Angels Like Me by Karen McCombie

Author:Karen McCombie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141344577
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2015-02-10T05:00:00+00:00

Sunshine looks shocked.

‘It wasn’t me!’ Pearl says quickly.

‘Or me,’ Kitt adds.

‘Hands … everyone, now!’ Sunshine orders, ignoring the question of who did the errant magic and concentrating on finding a way to get us out of this mess. ‘Riley – you too.’

I don’t think; I just do as she says.

Together, forty fingers press down on Alastair, and between the space of one blink and another he’s transformed back into a stiff, lifeless hunk of driftwood.

‘Got it!’ Marnie calls out, as she trots into the living room holding her flute case aloft. ‘It was in my bag after all! Don’t know how I missed it.’

She’s also missed the four of us leaping away from Etta and back into our former positions. I glance at my friends, and flash them a smile of relief. We did it!

‘Yes, we did,’ I hear Sunshine reply in quiet words. She’s allowing herself a small smile too, same as Kitt. Pearl gives a nervous little giggle, and slaps her hand across her mouth, in case Marnie thinks she’s laughing at her.

But Marnie hasn’t noticed. She’s pointing at Bee.

‘What’s up with him?’ asks Marnie, spotting that Bee is shaking, his tail between his legs – spooked at the appearance and then disappearance of another dog, I suppose.

‘He gets like that when he needs a run around,’ I lie quickly. ‘Is it OK if we let him out into the garden?’

‘Yes, of course!’ says Etta, blinking and smiling herself back into the conversation. ‘Dear me … what were we talking about, girls? It’s gone completely out of my mind, silly old woman that I am!’

Sweet, kind lady that you are, I think, as I take Bee by the collar and lead him towards the back door.

I totally get why Etta needs the angels’ help now. Everyone can cope with bad stuff, but the problem is when it all collides together. That’s when a person’s shine starts to fade drastically.

For me, my best friend Tia emigrating made me so, so lonely it brought out all the longing for Mum that I’d had locked away inside.

For Woody, everything came crashing down when he struggled with his dyslexia, plus the teasing that went with it, and he nearly got into terrible trouble at school.

For Etta, it’s about losing her home and her husband and her beloved dog all in one harsh, hard-to-take blow.

But with the angels to gently guide her to happiness she’ll be shining again soon. I know it, even if she doesn’t.

‘Oh, Riley – I just remembered!’ Etta suddenly calls out after me. ‘I think I might have something for you, something from your mum’s shop.’

I stop dead. The florist’s is now a children’s shop, selling buggies and cots and stuff. I’ve been inside once, with Pearl. She did a telling on me, and I stood there smelling the mixed scents of the flowers, watching Mum serving someone. Mum, who was pregnant with me, serving a customer called Etta …

‘I’ll have to dig it out for you – if

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.