All of the original situations in this story are mine, the rest is the intellectual property of Maddy. Cat is a fictional character, any similarities to anyone living or dead is purely my warped mind in action.
Dad had finally joined us last night, the traffic had been really bad so he arrived later than we had hoped and was famished. I used my culinary skills to rustle something up, the 'ding' signalling that his pie, mash and mixed veg was reheated. OK, I know what you're thinking, I cheated, but all of the stuff I've learned so far takes too long, except for cauliflower cheese and we all got a little tired of that after the fifth time. Anyway I did make the mash (add half the sachet to a bowl of hot milk and water and mix until the desired consistency is achieved). The dessert of fruit salad was all my own work though, I even shook the can of squirty cream myself.
I had been a little disappointed when he hadn't noticed my new look, but I suppose it had been a long day for him. When he had finished eating I tried again.
“What do you think to the new me?”
“New glasses? Suit you.”
“Awww Daad.” I don't wear glasses, never needed them. It was just a typical dad joke.
“So what have you had done oh daughter of mine?”
Yes he was hamming it up a little.
He looked me over, “I like the hair, wearing it up makes a nice change.”
Ever since I had started living as a girl I wore my hair down in a bob, bunches, ponytail or plaited, I didn't have the confidence to try an updo. It was Sylv who had suggested my current style and shown me how to use those chopstick things. I'd let it down to go for my afternoon ride and put it back up when I tidied myself up, it had taken a couple of tries but I managed it in the end.
“And I see that Mum finally let you get your ears done too.” I just nodded, I'd been trying to persuade mum since I was ten. Strangely when Sylv suggested it she just seemed to go along with it, she even picked out the little heart studs. Oh well.
The rest of the changes were less obvious so I helped dad out. Basically I had been given the works, facial, pedicure and because of the manicure I now had pearlescent nails. Sylv had also taken the time to show me how to look after things myself although there was no way I would do half that stuff everyday. I think dad was as pleased with the results as mum had been earlier, although I think that I got the best out of the deal.
I went to bed contented with Lisa in my arms, I know that thirteen is really too old to play with dolls but she has been my comfort for so long now that I don't think I could sleep properly without her by my side.
Yuck, 7am is too early for a wakeup call in the holidays but we were off out for the day, I had no idea where to. I helped mum cut the sandwiches then helped dad to clear some stuff out of the back seat of the car. I was tempted to ask if I should take my bike but I realised if there would be the chance for a ride dad would have put the carrier on the back ready.
We set off towards Mansfield then took the A38 heading for Derby. I tried to think what was beyond there, maybe we were heading to Birmingham?
As we approached the outskirts of the city dad tried to point something out.
“I don't know if you can see it but somewhere over there is Breadsall Priory, it's a posh hotel now but as its name suggests it used to be home to an order of monks. Legend says that it's haunted. Well I didn't see any ghosts when I stayed there for work but it was too quiet for me.”
“Too quiet?” I inquired.
“I know it sounds silly. I never really understood it when people say that 'the silence is deafening' but after staying there it made perfect sense.”
I wasn't sure if I believed in ghosts or not but I tried to imagine what the silence would be like, I tried but I soon gave that idea up.
We turned off the ring road onto the A52, I knew that we were heading roughly west but I couldn't think what was out this way. The signs said we were on the way to Ashbourne, when saw the place it looked like a market town, we didn't stop though, we carried on westwards. All around us was the traditional scenic stuff, dry stone walls and farmland. Here in the middle of the countryside I got my first clue, it was one of those brown “place of interest” signs. Sure enough we turned left and after a few more miles we followed a second sign. I was going to say something but mum beat me to it.
“You've probably worked out that we're going to Alton Towers haven't you?”
“Thanks Mum. Thanks Dad.” I said excitedly.
I had been here once before but that was a few years ago and I didn't meet the height restrictions to go on most of the good rides. Oh, if you haven't worked it out yet Alton Towers is an amusement park, a bit like Disney except the castle here is real! You see it's built in the grounds of a stately home and has got bigger and better each year. It has some of THE best rides around.
Our early start had got us here before the crowds, we found a good spot to park and headed for the monorail. As it eased out of the station I leaned back against a handrail and waited for the dark house to appear in the distance. After an overcast start it looked like it was going to be another fine day, warm enough to have fun outdoors but not blazing.
We wandered past the shops (time for that later) and stopped by the leapfrog fountains. The last time I came I was spellbound, this time they fascinated me for a different reason, how do they work, what happens when they go wrong, stuff like that. But now is no time to loiter, there's one ride that dad and I have talked about doing since it opened – Air.
Quickest way there was the cable car, not mum's favourite mode of transport. She did her best impression of not being scared and I did my best impression of not noticing as we got an aerial view of the park.
We got off at the first stop.
“Last one in the queue is a rotten egg.” Said dad, rushing down towards our first ride. Leaving mum to recover on her own I jogged behind and caught up with him just before he joined the queue.
“She'll be fine by the time we've done this one.” He said.
Yep mum always did bounce back quickly.
We watched the ride with anticipation as we queued, getting here early seemed to have paid off, the queue was still short and before we knew it we were up. What can I say, it really feels like flying, or as near as you can get with a large rollercoaster strapped to your back. We enjoyed it so much that we took advantage of the short queues to ride it again.
“That was unbelievable.” I said as we found mum, she stayed quiet. I think that she would like to join us doing stuff like this but she knows it would make her ill.
We decided that there was no time to waste and made our way straight to ride number two – Nemesis. I heard somewhere that this was the most extreme ride. It's not the longest and doesn't have the most turns but it packs a lot into a compact space. However this time it wasn't the ride that I was worried about, of all the bad luck, coming from it's exit was Kyle Tyler. He was a year younger than me but was already planning a career as a jerk. When he had found out about me I had made it straight to the top of his torment list.
“Well well well, fancy seeing you here, Cam.” That was my name when I was a boy, part of it anyway and if you think I'll tell you what it's short for you can forget it, that's never going to happen.
“It's Cat now and you know that Kyle.” I seethed. “Can't you go find a hand grenade to play with?”
Kyle followed us into the queue, just great.
“Oh boy , it's going to be a hot day today. Boy I sure am glad I'm in shorts, don't you think you would be better off in them Cam?”
I wished that he would disappear or spontaneously combust or something. I was perfectly happy with my choice of clothing too, I liked this skort, pretty and practical.
The comments continued as the queue shuffled along and I was getting fed up with it. I probably would have lamped him if dad hadn't leaned over and said, “Don't give him the satisfaction of seeing you reacting.”
I began to imagine that the ride really was an alien creature, not just theming and that it would zap him with a heat ray, no such luck though. He even had the cheek to try and sit in the same row as me but there was no way I was having that so I stared him out and he ended up two rows back.
“Little shit.” I murmured, perhaps a little too loudly.
“Catrina!” Said Dad.
“Sorry Dad.” I hung my head.
He took my hand in his and said, “It's ok.” I looked up and smiled.
As always the lift hill took too long, it's boring plodding uphill when you want to be going downhill at speed heading for a loop or going round a twist. Still I suppose you can't have a down without the up.
It's funny how time distorts, you think that rollercoasters run for longer and seem to travel faster than they actually do, then before you know it it's all over. I knew my legs would feel a bit rubbery from all that dangling but I wasn't the worst affected. Poor Kyle, seems he had gone on it the second time before his body had recovered from the first run. While dad and I were staggering out, our legs getting stronger with each step, Kyle was wobbling out of control. He tried to grab a bin for support but he only succeeded in dumping himself on the floor.
“Serves you right.”
Now I know what you're thinking but it wasn't me who said that, it actually came from Kyle's older sister Krystina.
“I hope the brat hasn't made a nuisance of himself.”
“He was trying.” I replied.
“Oh he's definitely trying.” Krystina said. “I wish we could have left him behind, he's so immature. It's no way to celebrate my birthday.”
I wished they had left him behind too but I chose to keep that to myself. I'd also forgotten that Krystina's birthday wasn't too far after mine. I commiserated with her about having to babysit Kyle then remarked on it being a small world, I hadn't expected to see anyone I knew here. I chatted to her and her two friends a little then she had to excuse herself.
“Well I suppose we had better sort him out, dragging a sick brother around would be even worse than dragging a healthy one. Seeya.”
As she went off to attend to the jerk I caught up with dad again.
“They from school?”
“Yes Krystina's in the year above me. She's cool, I think she's in guides too, it's just Kyle that's the problem.”
“Maybe it's because he likes you.” Was dad's answer.
“He's no friend of mine.” I said then realised what he actually meant.
“No, no way. Dad that's sick.” I had heard people say that love gives you a funny feeling but I was pretty sure that it wasn't revulsion.
“Besides, he's not my type.”
“Oh, what is your type then?”
“I don't know, not a bully, not selfish, not a jerk, now lets just drop the subject please.”
Thankfully he did, we found mum again and decided to go back to some of the parts we had flown over in the cable car. It made sense to do the water rides now and then dry off as the sun got to it's strongest. I almost expected something to happen on the way but things stayed quiet. We gave the spooky ghostie ride a miss and decided to get wet on the river rapids. Mum surprised me by joining the queue with us.
“You didn't really think I was going to just watch the two of you having fun.” She said.
I conceded that one.
We were getting toward the front of the queue when I did a silly thing, I looked back.
I guessed that Kyle had made a miraculous recovery and then managed to give his sister the slip. He was looking straight at me, there was a smile on his face and it wasn't a nice one. I couldn't turn away, he pointed right at me and said, “Oh boy .” Seems like that's the only trick he's got.
“Don't look now but the pest found us.”
Dad had heard enough and was about to say something but mum stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“I'll deal with this.” she said.
She didn't move from the spot, she just turned slowly. I couldn't see what she was doing especially with dad doing his best to keep me occupied. Even when she turned back he still made sure that I didn't turn round.
Mum got her compact out of her bag and handed it to me. “I think you need to check your makeup,” she said.
“But I'm not wearing any apart from.... oohh I get it.”
I made out like I was checking my own face then angled the mirror so I could see over my shoulder. I had to move it about a bit but eventually I caught a glimpse of him, he was as white as a sheet.
“What did you do to him?” I asked, unsure of whether I really wanted to know the answer.
“I just smiled at him,” she replied.
“You did that to him with a smile?” There had to be more to it than that.
Dad said, “ Sweetheart, you had better believe it. When I first met mum she seemed pretty timid, that all changed a little when we started dating. If anyone tried to get between us she would dismiss them with a single glance. In one way it was cool, but in another it was slightly scary.”
Mum didn't seem too keen to remember that, she was blushing hard. I had more pressing things on my mind though.
“You have got to teach me that,” I stated.
“It's not really something that can be taught,” mum said,”I was never able to turn it off or on. If someone threatens somebody close to me, you, dad, or perhaps a close friend it just happens.”
“Well I hope it just happens for me sometime,” I said.
“I hope you never get put in a position where it has to happen,” she replied.
By this time we had got to the front of another queue, we boarded the round rapids raft, took our seats and prepared to be drenched. Each of us expected to be the first one splooshed but it was dad who won that lottery. As we bounced and splashed and spun our way around we all got our fair share of water but we didn't get soaked to the skin in the way we had expected to, not even by the waterfalls.
The best part of the entire ride happened as we were getting off it, three rafts back was a drowned rat. I don't think that Kyle could have got any wetter if he had jumped in. I was very good though, I didn't point or shout, I just laughed so hard that it hurt.
I wanted to hang around and watch him dripping as he got off but mum and dad ushered me away and straight onto the mine train rollercoaster. I had just about calmed myself down to a giggle when I realised that mum was still with us.
“Feeling brave?”
“Brave or stupid, you decide,” she answered.
“Brave,” I said and gave her a hug. I knew that the job description for being a teenager outlawed public displays of affection towards the folks but I never let that bother me.
When our turn came I made sure that Kyle hadn't suddenly appeared out of nowhere and then got mum and dad to sit together with me in the row behind. That way she didn't have to fake being brave for my benefit and I didn't have her screaming in my ear.
Actually I was surprised, as we sped over, under and around she didn't seem to scream more than anyone else even if it was louder and when we got off she seemed remarkably calm, or at least she was until I suggested that we go back to Nemesis.
“Err I think it's time for lunch,” was how she escaped from that.
There was no argument from me, once the thought of food had entered my head it prompted my tummy to start rumbling.
We went a little way and found a spare bench, mum got the sandwiches out of her magic bag (you know the kind, it looks like your average bag from the outside but mum can produce just about anything from it). So in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a busy amusement park we managed to have a quiet(ish) little picnic.
Once we were fed and watered we spent a few minutes browsing one of the shops before going to join the queue for the last ride nearby, log flume here we come. Again mum stayed with us, I suppose that it made sense, once we got to X-sector there would be no way she would be riding anything. There was stuff that even I wasn't sure of in that part of the park.
We waited our turn, got into the log boat and started our ride. I thought that keeping Kyle off my back was too much to hope for and it turns out that I was right. We rounded the first bend and I aw him climbing into one of the boats behind us, how he'd managed to avoid being spotted is anybodies guess but there he was and he didn't look soggy anymore.
There were a few parts of the run where it doubled back enough for us to see each other, but for most of the ride I didn't have to think about it. Then when we hit the final drop and splash mum gave me something else to think about, the screaming I could deal with but she had dug her fingernails into the shoulders of the person in front of her, who just happened to be me.
All I heard on the final run back to where we started was “I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to dig in like that.” I knew that, I just hoped that the feeling would soon come back and the ruts would disappear. Once we were off the ride and out of everybody's way mum took a discreet look at her handiwork, a full set of talon marks.
“Ouch, I'm sorry I never meant...”
“Stop apologising , please,” I interrupted. “I know you didn't mean to, I'm not going to hold it against you am I, it's not like I'm going to be scarred for life.”
Mum might have been about to argue but I didn't notice, all I saw was the pest of the day coming off the flume. He must have upset Neptune or something like that, although he wasn't anywhere near as wet as he had been after his river rapid drenching, there was a dark wet mark in a very noticeable place on his cargo shorts. Yes it looked like Kyle had just had a little accident.
Dad was the first one to notice him and he tried to move us off but I'd had enough of this for one day and decided to take the bull (or should that be bullock) by the horns. “I'm going to talk to him and get something sorted, I'm fed up with it all.”
“Come to gloat, Cat?” he spat.
“I'm impressed, you got my name right, oh boy.” I deliberately turned his favourite taunt around.
“What do you want?”
“All day you've tried to spoil things and every time it's backfired, it's not big and it's not clever so why don't you just take the hint. You can't even say you've got anyone with you to impress so just stay out of my face for the rest of the day and see what happens.”
I think he finally saw the light or maybe he was just tired of it all.
“Ok, no more teasing.”
“Thank you.”
“For today.”
Well I suppose it was a start.
When I turned round mum and dad had sappy smiles.
“What?”
“The way you stood up for yourself.”
So, they were the 'our little girl' smiles. They had come a long way since my diagnosis, but then again we all had, me especially. We made our way across the park, Kyle was 100 yards ahead as we walked past the lake then he disappeared into the area now known as Uggland (don't ask), while we walked in front of the house and into the X-sector which was dominated by one ride, Oblivion.
No prizes for guessing which ride we did first, although it was back to the two of us, dad and me. We watched the people on the ride looking straight down as their car was held at the top of the vertical drop, knowing that pretty soon it would be us up there.
I had the worst case of thrill ride butterflies I've ever known as we boarded and I kept that feeling all the way to the top. When we were held in position dad and I had time to glance at each other before that big drop, then just as we began to think that it was broken and would never drop, it did.
Wow what a ride, what a rush. Everybody turned to each other and laughed in a kind of nervous “I've survived” way whether they knew them or not. It wasn't like we could go anywhere, we had to wait for our car to move to the exit first, I guess it gave the adrenaline a chance to subside.
When we finally got off we didn't have to go searching for mum, she was waiting by the exit and grabbed both of us.
“You are not going to do anything like that ever again!” she said hugging us.
“It's just a ride dear,” said dad.
“Yeah, perfectly safe mum,” I chipped in.
“Well I don't want to have to go through that again. You don't want to put your old mum through that do you?”
“No mum,” I replied while thinking that next time we came I would just have to make sure that she was somewhere else, when I caught dad's glance I realised that he was thinking exactly the same thing as me.
We managed two or three more rides before we decided to call it a day, I did see Kyle around but he had taken my advice and was behaving himself. He had been able to hook back up with Krystina and her friends and I was glad of that. They deserved better than being lumbered with him but I knew this way Krystina wouldn't get in trouble for losing her brother.
On our way out we had to go past all of the shops and there was no way I was going to miss the retail opportunities, dad did his usual act of being put out - “I didn't sign up for this when you were born!” while mum countered that with “You obviously didn't read the small print about girls then.”
I spent a while looking at all the novelties and then even longer looking at their range of clothing. I could feel dad's impatience even though I couldn't see him so I hurried and ended up buying a nice fitted tee, a baseball cap, a novelty pen and a soft toy of the park's mascot – Henry Hound.
It wasn't quite closing time but there was a steady flow of cars leaving the park which we had no way of avoiding so we joined the line and made our way slowly out. I had expected us to retrace this morning's route back but we went the opposite way, down towards Alton. I wished I had brought my bike with me, it was quite a hill and I'm sure that if it hadn't been clogged up with cars returning home I could have got quite a head of steam cycling down it. Whether I could have made it up the other side of the valley and through the town is another matter.
The further we got away from Alton the more traffic eased, it wasn't too long after that where I saw the reason dad had chosen this route. On one side of the road was something that was a cross between a totem pole and a strange piece of sculpture.
“It looks like it's made out of JCB parts,” I said.
Dad just laughed and pointed to the opposite side of the road. There was a small lake and behind that a factory building bearing the name J. C. Bamford in large letters.
“So that's where they make them,” I exclaimed.
“That's right,” he said, nodding. “They even have a formation display team.”
“They have what?”
“They are to diggers what the Red Arrows are to jet aircraft,” he replied.
“They do displays using diggers?”
“And excavators, it's like a ballet of hydraulic rams and buckets in yellow, you would be surprised at some of the stuff they do.”
“I think I can pretty much guarantee that something as strange as that would surprise me,” I said.
“There's bound to be a movie clip on the web somewhere, we'll have a look when we get back home, said dad.
Meanwhile I tried to get an idea of what a team of dancing diggers would look like but I didn't get very far, the early morning start and the busy day had taken it's toll on me. I must have been out for most of the rest of the journey as I don't remember a thing from here on.
I woke to someone manhandling me, It must have been dad trying to lift me out of the backseat without waking me like he used to do when I was younger but for some reason it wasn't happening tonight.
I murmured, “It's ok dad, I think I'm awake enough to get inside.”
I grabbed my things and made my way to the back door, nan must have heard us because she opened it before mum could find her key. When we got indoors I wanted to tell her all about the day but she was almost ready for bed and I was too tired to be making much sense. So at mum and dad's insistence I took myself off to bed, one thing is for certain, I made sure they knew how much I had enjoyed the day out.
to Email me