‘It was a seminal conversation!’ cried Minnie, jumping up and down. How could Leila not remember? She’d been so impassioned about it.
‘You are kidding me?’ said Fleur, glaring at Minnie with her hands on her hips.
Then there were whoops of delight from the crowd as Leila jumped into Ian’s arms and they both collapsed into a heap on the picnic blanket. As they started rolling around kissing, everyone cheered. Minnie smiled – even if Leila didn’t remember, she looked happy. Her friend was engaged to the man she loved, and now even Fleur had a tear in her eye.
Minnie’s tail started to vibrate. She turned around, patting herself down; she’d tucked her phone into one of the scales. She backed away from the group, using the phone as an excuse to get away from any more interrogation by Fleur.
‘Mum?’
‘Minnie,’ her mother was panting, breathless on the other end. ‘Something’s happened, I don’t know what to do.’
‘Is Dad OK? Where are you?’ said Minnie, holding a finger to her ear and walking away from the group so she could hear what her mother was saying.
‘I’m with Tara Hamilton at her house in Primrose Hill.’ Why would she be with Tara? ‘She had this turn, said she was having a heart attack and started hyperventilating – I think she’s having a panic attack. I thought I should call an ambulance just in case, but she screamed at me not to. She’s asking for Quinn, but I can’t find her phone. Do you have his number?’
Minnie couldn’t understand why her mother would be at Tara’s house. After all these months had she finally decided to meet her and hear Tara’s side of the story?
‘She suffers from severe anxiety – it probably is a panic attack. I’ll come, I’m not far, I’ll call Quinn on the way.’
Minnie turned to shout, ‘I’ve got to go!’ to the others, then hitched up her tail and started running towards the nearest road. She flagged down a cab on Bayswater Road and told the driver to hurry. In the car she called Quinn. He picked up straight away.
‘Minnie.’ He said it in a way that sounded almost affectionate, which was strange given how they had left things and that they hadn’t spoken in a month.
‘I think your mum’s had a panic attack,’ Minnie said briskly. ‘My mum’s at her house, she called me, said she was hyperventilating. She thought she might be having a heart attack.’
Quinn was silent on the other end of the line. Minnie listened to the sound of her own laboured breathing, the result of running through the park.
‘I’ll head over there now. Thanks for letting me know, Minnie.’ Quinn’s voice sounded hoarse.
‘I’m in a cab, I’m going to be there in a minute.’
13 June 2020
Minnie’s cab pulled up to the blue house and she slithered out of the side door. Slithered because she was still wearing a constricting mermaid tail skirt that limited her leg movement to five inches in any direction. She rolled onto her front and flapped her legs backwards out of the taxi door, so she could push herself to standing, like a totem pole being winched upwards. Dashing through the park, she’d unzipped the side of the tail but the zip only stayed in two positions, all the way up or all the way down, so she’d been flashing bright pink pants to everyone in the park as she ran. In her haste to leave, she hadn’t picked up the bag with her change of clothes in, only her handbag and purse. She shuffled to the front window to pay the cab driver.
The driver was an elderly Liverpudlian with long greying sideburns and a beige flat cap.
‘Thought you’d be wanting Finsbury Park,’ he said, flashing her a mouth full of cigarette-stained teeth. Minnie shook her head, confused. ‘Fish,’ he said, nodding to her tail, ‘like Fins-bury Park.’ He gave her a slow wink, cocking his head at her.
‘Oh I see, ha-ha, very funny,’ she said.
Minnie hopped up the front steps and rang the doorbell. Her mother answered the door. She did a double take and then looked Minnie up and down. Her lips started to move,as though trying to find words that refused to form. Finally she said, ‘What you come as?’
‘Long story. Is Tara OK? What are you even doing here?’
Her mother beckoned her in with a brisk flap of the hand, her eyes darting from left to right as though she were worried about the neighbours seeing a mermaid on the porch.
‘We were just talking,’ said her mother in a whisper, leading Minnie through to the sitting room. ‘I don’t know what set her off but she had some kind of panic attack, clutching her chest. She was trembling all over, gasping like she couldn’t breathe.’
In the sitting room, Tara was lying on the sofa propped up against some cushions. She looked paper white. Her hands were pressed over her eyes and she was gently rocking her head back and forth.
‘I would have called an ambulance but she begged me not to. She shouted for her pills. I turned her bathroom upside down to find the ones she wanted. I figure they’ve kicked in because she’s been like this for the last ten minutes.’
Minnie pulled off the wig she was wearing so she wouldn’t scare Tara. She crouched down next to the sofa and placed a hand on her arm.
‘Tara, it’s Minnie. I don’t know if you remember me.’ Tara glanced at her sideways from beneath her hands. ‘What do you need, what can I do?’
‘Quinn,’ murmured Tara.