As for visiting Dr Pretorius, that requires deception, which I’m not keen on – but, as it turns out, I don’t actually have to lie:
1 I’ve got St Woof’s, plus, I’m a library monitor so I’m often late back from school.
2 Jessica is at work all the time these days, and hasn’t ever taken much notice of what I’m up to at school.
3 Clem has been doing his exams and only emerges from the Teen Cave to dump his teacups in the sink, so he never even asks.
4 And Dad? Dad’s just happy if I’m happy. Which I am, so, you know – yay!
Ramzy has it tougher. It’s not his dad: he drives a truck and is away on long deliveries most of the time. It’s his scary Aunty Nush, who I’ve only met once. She looks after Ramzy and his two little brothers and speaks hardly any English. She’s super strict. Ramzy has to lie a lot. It’s usually about doing extra study at school.
‘Ramzy, you’re only ten. There is no “extra study” at school.’
We’re walking to the corner shop after school, Ramzy’s school shorts flapping in the breeze. He looks a little ashamed. ‘I know, but she’s not going to phone the school to check, is she? She can hardly get past hello as it is. Anyway – you’re my study buddy. Just so you know.’
‘Thanks a lot! So now I’m a part of your lies?’
‘I haven’t got a choice, Georgie! My aunty’s a nightmare. She used to make me carry an electronic tracker till it sort of accidentally broke. She’d install one on my phone if it wasn’t such an antique.’ He holds up his ancient pay-as-you-go phone, which looks like it comes from the nineties.
We’ve reached the shop where the owner, Norman Two-kids, is sweeping the pavement outside. He glares at us and follows us in. (He glares at everyone, not just us. And Norman Two-kids is not his real name. Everyone just calls him that, thanks to his rule that no more than two schoolchildren can enter his shop at any time in case they steal all the sweets or something. He’s always shouting, ‘Nor-man two kids at once!’ in a high-pitched voice with a strong accent that we can’t place.)
Ramzy buys a top-up for his phone, which he pays for with a bag of loose coins, making Norman mutter under his breath with annoyance.
I always end up feeling a bit sorry for Ramzy. It’s his big puppy eyes, I guess, and his teeth, and his ears, and … well. I find myself taking off my library monitor badge and handing it to him. ‘Here. You can say you’re on the Library Committee as well. That should be good for a few late-homes.’
He grins his rabbit-tooth smile. ‘Thanks, study buddy!’
‘Just don’t let Mr Springham see you wearing it.’
He pins the badge on to his faded school shirt. ‘Let’s not forget,’ he says, ‘that Dr Pretorius is old and she’s lonely! We’re doing a service for the community!’ and that removes any remaining guilt I might have had at my slight deception.
We head to the Spanish City, as we always do.
We go to the Dome, as we always do, and Dr Pretorius sits at the computer, as she always does.
We play a game in the virtual-reality environment, as we always do.
But then, when we take off the helmets, Dr Pretorius says something she doesn’t always say.
‘I guess you want to know what this is all about, huh?’
We stare at her. Of course we do. But neither of us can think what to ask.
She gives a final, decisive whack on her keyboard to begin a rendering of a huge Roman arena, with gladiators and chariots, then she swings her chair round and looks at us hard.
There’s a silence while we wait for her to speak, and I study her old, lined face. Her sky-blue eyes are as sharp and captivating as ever, but her skin seems paler, duller, and I immediately understand when she coughs violently and says, ‘I may not have long left, kiddos. I’m engaged in a battle against time, and there’s stuff I need to complete before I … before I leave you.’
Ramzy frowns. ‘Aww. Are you moving?’ I roll my eyes at him. Even I knew what she meant, but she doesn’t seem to mind.
Instead, she barks, ‘Moving? Ha! Do I have to spell it out, kid? I’m dyin’. A fatal heart condition that the finest physicians in the land are powerless to combat. And before I check out I need to know that my life hasn’t been wasted, you know?’
Ramzy just goes, ‘Oh,’ and looks at his scuffed shoes.
‘Yep. Oh, indeed. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!’
There it is: that phrase again. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. What on earth could it be that is so big and important?
‘I tell ya, kids, it’s going to be extraordinary. You’ll be the first to experience it.’
I think she wants us to go ‘Wow!’ or something, or even just say thank you, so I do.
‘Wow,’ I say but I don’t think I’m very convincing. The silence afterwards is a bit awkward, so I fill it by saying the one thing that I have been wondering.
‘Why us?’
She grins her wolfish grin. ‘You wanna know? You wanna know the whole truth?’
When someone asks you that, there’s only one answer you can give, even though the outcome might be uncomfortable. I shrug one shoulder and say, ‘I guess?’
She turns back to her keyboard and taps it a few times till a series of still photos appear. They’re satellite pictures of the street outside – Marine Drive – which leads to our school. A few more clicks show pictures of Ramzy and me, taken from a distance, but pretty sharp. The pictures scroll down, one after the other: Ramzy in his thick, too-big coat in the winter, the two of us riding FreeBikes one day, me in my red, white and blue costume for the school’s International Flags day … And so on.
Ramzy speaks up, a touch of indignation in his voice, ‘You … you were spying on us?’ I have to say, it’s all a bit creepy.
‘Aah, relax, kid! Look: what do you notice about these pictures?’
We peer at them, but I can’t think of anything (apart, obviously, from how strange it is to be photographed without knowing it). Eventually, Dr Pretorius says, ‘Look, guys – you’re the only two on your own! Every other kid is with a parent, or childminder, or whatever. Well, those that don’t get a car or a taxi home.’
It’s true, of course. Ramzy and I are pretty much the only kids who walk home alone.
‘That told me something. And then when you started to quiz my builder that day? I figured, Hmm – curious kids. You see – you kids are all so darn protected these days. You don’t play out in the street, you get taken everywhere – everybody except for you. I’d see you on the beach with those dogs, and walking home on your own. And well … it turned out you were just what I needed. Also – you don’t wear glasses. Multi-sensory virtual reality requires near-perfect vision.’
‘So … that day on the beach, when we met?’ says Ramzy, suspiciously.
‘All kinda engineered. Well, apart from your dog eating my swim cap. That was a piece of luck.’
‘Your watch?’ I say.
‘Already scratched.’
‘Your wrist?’
She averts her eyes and even looks a bit embarrassed. ‘Sorry.’ She glances up and sees our shocked expressions. ‘Hey – don’t bail on me now. We’re so close.’
‘So close to what?’ I say.