Parcel for you - Part 54

 

‘Put him on his charger for a bit then, he looks tired.’

 

‘He cannot look tired, that isn’t possible, his face never changes. He’s fine Vanessa. I know him, he’s got at least three or four hours left until his charge runs out. I know his schedule.’

 

Vanessa stared at her husband for a moment while becoming increasingly annoyed. ‘You do know that husbands and wives are entitled to alone time together! It’s essential for a happy marriage. If you bring a stranger into the marital home and don’t make time for your wife then you’re failing in your duty as a husband, Spencer.’

 

Cedric turned around to face into the room and lifted one arm as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t. Spencer looked at him, walked over and manually pulled the arm back down with a creak. ‘I don’t want him to get stuck in this position,’ he said, ‘his joints are a bit stiff. He’s been outside a while, and therein lies a story…..’

 

Vanessa let out a long sigh and walked out of the room. ‘Come and join me downstairs but only once your new friend is in bed, unconscious.’

 

There was nothing endearing about Cedric. At a stretch he was like a battered old car that had been in a few scrapes but the formation of its headlights and radiator grill were a little bit like a face so you gave it a name and an identity. Vanessa hoped that in time, he might show her some redeeming features but she was doubtful.

 

Downstairs she could hear Spencer talking and fussing over him. She began to wish he’d never come back now that he was thoroughly distracted with Cedric. The house suddenly felt crowded.

 

A few minutes later Spencer came down holding the milk frother. ‘I’ve got it,’ he whispered smugly, as if it was something special he’d managed to prize away from a small child. ‘I’ll put it somewhere safe then I’ll make you a drink, Vanessa. Hey you’re not really upset with me are you?’

 

‘I just feel a bit shell-shocked I suppose. I was half resigned to you not coming home.’

 

‘I wasn’t planning to come home, at least not yet. I was on a journey, finding myself but I’ve got to be honest…’

 

‘What?’

 

He looked at her. ‘It’s a jungle out there, Vanessa.’

 

‘I know it is, but what were you thinking, walking out like that, climbing out of an upstairs window?’

 

Spencer sat down next to her, grabbed hold of her hand and said, ‘You betrayed my trust, something happened when Pat was round. You and her were planning something, I felt it as soon as she arrived and then after I’d gone to bed, all my tamper alarms were triggered. It was a fight or flight situation, Vanessa. I don’t know what exactly you were trying to change but I don’t work like that, you can’t just fiddle with my hardware without serious consequences.’

 

‘You had this voice inside you, it was like a third party. Sorry, I thought I could fix it. I’m so sorry Spencer,’ she shifted closer to him and hugged him, sniffling and wiping her face on his shoulder as a few tears formed. ‘It seems to have gone now though!’ she said, suddenly pushing him back and staring at his face.

 

‘What? What’s gone?’

 

‘The voice. Hey you’ve had a nick taken out of your forehead, just above the eyebrow, there’s a dent.’

 

‘I know. I got into a fight. I could probably get it lasered but I quite like it. I saw myself in the mirror in TK Maxx and I think it makes me look harder, tougher, you know, more like a real man.’

 

‘A fight? Hang on, I didn’t think you were capable of violence..’

 

‘I’m not but I stood between him and Cedric.’

 

‘Who?’

 

‘Crate.’

 

‘Crate?’

 

‘Yes the guy in our gang who sits on the crate all the time, the green crate, it’s the only one that isn’t broken. He’s in charge, well he thinks he is. They wanted to rent Cedric out again but I intervened. I wasn’t having it!’

 

‘So he hit you?’

 

‘With the heel of his cowboy boot, yes, he’s very quick to slip it off, he doesn’t wear socks you know but then he hopped over and clobbered me. It didn’t hurt of course but I heard a little crack.’

 

‘I hope he was worth it, this Cedric. It isn’t as if you’ve known him for long.’

 

‘I suppose not. I don’t think I view time in the same way as you, Vanessa. It was more the connection I felt with him, there by the canal when we first met. He was in a state and he led me back to the gang but I didn’t know then that they were sort of his captors, just in that he needs people to take care of him. He’s different, I think you can see that and people can easily take advantage of him.’

 

‘I’m not sure he can stay here, Spencer. It’s sad that they tried to do that to him but who actually owns him, where does he belong?’

 

‘Apparently he was married to a woman, just like me, they were a couple and they went on a day trip to Hunstanton Aquarium…’

 

‘Oh god, I think I read about this,’

 

‘Yes, he’s a missing person but he can’t go home because his wife puts him on a pedestal,’

 

Vanessa shook her head. ‘What do you mean?’

 

‘He had to be perfect, the perfect husband and he was apparently but something frightened him at the aquarium and he left through a fire exit and then hid in a lorry full of squid which was parked outside.’

 

‘But how did he end up, you know, like that?’

 

‘Oh, he rusted a bit, it was salty in the squid lorry, he lost his looks, his clothes got tattered and then alone and vulnerable, he got mined for his metals and it messed with his functions. It’s a sad story but these things happen to people and it would be cruel to just throw him on the scrap heap. I believe he understands everything that happens to him, it’s like what humans call, locked in syndrome.

 

‘Oh no,’ said Vanessa, feeling a bit ashamed of herself suddenly. ‘I’m sorry, Spencer. It really sounds as if you’ve been a bit of a hero out there.’

 

Spencer looked very alive, he sat up straight and smiled broadly. ‘Have you told Annie about me?’

 

‘Yes, she knows you went missing, she knows everything and she was very cross with me. I quickly messaged her to say that you’d returned you obviously she doesn’t know any of what you’ve just told me.’

 

‘Can I have my laptop. I want to tell her about my experiences.’

 

Vanessa smiled. Her husband’s enthusiasm to tell her daughter all about his travels, even if they were just local, made it feel as if they were a real family, all connected through shared experiences. ‘Go on then,’ she got up to fetch it for him, ‘but I’ll need to give you a thorough inspection before we go to bed. If you’ve got an injury on your forehead then chances are, you’ll have some wear and tear on your body too.’