Edsel Grizzler by James Roy

That’s enough, son!’ Dad said, his mouth gaping. ‘It’s no wonder you can’t make friends if that’s how you talk to them!’
    â€˜Oh, so it’s about friends!’ crowed Kenny. ‘Edsel doesn’t have any friends. But that’s not true, Edsel – you’ve got me and Mikey.’
    â€˜There, see?’ Mum said. ‘You have got friends, darling.’
    Edsel had had enough. He pushed past his parents and began to stride across the damp quad. ‘I’ll see you at home. Maybe.’
    â€˜Edsel! Come back!’ he heard his mother call.
    â€˜Excuse me,’ he said, pushing past a number of people who were standing in his way. All he wanted to do was go. To leave. To get out of there.
    Then came the moment that he’d have been most dreading, had he even thought it could happen. His skinny, porridge-faced father was standing next to his huge, ruddy-faced mother, and was calling out. He was calling out loudly. And the words were heard by every person in that school quadrangle: ‘Edsel! There’s nothing to be afraid of. He’s just a counsellor! And he seems so nice! He’ll help you make some friends, I’m sure he will.’
    And his mother was just making it worse. ‘Go after him, Barry! Go after him! Oh! Oh! What if he gets lost, or wanders onto the road? Oh! Oh!’
    And as the sound of stifled laughter from the families and guffaws from Kenny pressed in on him, Edsel ran.

E dsel went home the long way, knowing that him being out there alone in the dark would upset his parents. He didn’t care. They’d embarrassed him more than he’d thought anyone could ever be embarrassed, so it didn’t bother him all that much if they got home and he wasn’t there yet. Sure, they might worry a bit, but he was safe, walking home using the back streets. Besides, nothing bad ever happened in West Malaise. Nothing good happened there either. In fact, nothing much happened in West Malaise at all.
    He walked slowly. If anyone had asked him why he was walking slowly, he’d probably have told them that he was just giving himself enough time to calm down. But if he’d been completely honest, he’d have admitted that he was enjoying the idea that his parents were almost certainly beside themselves with anxiety. Perhaps they’ve already contacted the police, he thought, and when that idea crossed his mind, he picked up the pace just a little.
    The other thing that made him walk just a little quicker was the weight in his pocket of the funny white plug thing that Ms Finn had given him. Where it had come from was a mystery. What it would do once it was plugged into the Egg was an even greater mystery. But when he rounded the corner into his street and saw the family car parked in the driveway, and recognised the dark figure of his father pacing up and down on the footpath with his mobile phone held to his ear, he knew that one thing was not a mystery; he was about to be in a whole world of trouble.
    â€˜I’m sorry to’ve bothered you – he’s just arrived home,’ Dad said into the phone as he looked up and saw Edsel approaching. ‘Yes, thank you very much. I’ll be sure to tell him.’ Slipping the phone into his pocket, he turned to face Edsel. ‘Do you have any idea—’
    â€˜How frightening that was for your mother and I?’ Edsel said. ‘A bit.’
    â€˜A bit? A bit? Dear me, Edsel, it’s terrifying!’
    â€˜Well, do you have any idea how embarrassing that was, back at the school? Anyway, I was just walking home.’ ‘We didn’t know that! Besides, there are all kinds of dreadful people out there, especially the back streets. Gangs, and prowlers, and—’
    â€˜In West Malaise? I doubt it.’
    Dad’s temper was fraying. ‘Now listen here—’ he began.
    The screen door rattled and opened, and Mum was standing there,