\n1<\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\nThey\u2019d spent last night in a clean and neat little cabin of light wood. James wished he knew what it was. They did this stuff at school nowadays, design and technology, D&T. Making tables and all that. Ed had told him. But it seemed unauthentic somehow. He wondered if they did any woodcutting (probably not). They\u2019d go against the grain. Most amateurs did. As he walked further away from the cabin, the circles molded together into a homogenous mass until he could no longer see them.\n<\/p>\n
\nLena had said she\u2019d get the boys to pack, so he went to the caf\u00e9 alone to get coffee and sandwiches and to leave the keys with the barman. He passed the white plastic sign nailed to the wall of the caf\u00e9 (the same pale wood as the cabins):\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2018FILMORE CASSEY LEASURE: LOG CABINS SALES & HOLIDAY. HOT\u2013TUB SALES NEW& USED\u2019\n<\/p>\n
\nMost places had so many signs now you ceased to see them. OPEN, JUST EAT, No smoking, Mind the step, FOOD HYGIENE RATING\u2013and so on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.<\/em> This one looked lonely on its own on the brown wall.\n<\/p>\n \nTo the left of the caf\u00e9 was a small playground stretching over half the lawn in front of the open car park. Two swings were tied to a thick horizontal wooden bar resembling a crossbeam. No wonder Sammy loved these things. They were proper authentic swings like the ones James used to have as a kid. No plastic nonsense around here.\n<\/p>\n \nI might get Ed a beer. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nImmediately, he remembered he couldn\u2019t. Ed had wanted to drive and he\u2019d said \u201cyes\u201dwithout thinking. Now there was this, on top of the condoms. Lena still didn\u2019t know and Lena would have a fit, though Ed was seventeen and had a full license. It was funny she was pissed off about Ed\u2013of all things. It was James\u2019 guilty conscience, of course.\n<\/p>\n \nHe kept wondering whether maybe\u2013maybe<\/em>\u2013she did know.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cGood luck with your drive.\u201dThe barman said as he poured filter coffee. \u201cWhere are you guys off to?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSunderland.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cGeordie women with big hair and yellow fake tan, eh? Why Sunderland?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNephew\u2019s going to study there. We\u2019re from Manchester ourselves.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cA bit far from home, no?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYeah.\u201d James said. \u201cWe think it\u2019s because of a girl. My sister\u2019s having a fit, of course. But I mean, why not? Tony Scott went to the University of Sunderland, did you know that?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo.\u201d The barman said. \u201cNo, I didn\u2019t.\u201d\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nOn his way back to the cabin, a paper cup of coffee in each hand, Sammy\u2019s bottle of apple juice in his trouser pocket, James watched a young girl loading a Volvo in the sun. A figure\u2013hugging zipper jacket and white shorts. He racked his brain for what the Monday Night Disaster girl looked like\u2013and couldn\u2019t remember. The sheets had felt sort of funny afterwards. The more experienced guys in his position wouldn\u2019t dream of doing it in their own home, but he didn\u2019t know about these things. He\u2019d spent the last ten years going home to Salford from Morson International and back, same time, same route, and now that he was Chief Civil Engineer, he\u2019d thought\u2013why not?\n<\/p>\n \nNot that it had been worth it. Men\u2019s Health and Esquire articles hailing sexual \u201cvariety\u201d were probably written by graduate females. Nah, you\u2019re all set, mate,<\/em> he\u2019d thought, and forgot all about it. All had been well until three days later, during an uncharacteristic machete sweep through the bedroom, Lena had found the condom.\n<\/p>\n \nEd had been over for a visit\u2013thank fuck. Lena had never liked him. To Ed\u2019s mom, James\u2019 sister Cathy, Lena would forever be \u201cthe new wife\u2019, though she\u2019d been married to James for five years. Maybe that was why.\n<\/p>\n \nShe\u2019d stormed into the living room with the condom on her red\u2013nailed finger.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt\u2019s your business to mess around with girls at this age, but I will not have this\u2013\u201d a wiggle of the finger \u201c\u2013in my house and my bedroom!\u201d <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nEd had been sixteen.\n<\/p>\n \nJames had known there was only one girl Ed would mess around with, and she hadn\u2019t offered. His own mind at the time had been going through the Monday Night Disaster\u2019s shenanigans step by step. He\u2019d carried the damn thing into the bin, hadn\u2019t he\u2026\n<\/p>\n \nHadn\u2019t he? The bathroom bin had fallen, he\u2019d gone back to the bedroom to get other rubbish to carry it all outside, bent down to get the empty G&T can from under the bed, put the condom down and\u2026 Ah sheeet. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Lena.\u201d Ed had said without skipping a beat. Uncles\u2019 wives were Aunties in normal families. But Ed always called her \u201cLena\u201d to keep his distance\u2013but also to create room for friendship, which James thought was very mature of him. Not his fault that Lena had trust issues. \u201cEllie has a fight with her parents and she needed somewhere to rest. Won\u2019t happen again.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAren\u2019t you<\/em> going to say something?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nJames had shrugged. \u201cWell. They\u2019re sorry.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nEd had taken the hour\u2013long verbal beating. Not for free, though. He hadn\u2019t said a thing, of course, but James knew how things worked in their family. Fuck, yeah. Anne\u2019s family, at least\u2013a rundown version of their mother\u2019s. Ed had wanted a car, and though giving him one hadn\u2019t really been the plan, James had had to admit it now was. Something about the way Ed had looked at him had told him Ed was disgusted by this shit, maybe because he was in love. James was lucky Ed wasn\u2019t on Lena\u2019s side, but he could tell in his deepest heart Ed wanted to tell, because this was cheating\u2013of the cheapest kind, in Ed\u2019s hormone\u2013fuelled teenager\u2019s eyes.\n<\/p>\n \nAround 4 am. on August 7th, Anne had called, and screamed into the phone about how James was a bribing fucking swine\u2026 It was almost as if by saying it, she\u2019d made it true.\n<\/p>\n \nSince then, things had happened. Ed had come to live at James\u2019 in Prestwich for good. His stuff would remain even once he went off to uni. Anne and James were no longer on speaking terms.\n<\/p>\n \nHe reached the cabin. Lena stood behind the open boot of the Volvo, dressed in a red silk shirt and skinny white jeans. He acknowledged her with a nod, and immediately felt like an arsehole. He came over and handed her the paper cup of coffee.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI don\u2019t approve of this and you know that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cJeez, come on. The kid\u2019s been driving for years, legally or not.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nLena sipped the coffee and flinched when she burnt her tongue. \u201cYou really expect this to reassure me? Having my child in the car with no control over where it goes and how fast it goes\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt\u2019s not his driving you\u2019ve got a problem with.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSo what?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThe rest isn\u2019t negotiable, that\u2019s all. You don\u2019t know my sister. He\u2019ll be at uni most of the time, you won\u2019t even see\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nThe cabin door swung open, and Lena swallowed her reply.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSammy, sweetheart\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI can\u2019t find my other sock. Ed can\u2019t either.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI\u2019m not surprised.\u201d Lena snorted, and went inside.\n<\/p>\n \n2<\/b>\n<\/p>\n \nThe Filmore Cassey Log Cabin Resort was situated in Stanley, a few miles off the Beamish Museum. They\u2019d driven all the way from Manchester before settling down to rest at Filmore, but James had been at the wheel most of the time during that trip. The remaining drive was only about half an hour\u2019s worth, and he decided he\u2019d let Ed have it. Now that Ed owned a car (one he\u2019d earned so ingeniously), he was obsessed with getting enough practice.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDo you even have your license on you?\u201d Lena said.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou\u2019re not legally required to have it, you know.\u201d Ed said without getting his eyes off the road. \u201cYou have two days to present it to any police station after they ask you.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nHe listened to AC\/DC while he drove. His own car was still in Prestwich. Lena sat squeezing Sammy\u2019s hand, spreading nervous vibes like wave of perfume. She was passing on her panic to the kid and he probably resented that. But women always did that. Mothers did it. Anne would still be doing it to Ed if he hadn\u2019t escaped her.\n<\/p>\n \nJames had always wanted kids–more than any of the guys he hung out with. It was part of the reason he\u2019d never had a laddy lad crowd. Maybe that\u2019s why he\u2019d let the whole thing with Anne develop the way it did. He wanted Ed all to himself, because Ed was old enough to be a friend. Sammy still needed his mom, his socks and all that shit.\n<\/p>\n \nThey got to Sunderland by noon and had an hour to kill before Ellie\u2019s arrival. James noticed the women and the fake tan and everything, but, having been warned about it, he didn\u2019t find it as exotic as he might have. James unloaded the car and left the bags at Mary\u2019s Guest House by the reception desk. The check in only started at three p.m., and they weren\u2019t going to bother with it until after Ellie. The Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter’s where Ed (and she, James thought) would live stood practically on the beach, so they\u2019d found the hotel closest to that. It was six miles away from Seaham Hall (the only landmark James had thought he knew in Sunderland, which turned out not to be in Sunderland at all). Luckily, it had been full by the time Lena called to book.\n<\/p>\n \nThey went to the bus station fifteen minutes before Ellie\u2019s bus was due and sat on the bench. Sammy distracted them every now and then with observations about seagulls, but otherwise the silence was awkward. James wondered again if Lena knew, and was simply trolling him. She\u2019d been dropping hints. Something about a youth elixir to get men to stick around.\n<\/p>\n \nEllie got off the bus at ten to one. She wore open black shoes with straps and high heels and a red sheepskin coat over her dress.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cEllie, this is my uncle Ed, this is Sammy and\u2013Lena.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHi. Hi. I\u2019m Ellie.\u201d Her smile made her look much older. \u201cHave you guys heard about that Godzilla thing? I\u2019m starving, by the way.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhat Godzilla thing?\u201d Sammy said, but no one replied because Lena asked Ellie what course she was doing, and James\u2019 thoughts turned to where they could get food.\n<\/p>\n \nThey settled on the Indian restaurant called \u201cDelhi Orchid\u201d and then decided to take a walk along the shore. The lunch had been quiet\u2013Lena didn\u2019t care to ruin the lives of Ed\u2019s girlfriends as much as she\u2019d try to ruin those of Sammy\u2019s, though James could tell she disliked Ellie\u2013and once they got to the beach, Ed and Ellie went ahead.\n<\/p>\n \nThe beach, like the town itself, seemed strangely empty. Not like a ghost town, of course, and maybe it was the time of the day\u2013but still, it was unsettling. They walked down the steps leading to the pebbled surface. James looked down at something funny he\u2019d first taken for a piece of rubbish.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt\u2019s a starfish.\u201d Lena said. \u201cThey\u2019re all over the place.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIs it normal?\u201d He said.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWell, all sorts of things get washed out onto the shore these days, cause the water\u2019s getting warmer, the currents change, all that. At least you can\u2019t see them asphyxiate like with other fish, but they\u2019re still struggling. It\u2019s disgusting how things are.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nThe beach was covered in half\u2013dried starfish like a road in the park at the end of an autumn day would be covered with fallen leaves. Ed and Ellie had headed right for the water, kicking pebbles across. James, Lena and Sammy followed behind.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt\u2019s very\u2026 Pure.\u201d James said. \u201cDon\u2019t you think? Almost freaks me out, that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSure it isn\u2019t.\u201d Lena said. \u201cDoesn\u2019t make it any less sweet, I suppose, but it ain\u2019t pure. On the contrary, \u2018s very physical. You notice this stuff more when you don\u2019t have it yourself.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nOuch. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou don\u2019t like her.\u201d James said. \u201cPracticing the mother\u2013in\u2013law part?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nLena said nothing, now fully engrossed in starfish. She liked seafood more than people. James had grown used to it by now. Hell, she\u2019d be pissed off if she knew he referred to it as \u201cseafood\u201d even when it was alive. She bent down to get a broken mussel shell Sammy was trying to dig up, and James walked ahead. The wind carried Ed and Ellie\u2019s voices over.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201c\u2026they\u2019ve been thrown out when that Kraken thing surfaced. Have you seen that YouTube footage? It\u2019s crazy. Looks like a giant squid or something, about twenty foot tall, and the starfish was just plastered all over it\u2013\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHaven\u2019t been online for ages.\u201d Ed said. \u201cPhone\u2019s got no data till September. Anyway, sounds like bullshit. Lena\u2019s a marine biologist. These huge animals like dinosaurs had something called atavism, I think. Couldn\u2019t breathe in our conditions, \u201ccause the air\u2019s too thick for them. Must be CGI.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBut you have whales!\u201d Ellie said. \u201cIt\u2019s not CGI. People here have seen it when it surfaced earlier in the morning\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nEd leaned over and kissed her, and she fell silent.\n<\/p>\n \nThe heels of her shoes dug into the pebbles as she walked closer to the water line, sometimes tilting backwards. The pebbles ran through the straps and her toes. She hopped over the starfish, as if she could crush them\u2013and just as James had turned around to try to talk to Lena about something non\u2013Ellie\u2013related (sex?), Ellie slipped and fell on one knee, scraping a starfish.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDid I hurt it?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nJames and Lena had caught up with them, Sammy falling a little behind.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCheck if it\u2019s alive.\u201d Ellie said when they all circled her. \u201cDid I step on it?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nLena bent over. \u201cNo. Put some water on it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nSammy got a small stick from a pile of wet rubbish a few feet away and pricked the starfish. It flinched and drew in one of its arms.\n<\/p>\n \nEd splashed it with water.\n<\/p>\n \nIt began to crawl away with agonizing slowness.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe can come back to the hotel where Lena and James are staying so you could\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYes. But I wanna take them with me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nLena watched Ed scoop up several starfish and help Ellie put them into her bag with disapproval, but, having known her for years, James could tell inside she was glad she\u2019d be able to take a look at them herself.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cGet some water too.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBosses him around, she does. <\/em> Perhaps it ran in the family.\n<\/p>\n \n3<\/b>\n<\/p>\n \nThe receptionist who spoke Sunderlanguage, as the guy who rewrote Hamlet <\/em>called it in his book, saw Ellie and gave them a family\u2013sized room, a bigger one than they\u2019d expected. It cost twenty quid more, but James didn\u2019t protest. It even had a kind of sitting room.\n<\/p>\n \nLena took the kids (counting Ed and Ellie as such at that instance) and went upstairs. James stayed to settle everything at the reception, show his passport and fill in the endless forms they forced on everyone these days, as if it changed a thing. Shit still blew up just as much as before, and just as unexpectedly. Take the Monday night disaster.\n<\/p>\n \nHe\u2019d kind of wished she\u2019d at least spared him a look.\n<\/p>\n \nHe had a drink at the bar while the reception idiot was processing his form, and after what seemed like ages got a receipt and headed upstairs. He entered with his card key. It was only quarter past seven, but the whole four hundred square feet were quiet until he reached the dark sitting room.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI\u2026 don\u2019t even wanna go back to c\u2013college. I\u2019m n\u2013not a fucking\u2013an alpha like your aunt\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cLena\u2019s not my aunt, she\u2019s\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI\u2019m not like her! I w\u2013wish I could meet your mother\u2026\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo. My mother\u2019s not someone you\u2019d like to meet\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nThey noticed James in the doorway and started. Ellie pressed her body closer to Ed on the shabby leather couch.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSorry, guys, I was just looking for, err\u2026\u201d he couldn\u2019t think what to say, so he picked up a random book from the heap of Lena\u2019s stuff, and said, \u201cHere it is. Cheers. Is her\u2013how\u2019s your foot?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cFine.\u201d Ellie said. \u201cFine. Thank you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHe was beginning to feel like an eavesdropper.\n<\/p>\n \nHe went for a shower and discovered the room had a bath, in which eight starfish were lying, half\u2013submerged in what little sea water there was. They looked peaceful. James kind of envied them. He contemplated a shower for another moment. What had Lena done, gone to bed and not bothered?\n<\/p>\n \nNow that the trip was over, she was ignoring him flat\u2013out, which meant she probably knew. James didn\u2019t feel like dealing with it right now. He knocked on the bedroom door, opened it when she hadn\u2019t replied and saw she was asleep with Sammy beside her. She\u2019d pulled the covers tight around and under herself as a sort of mosquito net against him.\n<\/p>\n \nFor a moment he thought of crawling in, hugging her and making the best of a shitty situation, but he couldn\u2019t.\n<\/p>\n \n4<\/b>\n<\/p>\n \nHe went to his suitcase and got his laptop. He tiptoed back into the sitting room where Ed and Ellie were lying still on the sofa, a quilt thrown over them. He sat down at the desk and went on YouTube. They were quiet behind him, asleep or not. He plugged in his headphones.\n<\/p>\n \nHe found it almost immediately\u2013after typing in \u201cSunderland sea monster footage\u2019. There were about twenty videos left, but he could tell there had been more. Most of them didn\u2019t play when he tried to open them. A \u201cvideo removed\u201d message showed in most cases, until he got to the bottom row.\n<\/p>\n \nFirst he got through a few shots of people\u2019s feet to the echo of \u201cfuck\u2019s.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNASA satellites have spotted what looks like a huge, green \u201cwhirlpool\u201d on the surface of the ocean last week and this is our turn, now this thing is in the North Sea\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nThis one disappeared on him.\n<\/p>\n \nThe screen of the phone filming it seemed to be covered with water drops, so the image was smudged. But he could see the giant Kraken thing alright, towering over the water a good fifty feet from the shore like a mountain of overgrown skin with tentacles. Seagulls were plastered over it, a few others circling around and snatching the sea stars off its back. Little of the Kraken itself was visible. People were screaming in the background.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDrop that shit and run!\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nThe video cut off. He pulled out his headphones. He should show it to Lena, but she\u2019d say it was CGI, too. And then there was the Monday Night Disaster.\n<\/p>\n \nHe made to get up and felt a movement behind him. The computer screen had gone black. Through it, he could see Ellie stir and get up behind him.\n<\/p>\n \nShe headed to the bathroom and he heard her lock the door. No sound of running water came, and as he listened in the dead silence, he heard the plastic shower wall shudder and creak a little at her touch. All these North East seaside hotels were built like huts or worse. No structure.\n<\/p>\n \nHe sat down on the couch beside Ed and turned around to face the bathroom. He should have gone to sleep, even on the floor, if that\u2019s how things were tonight\u2013but after all, she was a bloody teenager and if she drowned in there, he\u2019d be held responsible\u2026 Bollocks. He just didn\u2019t want to go into that room, and the floor wasn\u2019t really an option.\n<\/p>\n \nEllie emerged, hair wet, wrapped in a towel, and he fluttered his eyes near\u2013closed. God forbid she\u2019d know he was awake, how the fuck would he explain all this?\n<\/p>\n \nBut she paid no attention to him. She pulled on her dress, standing so close her leg was nearly touching his ear on the couch. His gaze fell on her feet. He\u2019d been sure the left foot was where she got cut, but he could see no scratch, not even a scar\u2013just pale glittering skin. She took a step back, looking for her shoes, and her other foot came into sight. No scratch here either. Once she had her shoes on, she walked off again, and returned with the bag, dripping water all across the room. She threw her coat over her shoulders and was out of the door.\n<\/p>\n \nJames sprang up too. At least he was still dressed. This was all fucking ridiculous, but he couldn\u2019t let her wander off like this. It was just after five a.m. What if she wasn\u2019t eighteen yet? Fuck knows when they finish A\u2013levels these days. <\/em> He grabbed his MOUNTAIN WAREHOUSE jacket, but just as he touched the doorknob, his curiosity got the better of him. He stuck his head into the bathroom doorway, put the light on and leaned over to glance into the bath.\n<\/p>\n \nIt was empty again.\n<\/p>\n \n5<\/b>\n<\/p>\n \nOutside, it was turning to dawn. He saw pinky\u2013red the moment he swung the front door of the hotel open. The reception desk was open 24\/7, the sign beside it said, but the idiot wasn\u2019t there. James crossed the road and neared the beach.\n<\/p>\n \nEllie was sitting cross\u2013legged right by the water, surrounded by a rapidly building mass of starfish. The stars crawled to her from all around. Where the beach had been littered with them less than twelve hours ago, it was now barren. Ellie picked them up one by one, and folded them one on top of another, so eventually they surrounded her like a crescent\u2013shaped wall of a coral\u2013shaded citadel. The starfish sort of molded together, like over\u2013cooked scallops Lena had made once\u2013or futuristic building blocks, a bio\u2013hacker\u2019s wet dream. Something about this also reminded James of the circles in the wooden cabins in the Filmore Cassey Resort. It was dead\u2013quiet, apart from the occasional hiss of a car passing along the route by the beach.\n<\/p>\n \nHe climbed over the concrete blocks separating the beach from the road. He thought he could hear Ellie whispering, the way Lena used to whisper to Sammy while he was little until he fell asleep. Maybe it was the sea. But her lips were moving. One of the starfish had sucked into Ellie\u2019s foot, around the spot where James remembered the cut being. Ellie put her fingers inside the pink slimy wall, as if hooking them into the waistband of someone\u2019s jeans, and hugged it with her body.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhat the fuck do you think you\u2019re doing?\u201d Lena\u2019s voice said behind him. \u201cWhat business have you got to be watching her like that?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nThere was something dirty and fascinating about watching her\u2013voyeuristic, yes. James admitted to his shit.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI was just\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou were just what? I hope you didn\u2019t fuck her right there, smothering all the fish and wreaking havoc.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI absolutely did not\u2013\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cGet inside, for God\u2019s sake.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nLena climbed over the concrete fence and approached Ellie.\n<\/p>\n \nJames watched.\n<\/p>\n \nEllie sat pressing her face into the slimy mass of starfish which had molded together into something like a rock. Lena sat down next to her and reached forward too. It looked like some pagan worship. They didn\u2019t talk; didn\u2019t even acknowledge each other. Just sat there absorbing the starfish mass.\n<\/p>\n \nJames lingered there for a moment, and then went back to the hotel.\n<\/p>\n \n6<\/b>\n<\/p>\n \nHe\u2019d spent days thinking back to it\u2013then weeks. They\u2019d returned to Manchester the day after he\u2019d watched Ellie and Lena with the starfish. He made an attempt to show Lena the YouTube video, but she said she was too busy\u2013and she did have all her laptops and papers around her again. He let it go.\n<\/p>\n \nIt seemed like watching Ed and Ellie on the beach had re\u2013ignited something between them. Since then, Lena would surprise him by kissing his earlobe from behind in the kitchen, or climbing in the shower with him when she was already late on her way to the lab. After her latest unexpected appearance in the bathroom mirror as he was closing the cabinet door, he\u2019d cut his cheek with a razor and she\u2019d licked off the blood.\n<\/p>\n \nIn the third week of September, once Sammy started going to school, they were lying in bed, awake after midnight, wrapped in each other\u2019s arms. He was watching Lena\u2019s profile in the moonlight, and when she turned and reached over him for the glass of water on the bedside table, he suddenly thought she was looking younger. He even seemed to remember some wrinkles around her eyes that weren\u2019t there now. He\u2019d never noticed that kind of stuff before, but this just seemed too sudden. He didn\u2019t mention it. Sex rejuvenation, like they said in all these fucking magazines.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNow that they\u2019re doing this endless construction, that house looks like my neighbour\u2019s house when I was a kid. My friends and I had this joke that he had a cannabis farm.\u201d Lena said, leaning back on the pillow. \u201cHe did grow plants that seemed similar, and he\u2019d cover the top with this plastic sheet… And for a while, I really wanted my own cannabis farm. Isn\u2019t it hilarious?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nJames chuckled. \u201cSounds like you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe\u2019d always wanted to grow things.\n<\/p>\n \nLena took a sip of water and set the glass down. \u201cWhy don\u2019t Ed and Ellie come over for a weekend? What d\u2019you think?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nJames stared. \u201cWhy?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI dunno, just thought it might be fun. They looked starved when I last Skyped with her.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nJames rubbed his eyes. \u201cYou\u2013Skyped with Ellie?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWith Ed, but she was there. Sammy\u2019d be glad to see them.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cErr\u2026 Sure.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCool.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nEd and Ellie turned up the following weekend a little after two p.m., bearing a box of chocolates and a toy rabbit for Sammy (which he showed an instant liking to against all odds) like a perfect TV\u2013couple. James knew they had just entered the hormone\u2013charged early\u2013days period which didn\u2019t usually last long, but still, it was disconcerting. This entire bombshell of sudden domestic bliss on both ends of his family was disconcerting.\n<\/p>\n \nThe five of them had early dinner together. By the time they finished, Sammy had run off to play and they sat drinking wine and talking about the Kraken YouTube footage, which Ed was thinking of turning into a film.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI told you it\u2019s a Godzilla thing!\u201d Ellie said, and giggled.\n<\/p>\n \nEd\u2019s phone began to ring while they all laughed. Ed glanced at the screen and his face fell a little.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt\u2019s mom.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHe and James exchanged a look.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cGo and talk to her.\u201d James said.\n<\/p>\n \nEd said nothing, just stared at the phone.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCome on, mate, \u2018s not a big deal. Tell her the stuff you told us. Five minutes. Please.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nEd took his phone and dragged himself outside. It looked like he was a ball someone was slowly kicking.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI should probably try and patch things up with your sis\u2013\u201d Lena said.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDon\u2019t bother.\u201d James said. \u201cNot gonna happen.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nEllie leaned in to Lena and whispered something.\n<\/p>\n \nLena glanced at James, then back at Ellie. \u201cShall we show it to the boys?\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYes,\u201d Ellie said, \u201cwhy not. But he\u2019ll be ages.\u201d She nodded at the window.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe\u2019ll just show it to you then.\u201d Lena said. \u201cLet\u2019s take that Pinot Grigio to the basement.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nJames picked up the bottle and they all went downstairs to the cold cupboard. It was usually Lena who went\u2013she stored lots of expensive equipment there and didn\u2019t like people touching it. She didn\u2019t seem to remember the bottle. She and Ellie stopped next to the chest freezer Sammy had once called a \u201crefrigerated room\u201d in a popular family anecdote (it looked nothing like a room to James, but he\u2019d already accepted he didn\u2019t get kids, like them though he might).\n<\/p>\n \nLena glanced at him to make sure he was looking, and lifted the lid off the freezer. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to show it to you until I was sure it was doing well.\u201d She said. \u201cMy little neurosis, you know. Give me that cheek.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \nJames didn\u2019t move, so she reached into the freezer, leaned in and took out a little starfish, which she pressed to his cheek. It was cold and slimy, just as he\u2019d imagined when he watched Lena and Ellie press their faces into these things.\n<\/p>\n \nHe closed his hand over hers and felt his cut smoothen out and the skin around it tighten, as if something small was gnawing at it, like that pedicure fish in Thailand. It gave him a ticklish feeling. He closed his eyes and kind of fell into that peaceful inner hum\u2013and then Lena pulled the starfish away.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou can\u2019t do this for too long, or it\u2019ll grow you a skin beard before you know it. All the luxury facials use this shit now, but I doubt it\u2019s this concentrated.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nJames leaned over into the freezer. They\u2019d turned it into a fish tank, pretty much. The bottom was dark and plastered with starfish pressed into a familiar rock structure. But as he moved away an inch, the thing at the bottom of the tank stirred and began to swim up, flapping its tentacles. As it reached the surface, he realized it looked just like the octopus he\u2019d glimpsed in the YouTube video. Every tentacle was made of starfish.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI thought I\u2019d settle for a collagen farm instead.\u201d Lena said. \u201cKeeps one young, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 They\u2019d spent last night in a clean and neat little cabin of light wood. James wished he knew what it was. They did this stuff at school nowadays, design and technology, D&T. Making tables and all that. Ed had told him. But it seemed unauthentic somehow. He wondered if they did any woodcutting (probably …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106787,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,19941],"tags":[19942],"class_list":["post-137606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-tcl-33-autumn-2019","tag-the-colored-lens-33-autumn-2019","entry entry-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/106787"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137607,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137606\/revisions\/137607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}