The Christmas Pig by J. K. Rowling

Author:J. K. Rowling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2021-08-11T15:13:51+00:00

Chapter 32

The Broken Angel

The outlines of the shapes looked like a mother and a child to Jack, but he didn’t trust his senses anymore and he drew close to the Christmas Pig.

“’Oo goes there?” shouted Compass.

“Who’re you?” called a frightened lady’s voice.

Out of the darkness walked a Christmas angel. One of her wings was badly bent, her plum-and-gold dress was torn, and she was hiding her face behind her left hand. The little blue bunny they’d watched being forced down the chute in Mislaid was leading her along. He was as filthy as ever, his fur clogged with earth.

“Why are you ’iding your face?” Compass asked the angel suspiciously.

“Because you’ll run away if I show you,” said the angel. “Every Thing I’ve shown has fled, except for Blue Bunny.”

“This is no time for concealment,” said Compass sternly. “’Ow do I know you’re not one of the Loser’s spies?”

The angel lowered her hand. Her head was cracked, her face broken. One of her eyes was missing. There was a great puncture hole in her cheek. When she heard Jack gasp, a tear leaked from her remaining eye. She covered her face again and began to cry.

“I know I’m ugly!” she sobbed. “A dog got me!”

But Jack hadn’t gasped because he didn’t like her face. He’d gasped because he’d just recognized her. That purple-and-gold dress, those chipped curls, those glittery, plastic wings—this was their Christmas Angel, the one Gran had chosen, and which Toby-the-dog had eaten. What Jack couldn’t understand was why she was down here, in the Land of the Lost, if Toby-the-dog had destroyed her . . .

“Being broken’s not reason enough to get sent to the Wastes,” said Compass, sounding even more suspicious. “There’s plenty of chipped and cracked Things ’oo’re so precious their owners won’t let ’em out of their sight!”

“I was never precious to the family at all!” said Broken Angel, trying to stem her tears. “I was bought to replace an angel they loved! Bought in a hurry because the shops were crowded—the family didn’t like me even when they bought me, I could tell!”

Jack felt horribly guilty. At least the angel had her hand back over her remaining eye, so she couldn’t recognize him.

“They put me on the top of the tree, but none of the other decorations were friendly,” she sobbed. “They were all mourning the loss of the old angel, who was their friend and their leader! And then—then—”

“The dog pulled over the tree,” said Jack, without thinking.

“Yes!” gasped Broken Angel in surprise. “How did you know?”

“I guessed,” said Jack quickly.

“The tree fell, and so did I. I got tangled in the branches. The dog tried to drag me out but I was stuck, so he chewed as much of me as he could reach. When the family found the tree knocked down, and saw bits of my dress and my face on the floor, they thought the dog had eaten me, like the old angel. They didn’t notice me hanging upside down at the back.

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