Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy by Karen Foxlee

Author:Karen Foxlee [Karen Foxlee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2014-01-10T16:00:00+00:00

8

In which dinner is eaten in a revolving restaurant and Ophelia falls asleep at a crucial moment

Ophelia stared at her reflection in the darkened hotel window. Alice had braided her hair so tight that Ophelia felt her brain wouldn’t work. Her sister hadn’t noticed her missing pockets at all. Alice’s eyes were bright as diamonds. Humming a tuneless song, she stared right through Ophelia. Ophelia looked down at her stupid red dress with its stupid puffy sleeves and her stupid shiny black shoes.

If her mother had been alive, she would have said, “Stop worrying; you look lovely.” She would have taken Ophelia’s glasses and cleaned the smudges off them with the hem of her skirt. Ophelia would have looked at her, all blurred at the edges, and it would have been a very soothing thing.

Even when her mother became sick, she kept writing. Each morning when Ophelia was still in bed, she heard her mother’s footsteps on the stairs, the study door opening, the sound of the computer turning on.

“You should be resting,” she heard her father say one morning.

“But I have this idea,” her mother replied.

“There is all the time in the world for ideas,” her father said.

“Malcolm,” her mother replied, so softly Ophelia barely heard it. “There isn’t.”

They were to meet Miss Kaminski on the highest floor of the hotel, in the revolving restaurant. Alice had spent over an hour applying makeup. Mr. Whittard was in a state. He had lacquered down his hair and dressed in his best black suit.

“Now, O,” he said, smoothing down his tie. “You must be on your best behavior, and no nonsense about finding a magical sword.”

“But I do have to find a magical sword,” said Ophelia. “And I don’t have very much time.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” said her father.

He wanted to impress Miss Kaminski. Ophelia knew it in her bones. He had no idea how horrible Miss Kaminski was. He had no idea of how she looked so perfect but really was nothing but nasty.

“Ophelia can’t be normal,” said Alice, examining herself in her powder puff mirror. “It’s impossible.”

“Now, now, Alice, I haven’t heard you say a single kind word to your sister since we arrived here,” said Mr. Whittard. “All I’m saying is there will be important things to discuss tonight, and I want you both on your best behavior.”

Miss Kaminski was fashionably late. She wore a silver dress beaded with crystals, and the skin of her arms was snow-white. She had let her hair out, and it shone in the candlelight. Miss Kaminski had the kind of beauty that stayed pressed against your eyes, like the halo you see after you look directly into the sun. Even when she stopped looking at Miss Kaminski and turned away, Ophelia felt her bright, nuclear glow. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes.

Mr. Whittard sat opposite Miss Kaminski, a vacant expression in his eyes, as though he had witnessed a miracle. It made Ophelia feel sad when she saw that.

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