BOILER

Chapter 9

Toland had stopped to pick up ice cream and a coffee. The wind almost took the paper ice-cream pots out of his hand.

Faye and a teacher in a woolly cream pullover and a skirt that had forget-me-nots on it were standing at the school gates. Faye didn't look at all happy, even from a distance.

Tolan pulled in and got out. He met Faye's scowl for a second, then he shook the teacher's hand.

'You're the father?'

'That's right. I'm James.'

The wind was blowing that skirt all over the place. The teacher was doing a good job of keeping her dignity. 'Your child's behaviour has been disruptive for a number of weeks now. And what happened today is absolutely unacceptable.'

Toland nodded. 'How is the other girl?'

'She has cuts and bruises, and she's shaken. We sent her home for the rest of the day. And we are asking that you keep your daughter at home for the rest of the week.'

'All right.'

'You need to have a serious talk with Faye. She's getting into arguments daily, and if this sort of thing carries on, you can find yourself another school.'

Faye shuddered. Toland asked her to wait in the car. She did without saying anything.

'So, what are her friends saying?' Toland asked.

'What do you mean?'

'Well, you've never had any trouble with my daughter before the past few weeks, have you?'

'Not that I remember. But that doesn't excuse her recent behaviour.'

'We'll talk to her about that, but I think you should talk to that girl she hit. And those other girls you say she's been arguing with, cause my daughter doesn't go looking for trouble. She just stands in front of it when it's there.'

'Blaming everybody else won't help your daughter's behaviour at school, Mr Toland. It won't help her relationships with her classmates.'

'I'm not blaming. This is the first time I've had to come up here —'

'That's right. I can't say I've ever seen you before today.'

'If we could leave the passive aggression to one side for a moment.'

'Excuse me?'

'Look, Faye isn't a bad kid. I'm not asking you to interview the whole school, but it might be worth looking at the girls she's been fighting with. You're a teacher, so you know how kids can be. It sounds more likely to me that one or two girls have found they can get a response out of Faye and are just tugging that thread. Now she's clocked one of them.'

The teacher looked like she'd taken that on board. She looked at Faye, who was sitting stony-faced in the car and looking rather lonely. She glanced at Toland. 'I'll talk to the girls in her class and see what they have to say about it.'

'Thank you,' Toland said. He shook her hand.

'We will expect Faye back on Monday with an improved attitude.'

'You got it.'

The teacher went away, and Toland got back in the car. Faye looked dead ahead. Traffic went by slowly and the wind shook the trees. The radio was on.

'You should be careful with that,' Toland said. 'It drains the battery when the engines off.'

Faye rolled her eyes and Toland saw her mother all over it. He smiled. 'So now you're getting into fights for me. Does this mean we're still friends?'

Faye looked at him, quickly. She looked out the window, at her teacher going in through the school doors. She looked at Toland a little suspiciously. He turned the radio down.

'I wanted to be an accountant when I was about your age,' he said. 'I saw one in a nice coat one time, and that's what he was. You wear nice suits to work. Have a nice office, nice briefcase. I was just never very good at math, so I thought advertising or something. But I'm not actually creative, so that was that.'

'What are you talking about?'

'I don't know. I'm still working that out' — he reached into the back seat and brought her ice-cream — 'Careful, it's melting.'

'It's cold in here,' Faye said.

'Well, have it anyway. I'll put the heaters on.'

He held it over her lap until she took it. 'Raspberry sauce and chocolate sprinkles, right?'

'Right,' she said.

Toland started the engine. They sat there, eating.

'Then I saw a movie called a 'Fistful of Dollars.' It had a character called the man with no name. He was this — vigilante type. He'd get all the bad guys and the people would think of him as this hero — I know I did. But there weren't any cowboys around here, so I thought, screw it, I'll be a detective.'

Faye smirked as she ate her ice cream. She rolled her eyes and looked up at him. He smiled and Faye went back to her ice cream. 'Is that true?'

'Ask your mother. You two are the only people in the world who know that.'

'I'll ask her.'

'Do it.'

'I will,' she said, smiling. 'What did you and Miss Jude talk about?'

'Miss, huh? That's a shocker.'

Faye waited for an answer.

'I told her I'm gonna start sending you up here with brass knuckles if there's anymore trouble.'

Faye cackled. She was still eyeing him up with suspicion when she started to poke at her dessert. She spooned out a curl. 'Why aren't you mad?' she asked.

Toland winced. 'Well, I'm not exactly happy. But it feels good to know you're out there defending my honour. Just promise me you'll try not to hit people. Or that you'll get away with it if you do.'

Faye smiled and promised. 'But what should I do if they keep talking? What if they keep talking about you?'

'You don't need to hit anymore people on my account. You showed them that you won't stand for any shit —'

'Cursing.'

'Sorry. But as I was saying, you've shown them you won't take it. So, you've got nothing to prove if there is any more from these girls. Just go to your teachers. Come to me and your mother and let us take care of it. All right? Just walk away.'

'I'll try,' Faye said.

'Trying's a start.'

Toland handed over his ice cream and told her to finish it. He put the car in drive and checked the traffic. He looked at his daughter. She looked at him.

'I got some of your tapes from the house if you wanna put something on. Not that poppy crap though.'