The Pause Read Online Free
Author: John Larkin
backstroke in her bowl of cornflakes.
Sheâs a lot older than I thought she would be. She must be at least sixty. I do the maths in my head and it doesnât make a lot of sense.
â Lei ho ma ,â I say, having googled a Cantonese greeting before I left home.
Lisaâs mother looks at me as if Iâve just informed her that her pet goat is on fire and that Iâve sold her tennis racquet into slavery, and, I suppose, given that Cantonese is a tonal language, there is a very real chance I have.
âIâm Lisaâs friend,â I offer. âFrom school.â And as soon as I say it I realise itâs a mistake.
âLisa goes to a girlsâ school. Youâre a boy.â
Thereâs no fooling The Kraken.
âWe catch the train together. Weâre friends â¦â Oh, Lisa. Where the hell are you? Save me from this ⦠this thing. Lisa certainly wasnât exaggerating when she told me about her mother. In fact, now I can see that far from exaggerating, she was actually holding back. âWe talk about English.â
âOf course you talk in English. Do you speak Cantonese?â
Evidently not. At least as far as goats and tennis racquets are concerned. âI mean the subject, not the language.â For effâs sake, Lisa, get out here and rescue me.
And then I hear her padding down the hallway. A gentle hypnotic glide across the earth like a cat, not the steady, heavy, pre-lunch stomp of a Komodo dragon.
âOh, hi, Declan,â she says, all sweetness, but we both know sheâs going to be in big trouble for this. âI see youâve met Mummy.â
âMummyâ? Seriously? Hearing Lisa call this woman âMummyâ just brings out the difference between them even more. This thing gave birth to a child? A human child? And an angelic one atthat. Jeez! Evolution works fast around here. From Morlock to Eloi in one generation.
âMummy, this is Declan. Declan â Mum.â
Lacking any high-calibre firearms with which to shoot me â and with an almost breathtaking show of magnanimity â The Kraken proffers a talon, which I tentatively take hold of. It has all the warmth and texture of a three-day-old dead fish. I donât know whether to shake it or batter it and serve it with chips.
âCome in, Declan,â says Lisa. Well, of course it was Lisa. These were not words that were about to spring forth from The Krakenâs spittle-flecked lips anytime soon.
Now that Lisa has invited me in, The Kraken has to step aside or put on a scene. And if she puts on a scene she will lose face. And from what Iâve heard from Lisa, face is paramount to The Kraken.
The three of us stand there in the entrance. You could cut the tension with a chainsaw.
âIâll just grab my books,â says Lisa. She heads off towards her bedroom.
Oh no. Left alone in the vestibule with The Kraken, my heart rate begins to quicken. This is what it must feel like when youâre alone at sea, being circled by a shark. I smile at her. A sort of well-isnât-this-nice smile, but she just glares at and through me, as if Iâm the spawn of thedevil. For a moment Iâm sure I can see flames dancing in her eyes. She continues to look me up and down.
âHave you been here long?â I ask, breaking the silence. Lisa told me that her family had bought this house a few years ago, so I latch on to the fact to make conversation.
âAbout twenty years.â She thinks I mean how long since she moved here from Hong Kong. âYou?â
âI was born here, like Lisa.â
âLisa was born in Hong Kong.â
Again I do the maths. Lisa was born in Hong Kong but theyâve been here twenty years. Itâs not quite adding up. âOh, but I thought you said that youâd been here â¦â
âDoesnât matter,â snaps The Kraken, and I wonder if Iâve inadvertently stumbled onto something.
âMy
Sheâs a lot older than I thought she would be. She must be at least sixty. I do the maths in my head and it doesnât make a lot of sense.
â Lei ho ma ,â I say, having googled a Cantonese greeting before I left home.
Lisaâs mother looks at me as if Iâve just informed her that her pet goat is on fire and that Iâve sold her tennis racquet into slavery, and, I suppose, given that Cantonese is a tonal language, there is a very real chance I have.
âIâm Lisaâs friend,â I offer. âFrom school.â And as soon as I say it I realise itâs a mistake.
âLisa goes to a girlsâ school. Youâre a boy.â
Thereâs no fooling The Kraken.
âWe catch the train together. Weâre friends â¦â Oh, Lisa. Where the hell are you? Save me from this ⦠this thing. Lisa certainly wasnât exaggerating when she told me about her mother. In fact, now I can see that far from exaggerating, she was actually holding back. âWe talk about English.â
âOf course you talk in English. Do you speak Cantonese?â
Evidently not. At least as far as goats and tennis racquets are concerned. âI mean the subject, not the language.â For effâs sake, Lisa, get out here and rescue me.
And then I hear her padding down the hallway. A gentle hypnotic glide across the earth like a cat, not the steady, heavy, pre-lunch stomp of a Komodo dragon.
âOh, hi, Declan,â she says, all sweetness, but we both know sheâs going to be in big trouble for this. âI see youâve met Mummy.â
âMummyâ? Seriously? Hearing Lisa call this woman âMummyâ just brings out the difference between them even more. This thing gave birth to a child? A human child? And an angelic one atthat. Jeez! Evolution works fast around here. From Morlock to Eloi in one generation.
âMummy, this is Declan. Declan â Mum.â
Lacking any high-calibre firearms with which to shoot me â and with an almost breathtaking show of magnanimity â The Kraken proffers a talon, which I tentatively take hold of. It has all the warmth and texture of a three-day-old dead fish. I donât know whether to shake it or batter it and serve it with chips.
âCome in, Declan,â says Lisa. Well, of course it was Lisa. These were not words that were about to spring forth from The Krakenâs spittle-flecked lips anytime soon.
Now that Lisa has invited me in, The Kraken has to step aside or put on a scene. And if she puts on a scene she will lose face. And from what Iâve heard from Lisa, face is paramount to The Kraken.
The three of us stand there in the entrance. You could cut the tension with a chainsaw.
âIâll just grab my books,â says Lisa. She heads off towards her bedroom.
Oh no. Left alone in the vestibule with The Kraken, my heart rate begins to quicken. This is what it must feel like when youâre alone at sea, being circled by a shark. I smile at her. A sort of well-isnât-this-nice smile, but she just glares at and through me, as if Iâm the spawn of thedevil. For a moment Iâm sure I can see flames dancing in her eyes. She continues to look me up and down.
âHave you been here long?â I ask, breaking the silence. Lisa told me that her family had bought this house a few years ago, so I latch on to the fact to make conversation.
âAbout twenty years.â She thinks I mean how long since she moved here from Hong Kong. âYou?â
âI was born here, like Lisa.â
âLisa was born in Hong Kong.â
Again I do the maths. Lisa was born in Hong Kong but theyâve been here twenty years. Itâs not quite adding up. âOh, but I thought you said that youâd been here â¦â
âDoesnât matter,â snaps The Kraken, and I wonder if Iâve inadvertently stumbled onto something.
âMy