Rosemary Wilkie

Prologue

Poppy rubbed her eyes, she couldn’t see clearly,
couldn’t make out where she was.
She had to find something very important, but what?
And where?
The grey clouds swirling around her hid everything.
Then a light began to glow somewhere ahead,
growing brighter until she was dazzled by dancing
gold and orange lights as brilliant as the sun.
She stepped forward cautiously, shielding her eyes,
as a patch of pale sky blue appeared.
In it was a figure.
A familiar one.
She took another step, then ran as fast as she could,
shouting joyfully, ‘Daddy!’
As she was about to throw herself into his arms, Poppy woke up, trembling, alone in her bedroom.
And wept. 

 

One

Poppy’s fantastic adventures began when she saw Daisy’s grandmother swing a ring on a ribbon over a neighbour lying on the dining room table.

It didn’t seem important at the time. Just a joke really.

Besides, Poppy had something else to worry about - Mum going out for a drink with a strange man - which was why she was at Daisy’s for the evening.

‘The parents are out,’ said Daisy, leading the way to a messy and delicious smelling kitchen. Her grandmother, Mrs Woods smiled at the girls. ‘Lay the table in here, Daisy. Susie’s coming at seven.’

‘Who is Susie?’ Poppy asked as they headed for a sofa and pulled out school books to get their reading done.

Daisy grinned. ‘Nice neighbour. Pregnant. Gran can tell if a baby is a girl or a boy before it is born, and Mum and Dad don’t like her doing it,’.

Embarrassing talks about sex and babies at school had made the whole subject a source of hilarious jokes for the two eleven-year olds. ‘Who’s having a baby?’ cried Poppy. ‘Not your big sister! Lucy is always stuck to her computer and never goes out.’ She grinned. ‘Not a bookworm like you! Tell me everything!’

‘Idiot,’ said Daisy affectionately. ‘Susie’s husband thinks scans are dangerous and wants to wait and see what arrives. But she wants to know, so she can think about names and baby clothes.’

Susie brought a buzz of excitement into the house. She was plump and cheerful, and invited them to feel her bulge.

‘It will start moving any day now,’ she said happily. ‘And I’ll be able to say he or she! Where do you want me, Mrs Woods?’

A thin face framed in untidy long blonde hair appeared round the door.

‘When do we eat?’ It was Daisy’s fifteen-year-old sister, Lucy. When she saw Susie clambering onto the dining room table she winked at her grandmother and disappeared.

Mrs Woods arranged Susie flat on the table, propped up with cushions from the sofa and chairs. ‘Give me your wedding ring.’

Susie pulled it off and Mrs Woods attached it to a silk ribbon.

‘Comfy? Quiet now,’ she added, glancing towards Poppy and Daisy.

The old lady held the end of the thread above Susie’s bulge and spoke with a surprisingly clear voice. ‘Is this baby female?’

Poppy watched as the ring began to swing, tracing a circle in the air before slowly coming to rest on the end of the ribbon. Her spine began to tingle. She had never seen anything like this before, but in some strange way it felt familiar. She watched intently.

When Mrs Woods asked, ‘Is this baby male?’ the ring began to swing again, making an even bigger circle in the opposite direction.

‘You are going to have a son, my dear!’ 

‘What a relief,’ Susie giggled. ‘Peter has set his heart on a boy!’

Mrs Woods showed Susie out while the girls tidied the cushions.

Poppy was intrigued. ‘How does she do it? I can’t wait to know if she’s right.’  She glanced at the silver ring on Daisy’s right hand and wondered if any ring would work.

‘There’s a fifty-fifty chance she will be,’ said Daisy with a shrug. ‘Look, here are the books by that new writer I was telling you about. Do you want to borrow one?’

‘You and your books. What are you going to do when you’ve read them all?’’

‘Write some myself, of course,’ replied Daisy.