Awake and Dreaming - Kit Pearson [26]
Laura peeked in. “Are you all right, Theo?”
“Yes … Mum.” Theo blushed. She’d said it!
Laura—Mum—smiled at her. “I’ll be working downstairs if you need me. Lisbeth, could you please try to tidy up this mess?”
Lisbeth picked up a few of the clothes and shoved them into the closet. She gave up quickly. “Most of this is Anna’s stuff,” she said. “I don’t see why I should have to do all the work.”
They played two games of Pizza Party, then made bead necklaces from a craft kit. “This is really Anna’s,” explained Lisbeth. “She never lets me touch it, but I don’t think she’d mind if you used it. And of course I have to help you.”
Lisbeth acted as if it were completely normal that Theo was part of the family. She didn’t say anything about being on the ferry or wishing, and Theo was afraid to break the spell and ask about it. She listened to Lisbeth chatter and tried to believe that she was now her sister.
While Lisbeth was putting away the beads, Theo bent to look at the books. “Are all these yours?” she asked in wonder.
“Well, we all share them. John and Ben have lots more in their rooms.” Lisbeth pulled out Charlotte’s Web. “Do you want to hear me read?”
When Theo nodded, Lisbeth read the first page in a slow, careful stacatto, following the sentences with her finger. She let out her breath at the end. “There!” She looked expectant. “This is a hard book for grade two,” she added.
Theo realized what she wanted. “You’re a really good reader!” she told Lisbeth. The younger girl’s face glowed like a small sun—as if Theo’s praise really mattered.
She looks up to me! thought Theo. Like a big sister!
“I used to love this book,” she said shyly. “Would you like me to read some more of it to you?”
“Sure!” They sat on Theo’s bed and leaned against the wall. Theo began to read the familiar story. Ben wandered in, dressed only in a T-shirt and underpants. He curled up on one side of Theo, sucking his thumb. His plump body was warm and sticky and smelled like bread. Lisbeth pressed against her on the other side and then Bingo came in and settled on the floor.
Theo tried to make the farmyard world of Fern and Wilbur and Charlotte come alive for them. She looked up once to remind herself where she was. The last time she’d been immersed in this story she’d escaped to it in desperation—escaped from her scary school and the bleak shelter she and Rae were living in.
But look at her now! Sitting in a pleasantly cluttered room with a sister and brother on each side of her and a dog at her feet … This was too good to be real.
But it’s not real, Theo reminded herself. It’s magic.
“Read!” commanded Ben.
Theo smiled at him and continued the story.
BY THE TIME the others got home from school, it had stopped raining. As soon as they’d had a snack, they all went out.
Theo walked down the front steps of the house, rolling up the sleeves on the jacket Anna had lent her. The four Kaldors—five, counting Bingo—jostled and pressed around her. It was like being on the cover of All-of-a-Kind Family.
“What should we show her first?” asked John.
“The graveyard!” said Lisbeth. “Come on, Theo!” She grabbed Theo’s hand and led her across the street. They went through an entrance in the holly hedge and into what looked like a large park. Huge trees spread their branches against the clearing sky. The grass was studded with gravestones, some upright and some flat; it looked like a grey and green chessboard.
“No one minds if we play in here,” said Anna.
“Sometimes we play ghosts!” said Lisbeth. “I think this place is haunted, don’t you Ben?”
Ben took Anna’s hand. “Don’t worry, there’s no such thing as ghosts,” she told him.
“Ben thinks there is. Last year he asked me if that was where the ghosts went to the bathroom!” Lisbeth pointed to a public washroom by the road.
“That was when I was little,” said Ben.
They trekked over the wet grass, showing Theo their favourite graves—a black iron anchor, a fireman’s hat, a stone eagle with outspread wings. There was