Tall Story - Candy Gourlay [57]
‘Put this on.’ She handed me a headband.
I put it on. Now I looked like Tintin as the Karate Kid.
I turned to her. ‘Mrs Green … I … uh …’
She whirled me round by the shoulders and pushed me towards the door. ‘I’ve seen you shooting your magic three-pointers, Andi. Go and save the Souls.’
So I went.
And as I went, something crossed my mind.
When Bernardo had presented me with the wishing stone, I had wished I could play point guard for the Souls.
Now my wish was about to come true.
9
Bernardo
The Earth lay on the ground, a broken egg, yolk the colour of blood oozing slowly out.
And then there was a bright light. So bright. I tried to open my eyes but it scorched my eyeballs. I turned my face away.
‘Pupils are dilating. Hello, hello, anyone in there?’
‘Huh?’ I tried to open my eyes. The light had gone away. A dark blur, eyes, nose and mouth moving in the shadows.
‘Do you know your name? What’s your name?’
I screwed my eyes shut. What was my name? The answer came slowly to my lips. ‘B-Bernardo.’
‘Bernardo! Good. Bernardo, you’re in an ambulance. You collapsed. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of this. Your mum is here.’
Mum’s voice floated in the distance. She spoke in Tagalog. ‘I’m here, Bernardo. Just rest, darling. Don’t worry. We’ll be at hospital soon.’
But the Earth! It fell! And … and …
‘NARDO!’
Suddenly Jabby’s face was pushed up against mine. There was a bloody bruise on his forehead, yellow and violet with swelling. A fine grime covered his face. I could smell his sweat, his fear. Dirt crumbled from his hair. He coughed. ‘Nardo, help. Help me.’
And then he tumbled away from me. I sat up, tried to grab him, tried to stop him from falling, but then there was only the paramedic, urging me to lie down again, and Ma, her eyes wide with alarm, hand over mouth.
There was a popping noise, like someone had burst a balloon next to my ears.
I cried out, blind with sudden, excruciating pain.
‘It’s all right, Bernardo,’ the paramedic said. ‘Lie back. Everything is going to be fine.’
But I felt like I was going to die.
10
Andi
‘You’re dead!’
Whack. Rambo probably didn’t mean to hit me. It was probably meant to be a secret little nudge. The way you do when you’re panicking because someone’s about to snatch victory from you.
It was Souls: 28, Colts: 30.
If Rambo could just unbalance me a little bit, get the ball back to their goal, they had a chance of scoring in the last minute, and the Souls would have no time to take the game back.
But Rambo was more used to nudging raw beef than pushing someone as tiny as me around. So he overestimated his strength.
I went flying.
‘FOUL!’ Rocky screamed.
The referee blew his whistle and the crowd went mad.
I had two free throws. It was only for a point each but they were points in the right direction. I could tie the score.
Looking back, I don’t know why nobody questioned my appearance on the court with Louie’s name and number on my back. The referee must have been asleep or blind or both. And the Colts didn’t even raise a squeak.
They probably took one look at eeny meeny me and thought, no problem.
And then it was too late.
Because. I. Don’t. Miss.
The Souls knew the drill. They just had to keep feeding me the ball.
The Colts were big and burly but they were too dumb to work out that a small person like me would shoot from the three-point line. Over and over again, the Colts bunched up under the goal, waiting for one of us to come close enough to shoot, only for me to pound it in from far, far away.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
I was glad for the headband. It mopped up the sweat that dripped endlessly down my head, which was getting stickier and stickier as my perspiration mixed with the cheap hair gel Mrs Green had put on my hair.
Rocky’s dreads were standing on end,