning to feel alarmed he glanced around. Two older boys were holding up a newspaper and talking loudly about it. "Could one of these have escaped? They're talking here about a big bird that robbed someone."

"Eagles don't take jewellery."

"Magpies do."

Johnny looked up at his stepmother who still stood and stared. He tugged her arm more insistently. "Steffi?" She did not answer. He was beginning to feel panic well up inside him. "Mum?"

Abruptly she shook her head, blinking and gave him a wan smile. "Sorry, darling." She stroked his hair. "It's time for our lunch." She jerked a thumb at the eagle. "Don't want to watch him stuffing himself, the glutton." Johnny gave a sigh of relief that she had come back.

At the restaurant Steffi clapped her hands in delight when she saw a waitress dressed as a clown. She beamed at her until she came over to take their order. Johnny thought her glistening makeup looked like a second skin.

"Why do you love clowns so much, mum?" asked Johnny when the waitress had gone.

"Good question! I've always liked masks, so I suppose that that is where it comes from. A clown face is really a disguised face. I liked the idea of changing and having different identities. When I was a girl, my best friend wanted to be a clown with a clown name and everything, but she was disappointed. There is a reason why circus clowns are usually big strong men. Setting up one of those tents is heavy work. It's a shame Daddy is not keen on the circus, I'd like us to go as a family someday. Wouldn't you like that, Johnny?"

"I'd love to go with you."

Steffi beamed at him. "Yes, we must go." Her accent was getting stronger as it did when she was excited.

Johnny thought it a pity that her friend could not perform at a circus for her. "What was your friend's clown name?"

"The best translation would be 'sweet-face' or 'cute-face.'"

The clown arrived with the drinks; mint tea for Steffi and refillable coke for Johnny. Steffi had been carrying the skeleton in her handbag at Johnny's request, but now he wanted to hold it again. As there was no other chair, he sat it on his knee. Steffi grinned, holding up her tea. "Cheers, darling!"