Awake and Dreaming - Kit Pearson [54]
“You’re sleeping in our room,” Lisbeth told her. She showed Theo a narrow rollaway cot, placed against the same wall where Theo used to sleep. Theo could hardly wait to get into it.
Finally it was time to go to bed. First Dan read them a chapter from Swallows and Amazons. Theo had forgotten how much she’d once loved this story; how powerfully books could pull you in so that you forgot where you were.
The three girls talked and giggled for a long time in the dark. Finally Lisbeth said crossly, “Shut up, you guys! I want to go to sleep!” She was instantly quiet. Anna murmured a few more comments to Theo then she, too, became silent.
Theo tossed for hours. Even after Laura and Dan came up to bed, she was still awake. She lay on her back and stared up at the skylight where she’d heard the rain dripping on her first day. If only she could sleep, maybe she’d wake up and find herself a part of the family again.
But she wouldn’t. That had been magic, but this was real. A very pleasant real. She was spending a whole weekend with her best friends. But the magic had spoilt her. She was greedy for more, to belong again.
Now she didn’t belong anywhere. Life with Sharon was okay, but Theo knew she couldn’t stay there forever. One day she’d have to go back to Rae—a prospect she usually kept pushed deep in her mind. But tonight Theo kept thinking of her mother. Did Rae miss her? She hadn’t phoned for weeks. Was she happy living with Cal? Would Theo have to live with Cal? She shuddered at the thought of seeing him every day.
Theo threw back her hot quilt. She smoothed Heather’s hair—Lisbeth had let her sleep with her. They had forgotten to pull down the blinds; through the other window she could see a crescent moon.
A new moon … Theo got up and crept to the window. All the treetops in the cemetery danced in the wind; the moon was a radiant bow above them.
She could try wishing on the moon again! “I wish I really belonged to this family,” whispered Theo. It had worked before—why not now?
Theo sat on the chest by the window, staring out at the cemetery. She wasn’t asleep, yet she wasn’t really awake; she was in a kind of trance, the way she used to be in school in Vancouver.
A movement outside made her glance to the left. A figure was coming out of the entrance to the cemetery: a woman. She walked across the street in a smooth, gliding movement. It was hard to make out her features in the dark, but she was tall and angular, wearing a shapeless coat.
She came closer and Theo could see her better by the streetlight. The woman’s face looked strangely familiar. Plain and gaunt, with wispy hair. She looked distracted.
The woman came up the steps and Theo lost sight of her. She must be planning to visit Laura and Dan, but why so late? There was no knock; maybe the woman had decided it was too late, also. Theo waited for her to come back down the steps and walk away, but no one appeared.
She was so tired now; maybe she was dreaming. She got back into bed and sank into sleep. Later she began shivering, vaguely aware that her quilt had slipped to the floor. She was too soundly asleep to wake up and get it.
Then warmth enveloped her as the quilt was tucked around her. Theo smiled and snuggled deeper into her dreams.
FOR THE FIRST FEW MINUTES of the morning she couldn’t tell if her wish had come true. Anna threw her pillow at her exactly the way she used to and Lisbeth jumped on her bed. Theo was flooded with hope; was she really back?
But then Lisbeth said, “I hope we have time to finish our puzzle before Sharon comes to get you.”
Theo’s spirits sank. The wish hadn’t worked; she was still just a friend, not a sister. She turned her head to hide her swelling tears.
“What’s the matter, Theo?” asked Anna.
“Nothing,” said Theo, holding up her head so the tears wouldn’t drip. She wiped her eyes on her nightgown as she pulled it off.
She felt better at breakfast. Dan made waffles and Theo wolfed down their comforting sweetness as fast as the others. Squished