Tall Story - Candy Gourlay [55]
‘Here he comes!’ Rocky said and we all turned towards the entrance, expecting to see Bernardo towering over the crowd.
But instead of Bernardo, the Colts made their appearance.
And leading them was a giant.
Well, he wasn’t a giant like Bernardo. He was tall. Properly tall.
But where Bernardo had string beans for arms, he had rocks bulging under his skin. His chest was hard and massive. And when he moved, parts of him rippled. Rambo without the guns.
If Rocky thought Bernardo was going to shock and awe the Colts, he was mistaken.
I glanced at the Souls.
They looked shocked.
And awed.
So did the spectators.
The Colts jogged onto the court. The rest were tall too. Trees with hairy legs. They were not as tall as Bernardo but he would have looked like a joke standing next to them.
They began a warm-up shooting drill.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
Not a single miss.
Rocky swallowed.
5
Bernardo
I closed my eyes.
Please, please. Make them safe. Make them safe.
Auntie Sofia.
Uncle Victor.
Jabby.
Old Tibo.
Please. Please. Please.
But the wishing stone lay in my hand, inert.
No spark.
No heat.
No life.
Grant me this wish.
Please. Please.
I pressed it against my forehead.
It was smooth and hard and cold.
So cold.
I dropped it on Andi’s bed and leaned weakly against the bed frame.
Downstairs, I heard the Darth Vader ring tone go off again.
I made my way down.
It flashed on the shelf. After the missed call, I had plugged it in to recharge. The ring tone had extra urgency.
It stopped ringing as soon as I picked it up. There were five missed calls now.
They were all from Jabby.
6
Andi
It was a disaster.
It was a massacre.
The Colts owned the Souls.
No sooner had the Souls gained possession of the ball than one of the Colts plucked it away and passed it down to Rambo, who reached up and STUFFED it in the basket.
Stuffstuffstuffstuffstuffstuffstuff.
Rocky was running up and down the court like a headless chicken and Louie was a waterfall of sweat, which was kind of ironic, considering he barely got a chance to run with the ball. When they did get the ball, they only managed to skim the basketball hoop or hit the referee or throw it into the crowd – throw it everywhere but into the goal.
The crowd watched silently. You could feel them clench their teeth every time the Colts’ ball plopped through the basket and they cringed en masse every time the Souls missed.
Stuffstuffstuffstuffstuffstuffstuff.
The Souls were so dead.
But it was not the game that was worrying me.
Bernardo had not turned up.
Where was he?
Maybe he’d got cold feet. Maybe he’d seen the Colts and realized the futility of it all. Maybe Mrs Green was keeping him prisoner in the school somewhere. Or maybe … maybe he’d heard from the Philippines.
I began to shoulder my way through the silent crowd.
We should have told him. We should have called him downstairs last night. We should have stayed at home instead of going to school to play a stupid basketball game.
Mum was so wrong not to tell him about the earthquake.
Bernardo would blame himself.
I burst out of the gym double doors, panting. I needed to find Bernardo, but how? Where was I going to start?
My mind was a blank.
‘Andi!’
The tall thin figure crouching behind the double doors straightened up hastily.
‘Mrs Green?’
I stared, incredulous. She must have been watching the game through the glass panels on the doors.
Mrs Green’s cheeks glowed red but she quickly masked any embarrassment with her usual tight smile.
‘Mrs Green … have you seen—’
But she interrupted. ‘Andi, I was very sorry to hear about the earthquake yesterday. I hope your family in the Philippines is safe and please let Bernardo know that I totally understand if he didn’t feel like coming to school today—’
‘Isn’t Bernardo with you?’
She looked nonplussed.
‘Why, no. He didn’t come in this morning. I thought he didn’t come in because of the – because of the—’
The doors burst open.
‘ANDI!’
It was Louie.
‘Rocky sent me to get you.’ He bent over and pulled his shirt off in one