However, they came out of this corridor into a wider, more open landscape covered with fake Christmas trees. The trees were decorated with lights which were not lit. They were also draped with tinsel and covered in baubles. In piles, here and there, were red-and-white robes: Father Christmas costumes, complete with fake hoary beards.
‘How do I look?’
Alex was trying one of the costumes on.
‘You look ridiculous in that mask, especially with the white beard decorating it,’ replied Chloe. ‘Anyway, you can’t wear a Santa Claus robe on top of that greatcoat. It looks awful.’
‘Ho! Ho! Ho!’
His voice had deepened and he held out his arms as if ready to embrace the children of the world.
Chloe giggled. ‘I’d like a red sports car, if you don’t mind, Santa.’
Alex growled, ‘You’ll get what you’re given, young lady. Have you been good? I should say not. You’ve been yomping over attics, haven’t you? I can tell by your dusty demeanour, your smutty mush. No red sports car for you. A box of Smarties and an orange, that’s what you’ll get.’
The game suddenly struck at the heart of Chloe’s feelings. A great pang of homesickness went through her and she almost burst into tears. Alex saw the expression on her face and said, ‘Sorry, Clo.’
‘No, no,’ she said, a single tear trickling down her cheek, ‘it’s not you, I – I was just missing Mum and Dad.’
‘Our old dad, or our new one?’
‘Both of them, I suppose, but I meant Ben. Funny,’ she managed a smile, ‘that’s the first time I’ve thought of Ben as Dad. I knew it would happen one day. I just didn’t think it would be so soon.’ She paused before asking, ‘Don’t you miss home, Alex? Don’t you miss Dipa and Ben?’
Alex took off Makishi, who let out an audible sigh.
He thought about it hard, his face wrinkling with the effort, before he replied, ‘No, and I’m sure it’s because I still think of them as being near. I’m not like you, Clo. I see this place differently. To me Ben and Dipa are just under the floorboards. I like this place. I’m having this adventure up here, above their heads, and they’re down below, content to wait for me to come back. Maybe they are, Clo? You can’t say they’re not.’
‘But that’s not the same as being with them.’
He shrugged. ‘I guess not. Nelson’s here though. He makes it seem like home.’
She smiled again. ‘Yes, he does, doesn’t he?’
They were quiet for a little while, before Chloe spoke again.
‘I feel I’ve changed while we’ve been up here. I’m growing too fast.’
‘Haven’t got a tape measure.’
‘No, I don’t mean physically – I mean inside. I was a little girl when I came in here, now I’m not.’
‘I didn’t think of you as a little girl, Clo.’
She laughed. ‘Your voice goes all funny when you dress up.’
He took off the Father Christmas robe and beard.
Chloe was pleased when Alex removed the Santa Claus outfit. She was a little troubled by the fact that recently her brother always wanted to be someone else. Whenever the opportunity arose, like with the mask, or with the army greatcoat, he would put them on – and change. The change was not subtle either. One moment he was a shy young boy, the next a great adventurer, and the next someone far more sinister. It was as if he had transformed into some weird personality she alone had to deal with. She wanted to talk to her brother not some creep in a mask and costume.
He had never been interested in dressing up when they had been down below. In fact, there had been times in their childhood when she had wanted him to dress up. That time she wrote a play and asked him to act in it. Alex had categorically refused, saying he wasn’t interested in such things. In those days it would have been quite out of character for him to dress in strange clothes.
‘And leave the mask off,’ she ordered. ‘I want to see your face.’
For once Alex didn’t argue. He did as he was told.
‘It was getting hot inside Makishi,’ he said. ‘Hey, we’re coming to the end of the Christmas tree forest. What’s that out there, more junk?’
‘What else would you find in Attica?’
This area turned out to be Chloe’s worst nightmare. Along with what appeared to be stage sets there were piles of costumes, fake weapons and jewellery everywhere. Most of the sets were cardboard cut-outs, painted backgrounds,