Hearing Helen by Carolyn Morton

Author:Carolyn Morton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: teen fiction, family relations, piano playing, Carolyn Morton
ISBN: 9780798164375
Publisher: Human & Rousseau
Published: 2013-09-11T04:00:00+00:00

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Nine

THE FIRST THING I heard when I got home was raised voices­ coming from Hank’s room. That was weird. Perhaps my parents were angry because they’d found out he was doing my work for me. I swallowed guiltily.

“Hello, Helen,” said a voice. I swung around to see Madame Pandora on the couch, in floating black as usual, with a glistening pendant around her neck.

I jumped. “What are you doing … I mean, hello, Madame,” I said hastily.

“Ah, that is the right question to ask.” She gestured me graciously to my dad’s chair with the plastic on it, as if it were her living room. I really hate the plastic, so I balanced on the arm.

“Sit down, child, sit down,” she said. “I cannot talk to you sitting in such a way. You look like a parrot on a perch.”

I blushed and slid reluctantly onto the chair, wincing at the smooth squish of the plastic beneath me. “What’s happening?” I asked.

Madame spread out her hands, lifting them into the air. “What always happens when dreams clash,” she said cryptically. “I came to speak to Hank.”

At that moment, my parents emerged from his room, followed by my brother and his girlfriend. She stuck out in the midst of the stifling shabbiness of the lounge; her denim cut-offs and untamed coppery hair exuded a casual, unconscious innocence that reminded me a little of my favourite poster of the red-haired Marilyn Monroe before fame transformed her into an icon.

I stiffened. “Caryn,” I blurted out.

My mom swung round to face me, her nose quivering like that of a lawyer who was eager to rip holes in a defendant’s story and who scented blood.

“You knew?” she said sharply.

“Knew what?” I asked quickly. “I know Caryn. I’ve often seen her cycling past the house. What’s going on?”

My dad stared grimly at the floor. “Madame Pandora came to check on Hank because he said he was feeling very ill and couldn’t make his session with her.”

Hank didn’t look sick to me, although he was very pale.

“She called us,” continued Dad, “before coming to the house, and we rushed home early on the first bus to make sure he was all right.”

Madame Pandora allowed the tiniest of smiles to sweep her face. “I arrived to find he was infinitely better than expected. In fact, he was watching DVDs with this young woman.” She didn’t seem as shocked as my parents.

“When else has Hank not attended lessons?” Mom asked. “Or was this the first time?”

Madame Pandora rose to go. “It is the first time he has been so ill,” she said diplomatically. “There have been one or two other­ occasions when he has asked to be excused.”

“To spend time with Caryn?” my mom asked Hank dangerously.

He nodded, unable to look at her.

Caryn looked upset too, and hurt. “I’m sorry,” she said, “we didn’t mean to do any harm.”

Mom laughed bitterly. “Caryn, your family probably has enough money to send you to a top university,” she said. “Hank has dreamt his

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