Angel Creek (7 page)

keeping secrets

Jelly and Gino peered though the back window. Only Jelly's mum was in the kitchen. Gino's dad wasn't in sight. He breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his top lip.

‘Mum won't say anything,' Jelly assured him. ‘She's fine with me playing by the creek.' She grabbed Gino's hand and pulled him through the back door. They tried to slip past Jelly's mother but she grabbed Jelly's arm before they could get away. ‘Uh-uh. Straight up to the shower, you two.' She rolled her eyes. ‘Don't think I don't know where you've been. You'd better get cleaned up before your parents get home, Gino.'

Jelly washed and changed into fresh clothes, then waited for Gino in her room. Her dad walked past and blew Jelly a kiss. ‘How's Nonna?' she asked.

‘All right.' He smiled. ‘Making trouble as usual.'

But Jelly saw the sadness flicker over his face. Her stomach clenched into a fist. Was anyone telling them the truth? Jelly was desperate to see Nonna for herself.

‘Can I visit her, Dad?'

‘Not just yet, sweetheart.'

At last Gino came out of the bathroom. Jelly beckoned him into her room. ‘How was the angel?' she whispered. ‘Did you get it to eat anything?'

‘I tried to feed it some apricots but it wouldn't let me near it so I left them on the rug. I filled a tray of water for it, though.'

‘Good thinking. Imagine if Jack found it.'

‘Lunch,' her mum called.

Zio Mario was back and in a foul mood. You'd think it was
his
mum who was in the hospital from all the fuss that Zia Pia was making over him. He strode over to the table and waited to be waited on. Jelly and Gino sat as far away from him as possible and far from Sophia, who dribbled and threw her food around. Somebody had put Nonna's special chair by the back window, as if it was watching out for her to come home.

It wasn't a real Christmas lunch; everything felt strange without Nonna around. They sat in silence. Partly because of Nonna and partly because no one felt like coaxing Zio Mario out of his dark mood. Jelly's mum dished up the pasta left over from the night before and Jelly and Gino wolfed down two servings each without looking up from their plates. Pik, as usual, just picked at his food, which was partly how he got his name, and also because it was short for
piccolo
, which means small.

All the kids had been given nicknames when they were little, but Pik's and Jelly's were the only ones that had stuck. Jelly was short for her full name, which was long and old-fashioned and had never felt like it belonged only to her.

After moving his lasagne round his plate for a while, Pik suddenly announced to everyone at the table, ‘We found an angel.'

Jelly looked up as Gino choked on his garlic bread. He coughed then gave Pik the greasiest look she'd seen in a long time. Jelly, her heart hammering in her chest, stared at her parents, waiting to see what they would say.

‘That's nice,' said Mum, helping herself to the
zeppole
.

Jelly breathed out.

‘It's true,' Pik said, ignoring Gino and pushing away the forkful of lasagne Zia Pia was trying to sneak into his mouth. ‘We found it in the creek. Last night.'

‘You kids haven't been taking Pik down to the creek, have you?' Zia Pia said. ‘You know he can't swim. And there was that boy who drowned—' ‘Jelly's not going to let them go near the water,' Jelly's mum interrupted. ‘They're perfectly safe—' ‘I'm not having my kids wandering down by the creek—' ‘Pik's just making up stories,' said Gino. ‘Aren't you, Pik?' Then he hissed, ‘Just like a kid who wants to stay with his baby sister would.'

Pik's face crumpled and he looked down at his plate. ‘Anyway,' he said quietly, to no one in particular. ‘I drew it a picture. Father Christmas and his goats.'

Gino snorted. ‘Reindeer, dummy. They're not goats. And anyway, there's no such thing as Father Christmas.'

‘
Gino
,' Zio Mario warned.

‘It's true,' Gino sulked. ‘And he knows it, too.'

‘If Pik wants to believe in Father Christmas or angels or anything else for that matter, you shouldn't spoil it for him,' Zia Pia scolded, wiping Sophia's mouth with a cloth.

‘Some Christmas,' Gino muttered under his breath.

‘Don't think I didn't hear that, Gino.' His dad's face darkened. ‘What, you think this is all about you? With your nonna in the hospital and your mum worried sick—' ‘

Hey,' Jelly's dad said gently. ‘It's been a hard time for all of us. And Gino's right. It's not been much of a Christmas. Especially for the kids.'

Jelly gave her dad a grateful smile but Gino just picked at the tablecloth, his face dark and brooding.

10

the broken wing

After coffee, everyone vanished. The house was instantly quiet. Jelly, Gino and Pik slipped out the back door.

‘Are we going to see the angel?' Pik said, bouncing alongside them. ‘Are we? Are we?'

‘Shut up, Pik,' Gino snapped. ‘You're lucky you're even coming with us after what you said at lunch.'

‘Give him a break,' Jelly said. ‘It's not like they believed him.'

Gino glared at them and marched ahead.

On Ivy Street there was no one around. They heard the crack of a ball against a cricket bat then hoots of laughter coming from someone's backyard. Other houses let out the steady drone of overworked air conditioners. Jelly pictured kids playing with their Christmas presents and parents stuffed like turkeys, snoozing on couches. That was what her family would usually be doing.

They slipped under the fence and dashed across the blazing schoolyard. Gino pushed open the door and a blast of heat emptied from the shed.

‘Yuck,' said Pik. ‘I'm not going in there.'

‘Oh, the poor angel,' Jelly said.

Gino and Jelly tiptoed into the stuffy darkness, to the corner where the angel was lying like a crumpled mat.

Jelly crouched beside it. The angel was panting shallowly. She placed her hand on its clammy forehead, but it didn't open its eyes this time. A sour milky smell hovered around it. One wing was spread out across the floor, the other one, the bandaged one, was tucked in tight along the angel's spine. A dirty yellow liquid was oozing from a dark patch of dried blood. The sour smell was coming from its wound. She pulled out a strawberry from her pocket and held it under the angel's nose. It didn't stir.

‘We have to do something. I think its wing might be infected.'

Gino leaned in to look, but jerked back when the smell hit his nostrils.

‘Poor angel.' Pik was still standing by the doorway and his voice was small and frightened. ‘We should take it to the creek to cool it down.'

‘We're not taking it to the creek,' Gino snapped.

‘It's a good idea, Gino,' Jelly said.

‘What? And let it go?'

‘No, just cool it down. Look at it. It's too hot in here.'

‘We can tip water on it.'

‘That won't be enough.'

‘You have to do what Jelly says, Gino.' Pik was almost crying.

‘It's none of your business, Pik.' Gino turned to Jelly, lips tight. ‘How would we get it there, anyway? Without anyone seeing?'

‘Sophia's pram,' Pik suggested. ‘We could hide it in there.'

‘Good thinking, Pikster.' Jelly grinned at him.

Gino frowned. ‘Suppose you're going to send me back to get it?'

‘No, we should stick together in case those boys are around.' She touched the angel's hair.

‘Don't worry, little angel,' Pik called as they backed out of the shed. ‘We'll be back soon.'

The house was still quiet when they got back, but even so Jelly tiptoed upstairs to see who was home. Her dad was in the study, eyes glued to the computer screen and his bird thesis spread out all around him. Sophia was sleeping in a cot next to him. Jelly tugged one of her sunhats off the back of the door, shoved it under her T-shirt, then tiptoed out of the room.

‘Jelly?' her dad whispered, as she reached the landing.

Jelly froze. Did her dad know they were up to something? She turned around slowly.

‘I almost forgot. Stef called.'

Jelly's heart soared.

‘She wanted to wish you a happy Christmas. I said I'd get you to call back.'

Jelly was torn. She desperately wanted to talk to her best friend. She had so much to tell her. And it felt like days since they'd spoken. But Pik and Gino were waiting downstairs and the angel was baking in the shed.

‘I'll call her tonight.'

‘Really?' her dad said. ‘You're always complaining that you can't get onto her.'

‘Gino and Pik are waiting for me. I have to go.'

Jelly's dad shrugged. ‘I'm glad you kids are getting along so well. I thought you'd gone off Gino a bit.'

‘Nah,' said Jelly. ‘He's okay.' She scooted back downstairs.

Gino had already brought Sophia's pram around the back and Pik was almost wetting himself with excitement.

‘Shh, Pik, you'll get us busted.' Jelly tossed the sunhat into the pram. ‘We'll have to go the long way round. There's no way we'd get the pram over the back fence.'

The old lady from across the road was sitting in the shade of her front porch as they passed. She was fanning herself with junk mail. ‘
Buon Natale!
' she called out, waving so that the pale flesh underneath her fat arms jiggled.

‘Merry Christmas,' Jelly called back, without slowing down.

‘You taking your baby sister for a walk?'

‘Yep.'

‘Good children.'

Jelly giggled. Even Gino couldn't hide a grin.

At the hole in the fence, Jelly told Gino and Pik to wait with the pram while she fetched the angel.

‘Hurry,' said Gino. ‘I don't want those boys catching me here. Especially with a
pram
.'

Inside the shed it smelled even worse than before. Jelly breathed through her mouth. The air was hot and dry. ‘Hey, little angel,' she cooed, approaching slowly. It didn't stir.

Jelly had brought one of Sophia's blankets with her. She tucked one side under the angel's limp body and rolled it onto the blanket, folding in its good wing first. Gently she lifted the injured wing. It dangled loosely in her hand. The angel didn't even flinch. Jelly leaned in close to its face, her heart beating fast. Then she heard them. Little raspy puffs like the swish of a skirt on dry grass. The angel was still breathing. She exhaled and picked it up carefully, holding it close to her chest. One of the angel's eyelids floated open and its pale eye rolled back. It let out a tiny sigh.

‘I'm so sorry, little one,' she said, tears pricking at her eyes. ‘We're taking you to the creek to cool down.'

Jelly carried the angel to the fence. Pik was squashing mulberries with his foot and Gino's hands were slammed into his pockets, his shoulders stiff as he looked up and down the street. He lifted the fence and Jelly slid the bundle to them, then slipped through.