A Glasshouse of Stars by Shirley Marr

Author:Shirley Marr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2021-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Magpie

A magpie is warbling. Your eyes flicker open and you toss the blankets aside. Your cousins are entwined with each other and they yell for more sleep, but you march them out of bed. The rest of the house is asleep. Even Big Scary is still asleep, as there is not a single moan or creak. You feel the magic hanging in the air with the morning frost as the three of you descend the staircase, and you hush Biaojie for thumping so loudly with her big feet since anything might break the magic.

You think no one else will be up this early on a Saturday, but you are wrong. There is definitely a human eye looking through the hole in the fence. You march right up to it and press your own eye against it. A shocked Kevin falls backward on his side. You grin at the annoyed head that pops up over the fence. You want to tell Kevin that you were looking for him after school; that you wanted to show him something in that moment… and you still want to show him.

But you turn your head, seeking approval from your cousins. They have their arms folded and drawn inward, trying to appear hostile in their pink pajamas. Driven by group courage, you turn back to Kevin and engage in the longest exchange you’ve ever had with him.

“Why are you up so early? Are you looking for trouble?”

Kevin stares at you with an expression that says he hears that sort of comment all the time. “Why are you up so early? You must be looking for trouble too.”

Now that the shoe is on the other foot, you feel insulted. You go to snarl at him, but you catch in his eye a look of hurt that you never saw before—perhaps because you’ve never purposely tried to be mean before, or even considered that he could be vulnerable—and you drop whatever comeback you had in your mouth.

“Do you want to see?” you say in a kinder voice, and you point at your cousins and then to the glasshouse.

“What? That disgusting old thing? What could be interesting about that?”

Your chin lowers itself toward your chest without you being able to help yourself. You understand that he is only being mean because you were mean. That now you are locked in this spiral and it’s hard to get out. You understand what it’s like to be in his shoes. Kevin notices this change in you and his faces softens.

“Let’s go look at the disgusting old thing, then. Maybe we’ll find something cool. Like a nest of spiders.”

Kevin pulls himself up to the top of the wooden fence and jumps over to your side, unafraid to land in the long grass. You didn’t think he was capable of understanding that other people have feelings because he doesn’t seem able to control his own. Maybe he is not who you think he is. It is so strange, but for that moment you believe you might be more than what you think you are.

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