Jelly by Jo Cotterill

Author:Jo Cotterill [Cotterill Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: little bee books
Published: 2019-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

We find a bench overlooking a dip in the fields for our picnic. Lennon says it’s not a proper picnic if you don’t sit on the ground though, and he unrolls a picnic blanket—one of those ones with fabric on the top and a waterproof layer underneath. Even Mom sits on the blanket, and we use the bench as a table.

Lennon says apologetically, “I didn’t know what you both liked to eat, so I brought way more than we need.”

I am delighted. There are cheese sandwiches, ham sandwiches, chips, breadsticks, chocolate fingers, cupcakes, grapes, apples (one fewer because of the black horse), olives, baby corn, and tomatoes. There’s one big bottle of water and three cans of different fizzy drinks.

“How did you fit all this in your backpack?” asks Mom, staring at everything in astonishment.

“With difficulty,” he responds, and she laughs. I choke on my baby corn because it’s a real laugh, not the fake one. I stare at her in surprise.

“What?” she says.

I eat and eat and there’s still food left, and I’m sure Lennon doesn’t want to carry too much back so I’m doing him a favor, and Mom eats much more than usual and doesn’t mention calories even once.

When we’ve finished, we all lie back on the blanket and stare at the sky and play the cloud game. “Dragon,” says my mom, pointing.

“No way,” says Lennon. “That’s an elephant dancing.”

“No,” I argue, “it’s a baby in a bath. You can see its head sticking out over the top.” I change voices. “Goo goo, ’ook at me. I’m in the bath, oops, I’ve fallen in, argh argh, noo, I’m drowning . . . !”

It’s a really lame impression, but Lennon starts laughing, and that makes me laugh, and then Mom giggles, and then Lennon starts coughing, and has to sit up because he can’t breathe properly, and then Mom stops giggling because she’s really worried about him, but I keep laughing and laughing because I can’t stop and eventually my sides start to ache and that seems funny too, and Lennon has stopped coughing and started laughing again because I’m laughing, and I don’t know how long it all goes on for but at the end, I feel as though someone has turned me upside down and shaken out all the bad stuff.

I lie on the grass (having laughed myself off the blanket) and stare up at the sky, and my body feels calm and light and warm, and I can almost hear the grass growing and the beetles scuttling and the sun sizzling.

Lennon starts to play his guitar. It’s a song I don’t know, about questions and answers that are blowing in the wind. It’s quite soothing. I close my eyes and lose myself in the song.

And then a second very, very quiet voice joins Lennon’s and my eyes jerk open.

My mom is singing.

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.