Chernobylite: A Fast-Paced Kidnap Action Thriller

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

School problems aside, Tommy and his mum settled into a comfortable life in their tiny, cozy but not very private apartment. There seemed to be a constant stream of knocks on the door as someone always seemed to need something cleaned or repaired or to borrow various bits and pieces. Molly was often busy with her work at the club, so Tommy shared the duties of cooking dinner with his mum, and soon built an impressive array of recipes, becoming quite the little chef. He loved to cook and surprise his mum with a new dish he had seen on TV or spotted in one of her gossip magazines that she loved to read.

One morning Tommy woke up full of beans; he’d been saving up his meagre pocket money and was planning to surprise his mum with a special dinner for her birthday, her first since Charlie’s tragic passing. Tommy knew it would be a tough day and wanted to do something special for his mum.

He bounced out of his bedroom, ran over to his mum, gave her a big hug and said ‘Happy Birthday, Mum! You’re not getting your present until tonight – hope you don’t mind. And no, it’s not because I forgot to get you something, I just want to make you wait,’ he said with a cheeky grin.

Molly smiled sadly, knowing that Tommy was making a special effort to try and cheer her up. She had to work the day shift today, but not the night shift as well, because Judy had given her the night off, knowing it was her birthday. Molly was glad she would be distracted at work today, but wasn’t really looking forward to the long night, which would be her first birthday without her Charlie for more than 20 years. The reality of her situation hit her once more, when she realized that never again would she have her soulmate by her side to celebrate a birthday with her. A lone tear rolled down her cheek at the sadness of it all.

Being a Saturday, there was no school, so Tommy was like a cat on a hot tin roof all morning, getting under Molly’s feet so much that she was glad to leave the apartment and get to work to look after things for the lunchtime crowd. As soon as she left the apartment, Tommy raced out the door and took off down to the shops. He only had a few dollars in his pocket, so he had to be creative with his menu choices and ingredient selections. Luckily, there was only him and his mum, so the food didn’t have to stretch too far. He had decided to go with one of his mum’s favourites – curried sausages, which was cheap but hearty fare, followed by a chocolate cake to satisfy her sweet tooth.

Happy with all his plans, he raced home and started cooking up a storm and making an almighty mess in the kitchen. Funnily enough, those cooking shows didn’t seem to focus too much on doing the dishes, so he wasn’t too good at keeping the place clean! By the time he was finished there was such an assortment of frying pans, pots, chopping boards, mixing bowls, utensils and trays strewn all over the kitchen that it seemed there couldn’t possibly be anything left in the cupboards.

Molly walked in the door to the chaos and her heart melted as she saw her beautiful, dishevelled son beaming up at her, proud as punch of what he’d managed to put together for her, with his own money, skills and thoughtfulness.

Bursting into tears, she strode over and scooped young Tommy up in a crushing embrace, squeezing him so tight that Tommy instantly felt her need and her fear. Quietly they stood, mother and son in a moment of silence, together but alone, lost in their own thoughts. Tommy resolved to let Molly choose when to break the hug and the silence too, knowing that all she needed right now in this moment was for him to be still and receive her love in all its abundance, and to give his love in return.

Finally, she slowly let Tommy go, wiping the tears from her face as he smiled through tears of his own and said, ‘Happy Birthday, Mum. I’ve made us a special dinner. And you know the best part? As my birthday gift to you, you get to do the dishes!’ He made a grand sweeping gesture at the monumental mess he had created.

‘I don’t think so! Not tonight buddy, you know the rules – no doing dishes on your birthday!’ she said with a laugh.

‘Alright, alright, we can work that out later. Right now, you need to go over and sit down at the table. Here, let me help you,’ said Tommy as he took his mum by the arm just like he had seen his dad do so many times and escorted her to the table, pulled out her chair and then pushed it in behind her as she sat down.

‘Well, thank you, kind sir,’ said Molly, loving the whole performance and what a little gentleman Tommy was being. Tommy poured them each some orange juice and then went and put on some of Molly’s favourite old disco music. He went over to the kitchen, plated up his piping hot curried sausages just like they did on TV and then sauntered over to the table like a professional waiter, complete with a white tea towel draped nonchalantly over his forearm as he served up their meal.

‘Yum! Curried sausages, my favourite!’ exclaimed Molly as Tommy presented her meal with a flourish. As Tommy sat down, they banged their knives and forks on the table in unison as they roared out their favourite pre-dinner line, ‘2, 4, 6, 8, dig in, don’t wait!’ and then got stuck in to the simple but delicious meal.

After some regular chit-chat, the conversation inevitably turned to the missing member of the family on this special occasion, the first birthday for either one of them without Charlie. Somehow, enough time had passed, so for the first time since his death, Tommy and Molly talked freely and happily about Charlie without being wracked by the wrenching grief that so often had consumed them in the past when they reminisced about him.

Interspersed in the light mood brought on by the flood of wonderful memories about Molly’s dear husband and Tommy’s loving father, Tommy lit the candles on Molly’s abundantly iced chocolate cake and brought it over to the table.

‘Holy cow! Did you make a cake with icing on top, or did you make icing with cake underneath it?’ said Molly with a laugh, knowing they both had the very same sweet tooth and weakness for chocolate.

Tommy gave her his most charming smile, flashed his baby blue eyes and said, ‘Um... I sort of made single cake quantity but double icing quantity, then couldn’t let it go to waste.’

Molly smiled and said, ‘Son, it may not feel like it now, but you’ll be a heartbreaker one day. All the girls are going to be after you.’ She could already tell that his looks and his charm would be a magnet for the opposite s*x in times to come. He had a fragile, wounded quality to him that made people like him and want to look after him.

‘But you be good to them, Tommy. Never be mean to the girls that fall for you, because they’re going to fall hard, and you need to be careful. Always treat them with the respect, love and care they deserve.’

‘Yes, Mum, I will,’ Tommy sighed, really having no idea why she was going on about it. He had no interest in girls and certainly couldn’t imagine any of them swooning around him. After Molly finished two big servings of cake and Tommy three, they moved over to the couch in the living area and Tommy went off to his bedroom, retrieving the present he had prepared the week before. He carefully handed it to his mum, and she could tell by the way he was holding it that it was something incredibly special. Almost with apprehension, she slowly and deliberately unwrapped it and then couldn’t believe what she saw when she opened it up, so much that tears started streaming down her face once more.

‘Oh Tommy, it’s so beautiful!’ she said. It was a picture frame that Tommy had bought and placed within it the last ever photo of the three of them together as a family, captured in a moment of perfection, of wonderful fun. They had been at the beach, playing and laughing together in the sand, not knowing that a close friend had grabbed their camera and snapped a candid shot of the three of them, smiling with unbridled joy and with a gloriously bright sun in the background. They were unencumbered by any pose, unaffected by the presence of a lens to disturb their natural state. ‘I haven’t seen that photo since your father died, I forgot we even had it,’ she said through her tears.

‘I hadn’t even looked at the camera since Dad died and I thought it was about time, because I knew you would like it and I wanted to make sure I remember that perfect day forever. I thought it was still on the camera, so I just took it down to the shop, got it printed and bought a frame with the pocket money I’ve been saving. I’m glad you like it,’ said Tommy.

‘I absolutely love it, Tommy. I’m going to put it right up there on the shelf so we can look at it always. I can’t believe you’ve done all this Tommy, it’s so special. Did you buy all the food for dinner as well?’ she asked.

‘Yep,’ replied Tommy. ‘I’ve been saving my pocket money for ages, planning it all. It makes me feel good to see you so happy.’ He knew he’d done well and that somehow, he’d managed to take what could have been a sad and lonely time and turn it around into a big part of their healing and recovery process.

‘So, what’s next, my little party planner? What do you want to do now?’ asked Molly.

Tommy saw his opportunity and said, ‘Well... in honour of Dad, I thought we could watch Die Hard!’ Molly was not really a fan of action movies; that had always been Charlie and Tommy’s thing that they did together, but somehow it seemed a fitting end to the night, so she relented and agreed to the selection.

‘Awesome!’ exclaimed Tommy, put on the old DVD and happily plonked on the couch next to his mum. Bruce Willis delivered one of Tommy’s favourite lines of all time in this movie and he never got tired of it. He cheered as Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker! was perfectly delivered and Tommy was happy, revelling in the memories of his dad that he suddenly seemed able to enjoy without that churning feeling deep in his gut.

As the bad guys were dispatched and the good guys survived, Tommy said sleepily, ‘That’s the way the world should be,’ and got up off the couch. He gave Molly a hug and a kiss and said, ‘Goodnight Mum. Love you,’ and wobbled off to bed.

Molly smiled after him, feeling the best she had in months; so lucky to have such a special boy to share her life with. Then she looked over at the chaos on the kitchen bench, shrugged her shoulders and said to herself, ‘The cheeky sod got away with it after all, leaving all the dirty dishes. What the hell, they can wait for the morning,’ and took herself off to bed too, happy and content that her birthday had turned into such a delightful surprise.