The Key and the Broken Wing
Page 18
Chapter ten
Jezzabell sat cross legged on the floor, her cut wing slowly slithered in and out of her back. It looked like she was asleep but next to her lay the peaceful policeman who lay over three chairs. The chair next to her supported his glittery green feet, his body slumped in the centre and the one furthest away rested his weary head. His eyelids twitched at the hoping shadows of rabbits that appeared to be eating the grass outside and the swans began to waddle up toward the window.
Quack, Quack, Quack," she could hear the ducks landing into the pool and then the policeman’s chin began to wobble.
"Quiet, he’s sleepy, some use he is without his feet," Jezzabell silently said.
"La, La, La, "Jezzabell looked at the resting swans who were looking in at her. Their sour faces turned down onto the young babies who were tattering to them. "La, ah, La," spoke a familiar voice and the door creaked opened.
Kimberley took a few steps into the round room; her wings had almost dispersed into the sun’s rays that made her look like a normal woman. In her left hand were a Black Metallic bucket and a plastic spade, the one you would make sandcastles with. She put them on the floor and glared at Jezzabell.
"Up, it's been two days since you cast the spell," she said.
Jezzabell sat back down, cross legged in refusal and folded her arms.
"I am not doing your dirty work!” Jezzabell replied
"Aunt Chemichalas is not coming and I sent her on a wild goose chase", Said Kimberley
Jezzabell stood up, with her arms still folded she kicked the air with her loose shoes. Both of the laced shoes flew into the air narrowly missing the window, both of them bounced back towards her. Jezzabell jumped away from the shoes.
"Get Krome Monarch to dig your sands," Jezzabell protested.
"Jezzabell, you will do as I ask you," Kimberly placed the bucket onto the floor. Jezzabell turned round to look at the restful policeman, “We haven't got time to watch him, when he wakes up he will be seeing you again;" Kimberley interrupted Jezzabell's thoughts.
"Alright, Kimmy, Err I mean Kimberley," Jezzabell wandered over to the bucket. Before picking it up she pretended to scratch her back, her wings slid into her spine and with a second, one of the gems that had been sewn on came off.
"Shoes, I can't let you go Bare foot in the hard sand," Kimberley said.
As Jezzabell slid her shoes on, she leaned onto the edge of the chair near his hands and secretly hid the gem that she had torn off her wing into the policeman’s clenched fist which covered his bad ankle.
She tied her laces and quickly ran over to the bucket. Once she had picked it up, she went up to Kimberly, her captive and smiled.
"Ok, let’s go and search for the raw materials," Jezzabell sighed.
As they reached the sandy shore, it stretched right across the pebbled banks and into the soft ripples of the sea. A few of the wind turbines slowly rotated clockwise towards the streaks of waves and the boat that had been there the day before could not be seen.
"Don't go near the Wind machine, it'll blow you away," Kimberly said as she sat down on the long seaweed bench covered in sand and shells.
"I won't" Jezzabell spoke. She carefully stumbled along the pebbles that had been washed up in last night’s storm. She could see a handful of sea shells, sparkling brown and white.
"Which ones do you want me to put in the bucket?" Jezzabell asked.
"Brown and white, don’t be long, I've got to go to an important lunch," Kimberly said folding her arms.
Jezzabell put the bucket down onto the sand and grasped the spade in her right hand. Slowly she grooved a large circle around the sea shells aiming for the spade to pick them all up and then she dipped it into the sand. She shuffled the shells into the middle and lifted them carefully so they would not fall back into the sand and shook them into the bucket.
"Good Work, Keep doing the brown ones, more brown ,less chance of making the wrong venom," She heard Kimberly giving the orders. Jezzabell looked up at the blue sky and then quickly looked back down. The sun shone straight out of a white cloud. Again more sparkling shells appeared into the top surface of the shore. A mixture of brown and white shells seemed to point towards the ocean that was too far out for her to reach. Jezzabell stepped away from the tiny hole that was filling up with sand and she spotted a tiny handmade sand castle with many shells within the grains of the lighter sand. She took the spade out of the bucket and began to dig the shells away from the light grains of sand and she poured the mixture of brown and white shells into the bucket.
Four hours had passed quickly and the clouds began to cover the sun, the sand decreased to more ripples of the quiet ocean and the wind machines began to spin faster. As soon as she dug into the sand, her ears began to twitch.
"Jezzabell, Jezzabell" someone quietly whispered into her ear. She turned round, there in the middle of the oceans, next to the machines was a shadow sitting on a large leaf shape which crinkled in at the edges.
"The white shells will help you to turn things back to normal. If one breaks then the past will reappear with all of us. No one will die but no one will be able to rule and, and consequences of returning monarchs will become harder to pass," the shadow spoke to her.
"Pass what; what are you trying to say?" Jezzabell let go of the spade.
"Promise that the white shells will not be thrown away," the shadow echoed into her ear and the ripples splashed onto Jezzabell’s shoes.
"Jezzabell, run, the seas coming in," Kimberly shouted. Jezzabell looked back to see Kimberly running over the pebbles and the soft sand where a small pond of water had resided from the wave. Jezzabell quickly grabbed a large handful of brown shells and chucked them into the bucket, she knelled down into the shallow water where many white shells sparkled and hid them in her pockets, the pockets grew bigger and bigger, as she couldn't fit anymore in she dipped the remainder of the shells back into the sea and stood up. Another tiny ripple splashed over her feet and Kimberly grabbed the bucket and pushed Jezzabell away from the sea. With her spare arm she clenched Jezzabell's hand and they flew high, into the sky and watched the multiplying ripples carry the spade towards the machines.
"I told you not to go near them!" Kimberly said landing back onto the promenade.
“She spoke to me again,"
"Who, There no one in the sea," Kimberly mumbled. The ripples slowly churned the pebbles from the concrete blocks that prevented the land from sinking. They ran back into the Firth where a huge green, blue and black bubble overlapped each other.
“We will go back and sort them out with Krome,"
"Yes Kimberly Monarch,"Jezzabell yawned at the stormy sea.
***
As the storm became persistent within Frith Le Firth, the swans, geese and ducks flew over to the oval building where the policeman slept inside. He Himself had woken up to hear the gale force wind blow the small animals away from their nest which sat on the grassy bank behind the hedges. He rubbed his weary eyes and pushed the window that had been left wedged open by a small tear of a green leaf. The wind blew the leaf out of the ledge and into the water, running further into the stream the leaf sunk into the lake.
He growled as the window smacked shut and he fell back onto the chair. The ducks tapped onto the sides of the window with their beaks hoping to be let in but the policeman looked puzzled and then he rolled his eyes. The sparkling gem that Jezzabell had left him rolled further into the chair that he was sleeping on. He picked it up and headed for the window, pushed it open with his left arm and he wedged the gem between the frame and the glass. The wind howled in fury and the ducks flew in with piercing quacks.
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nbsp; The father swan waited for the cygnets to walk up his back. As he lowered his neck the first cygnet leapt into the policeman’s hands which appeared to be dangling out of the window in a straight line.
"Here you go, Charles, Clarice, Amber, Paul, Tim," the policeman named them as they looked a little bit different from each other. He lifted them onto the floor and they waddled toward the centre of the room. One more cygnet stood on its father’s beak. Its shivery grey feathers swerved left and right and the eyes looked like it was going to cry.
"Come on Babsy," the policeman said as he put his arms back out.
The nervous cygnet would not attempt to jump into his hands.
"Jump, the storm can't harm us inside the store room," the mother swan cried.
"Go in and he will follow," the father swan spoke.
She unruffled her wings, stepped up on the shallow bank, stretching her neck she took a deep breath and leapt into the policeman’s hands.
"Wooh,"the policeman grabbed hold of her with his arms, she walked over his head and leapt down next to her babies.
"Mother, Mother," the cygnets cooed.
The Nervous cygnet opened his wings and flew right up above the shallow water and the rabbit that had frightened the policeman; jumped off the bank and in the cygnet’s flight path. The cygnet swung left to avoid the rabbit’s sharp teeth which hung out of its mouth; and flew down into the prickly hedges. The hedges moved with the wind and their young cygnet wasn't in front of it in the water. There was no movement of the little ones ripples and the rabbit splashed back into its burrow.
The father swan looked at the ruffling hedges, flapped its wings towards the policeman’s arms and safely landed into the store room.
“We lost him, our nervous son", he wiped a tear from the groove of his eyes and huddled the rest of the cygnets into the palm of his wings.
"He couldn't have survived," the mother swan slid her head behind her right wing.
The policeman pulled the gem out of the ledge and pushed it out of the window. He leaned back onto the chair and sniffled.
"Babsy, will be here, he might be nervous but I know he can fly" the little cygnet said as he waddled to his mother.
"Jezzabell must be in this storm," the policeman looked at the swans.
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