“I might be interested in a party,” Jim says mildly, but Jess doesn’t seem to hear him.
“You don’t know anything about the environment! You don’t know about bloody hedgehogs! You’re making it up as you go along! Just butt out and leave us alone.”
“Now, that’s a little aggressive, Jess,” says Robin. “Becky’s only trying to help.”
“We don’t need her help!”
“Jess,” says Jim in soothing tones. “This is your sister. Come on, love. Be a bit more welcoming.”
“Are these two sisters?” says the white-haired man in surprise. An interested murmuring grows throughout the room.
“She’s not my sister.” Jess has folded her arms tight. She’s refusing even to look at me, and suddenly I feel a swell of angry hurt.
“I know you don’t want me to be your sister, Jess,” I say, standing up to face her. “But I am! And there’s nothing you can do about that! We have the same blood! We have the same genes! We have the same—”
“Yeah, well, I don’t believe we do, OK?” Jess’s voice reverberates in the room.
“What?” I’m not sure I’ve heard her correctly.
“I don’t believe we share the same blood,” she says in calmer tones.
“But… but we know we do!” I say in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Jess sighs and rubs her face. When she looks up, there’s only a trace of animosity left.
“Look at us, Becky,” she says, almost kindly. She gestures to me and then to herself. “We have nothing in common. Not one thing. We can’t be from the same family.”
“But… but my dad’s your father!”
“Oh God,” says Jess, almost to herself. “Look, Becky, I wasn’t going to bring this up till later.”
“Bring up what?” I feel a dreadful foreboding. “Bring up what?”
“OK. Here’s the thing.” Jess exhales sharply. “Originally I was given the name of your dad as my father. But… it just doesn’t seem to be making sense. So last night I had a long talk about it with my aunty Florence. She admitted my mum was a bit… wild. There might have been other men.” Jess hesitates. “She thought there probably had been other men, although she didn’t have any names.”
“But… you had a test!” I say, bewildered. “A DNA test! So that proves…” I trail off as Jess shakes her head.
“No. We never did. We were going to. But I had your dad’s name, the dates made sense, and… we all just assumed.” She looks down at the ground. “I think we assumed wrong.”
My head is spinning. They never did a DNA test? They just assumed?
The entire room is silent. I don’t think anyone is breathing. I catch sight of Jim’s anxious, kind face, and quickly look away.
“So… this has all been a big mistake,” I say at last. Suddenly there’s a huge lump in my throat.
“I think it was a mistake,” agrees Jess. She looks up and sees my stricken face. “Come on, Becky. If you looked at us as an outsider… would you say we were sisters?”
“I… I suppose not,” I manage.
I’m reeling with shock and disappointment, but at the same time, deep down, a tiny voice is telling me that this makes sense. I feel like for the last few weeks I’ve been trying to force my foot into a wrong-size shoe. I’ve been ramming and ramming, chafing the skin… and at last I’m admitting it doesn’t fit.
She’s not my sister. She’s not my flesh and blood. She’s just… a girl.
I’m standing here staring at a girl I barely know, who doesn’t even like me.
I really don’t want to be here anymore.
“Right,” I say, trying to compose myself. “Well… I think I’ll go. Bye, everybody. Good luck with the protest.”
Nobody says anything. Everyone looks too thunderstruck. With trembling hands I pick up my bag, then push back my chair. As I make my way past everyone to the door I catch the odd sympathetic look. I pause when I reach Jim, who looks almost as disappointed as I feel.
“Thanks for everything, Jim,” I say, trying to smile.
“Goodbye, love.” He clasps my hand warmly. “It was good to know you.”
“You too. Say goodbye to Kelly for me.”
I reach the door and turn to face Jess.
“Bye, then.” I swallow hard. “Have a nice life and everything.”
“Bye, Becky,” she says, and for the first time there’s a flicker of something like compassion in her eyes. “I hope you patch it up with Luke.”