Read In The Garden Of Stones for Free Online Page A

one
occasion, despite having problems of his own.
    Granite
city, granite attitudes. No room for namby pamby poofters here, ye
ken?
    Even in
a modern city like Aberdeen, old fashioned prejudices rear their
ugly heads, and so when he goes out, although always dressed and
groomed to perfection, he strives to maintain a low profile, makes
an effort to act 'straight', to fit in, because he doesn’t want to
risk being dragged behind the bins again and given another
beating.
    “ Do you think these shiners make me look too butch?” he said through his split
lip, squint nose and swollen cheek.
    Behind closed doors, however, free to be himself without
danger of reproach or judgement, his gayness shines, both
Julian and Sandy reincarnated into one body. As camp as a row of pink
tents, he is flamboyant and eccentric with a penchant for the
Polari, he calls Grace 'ducky' and 'sweetie' and wears pink
Marigold gloves to do the washing up. He always has time for a
girlie chat, a cuddle and a glass or three of wine.
    “ So what happens now?” asks Alec. “Have you been chucked out
to fend for yourself … like last time?” He affects a shudder. “I
don’t think I could cope with that again. All that
bleach!”
    Grace holds onto his hands. “No. Not like last time. You have no need to
worry.”
    Alec blows out a wet raspberry. “Now where have I
heard that one before?”
    “ I mean it this time. I have a new
therapist. Everyone has nothing but good to say about him. He’s
young and keen, and open to new ideas, and we’re going to try
something new. He thinks he’s found a way for me to … to deal with
things in a way that works with me rather than against
me.”
    “ He’s not going to try and put you on
any drugs is he? You know what will happen. They’ll turn you into a
zombie –”
    “ No. No drugs.”
    Alec slaps his hands to his cheeks in a decent impression
of the Home Alone kid. “Oh dear God, please not ECT, don’t let them
–”
    She pulls his hands from his face and holds them together,
prayer-like in front of him. “No. Definitely no ECT either. No
zombies or brain frying. His strongest prescription is for camomile
tea and meditation.”“
    “ So what’s left?”
    “ Just … talking.”
    Alec curls his top lip. “Talking? Who to? To him? What
about?”
    “ Anything and
everything.”
    “ What’s so radical about
that?”
    “ I have to do something special, something
a bit odd.”
    Alec’s eyes narrow and he looks at her down his nose. “Oh
yes.”
    “ I said odd, not kinky, you filthy perv, so
get that idea right out of your head.”
    Grace feels a laugh bubbling up, because now she’s going to
say it out loud, what she’s agreed to sounds totally
ludicrous.
    “ I have to create an imaginary friend,” she
says. “A pretend someone with whom I can discuss all my problems,
my fears, my indecisions, anything that’s troubling me. We get
together either face to face, imaginarily, or I use a prop, like
the phone, and we simply talk them to death.”
    Alec’s entire face curls up like a furled umbrella. “You’re
joking, right? What sort of buggery bollocks quackery is that? Has
he got unicorn milk on special offer as well?”
    He can see from her well maintained deadpan expression that
she is not joking. Far from it. He looks at her sideways. “You think it
will work, don’t you?”
    “ I don’t know, but what harm can it do?
We’ll have to wait and see how it goes.” She kisses his fingertips.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh? Cup of tea? I’m
parched.”
     
     
    In the
privacy of her own room, snuggled in bed with the fat grey tomcat,
Mr Pickles, in her lap, Grace sips at a cup of hot chocolate and
thinks back over her meeting with Dr Mal.
    “ How do I go about conjuring up an imaginary friend?” she
says. “Kids seem to manage it easily enough. In fact, they don’t
even have to try. They just sort of … appear. Adults though...?
It’s positively discouraged. Frowned on