The Night Rainbow A Novel - By Claire King Page 0,62

every day.

And you think Claude could be it?

I think he would be perfect.

The birds are very noisy this morning. Some are even in the tree near our heads, chatting and chittering. A woodpecker is drilling holes. It is probably too early for Claude, so while we wait for him we play shops.

I’m the shopkeeper, says Margot, and you are the customer.

OK, I say. Hello, shopkeeper.

Hello. What would you like to buy today?

I would like some cheese please.

Margot shakes her head. I’m afraid we don’t have any cheese.

OK, then I would like some coloured pencils.

We don’t sell those.

Have you got any eggs? I say.

Eggs? says Margot. What are they? And we both start to laugh.

What do you sell in this shop? I ask.

Lots of things, says Margot. Almost everything you could want.

Have you got carrots?

No carrots. Margot sticks out her tongue and I laugh some more.

What do you have?

We have octopus, clothes pegs, olives and onions, says Margot. She waves her hand across the front of her shop. See, here they are, right here in front of your eyes.

I’ll have an octopus and some clothes pegs then please.

Ninety-nine euros, says Margot. She knows big numbers; she is showing off.

We play shop for quite a long time, until the sun is halfway up the sky and even the air in the tree shade is heating up.

Let’s go paddling, says Margot. Then she doesn’t even wait for me to reply, just slips out of the tree and starts running back through the tall grass towards the stream. By the time I get there, Margot is already on the other side, sitting on a root on the bank.

Slowcoach! she says.

I am not interested in being bossed about today, so I decide to dilly and dally a bit more. I have spotted the evening primroses that I thought had been put there by witches before I knew about Claude. Today I am going to pick them for Maman. Even though the flowers are delicate, the stems are thick and hard to snap. But when I have finished tugging and twisting I have five long stems and there are more than ten flowers and lots of long green leaves.

Beautiful, says Margot. Now come on!

I smile at her and walk straight into the stream in my sandals. It is quite high today and the water sloshes around the bottom of my legs, cold and lovely. For a while I just stand in the same spot, kicking one foot after the other, splashing about. I stare down into the water. I can’t see my feet, only my pinky-purple reflection and the yellow reflection of the flowers. I wonder if they will make Maman smile. This makes me think about our leaky sink, and the mousetrap with the sausage, and having no money and needing a papa.

It’s getting to be a very big challenge, I say.

Maybe we don’t have to fix everything.

But if we don’t fix everything, Maman will still be unhappy.

Margot makes her thinking face. If we fix the papa, and maybe the cleaning, she says, I think that will be enough.

OK, I say, then we have to find Claude right now.

Come on, then!

I stop kicking and start to cross the stream. But the floor is slippy and rocky and I nearly fall over.

Oh!

Use the stepping stones, silly!

I put my arms out like an acrobat and take tiny slow steps to get me over to the stepping stones. Yey! I say. I did it! And I am climbing up on to the greeny brown of the first stone and stepping on to the second.

At last, says Margot.

I don’t really know what happens next. My feet are slipping off the stones. I am scrambling with both feet and trying to get my balance. And then both of my feet are in the water and so is my bottom and I am wet. That’s what’s important first, that my four-years-old memory dress and my knickers are wet and cold. But only for a very short time because then I feel the hurt in my foot. Not the scorpion foot, the other one. And when I try to move it to stand up, it hurts more. I feel down in the water. My foot is stuck under a stone. I try to push it, lift it, rock it, but nothing happens.

Margot! I say. But when I look up, she has gone.

The coldness of the water soon starts hurting even more than the rock-squash so I find a way to stand up