by Ailsa Wild
Spacewoman holds my arm under the water, saying things like, ‘What were you thinking? Good grief! How did you even get up here?’
Jessie turns the workbench lamp around and brings it a bit closer, until it’s at the end of its cable.
‘Good thinking,’ says Spacewoman. ‘Thanks.’
I sit there, watching the water trickle over my burned, sore arm and run down the drain.
The door finally opens. I was hoping Vee would realise I needed Dad, but she didn’t. It’s Alice, with Vee right behind her. Alice looks sleepy, horrified, embarrassed and anxious all at the same time. I wait for her to shout at me.
She doesn’t.
She runs over, kneels down, and gently takes my elbow, trying to see the burn in the lamplight. ‘Oh, Squishy – jeepers! What have you kids been doing?’
She turns to Spacewoman. ‘I’m so sorry about all this. You must be shocked. They’re not usually like this.’ She pauses. ‘Well, actually they are, but they’re good kids really. Oh, what am I even saying?’
Alice turns back to me, and pulls me onto her lap. She’s really careful not to tug my arm out from the running water. ‘Squishy, does it hurt?’ She leans her face in next to mine to look down at the burn. Her arms hold me tight.
Her cheek feels soft and friendly. It’s not like Mum. And it’s not like Dad. It’s Alice. But it’s Alice in a new, comfortable way that makes me feel safe. I lean back into her and cry a little bit more.
Someone else steps out onto the roof.
‘Is everyone OK up here?’
It’s Pyjama Man.
‘Hey, Rasheed,’ Spacewoman says.
‘Hey!’ Pyjama Man grins. ‘Nice to see you at home, rather than at work.’ He looks around at all of us. ‘I just had my second strange doorbell ring this evening –’
Vee smiles sideways at Jessie and whispers, ‘Lucky I still remembered his apartment number, otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten back in.’
Pyjama Man is still talking. ‘– and I got worried about what was going on up here.’ He looks down at my arm under the tap. ‘A burn? Not too terrible, I see. And you’ve got the best nurse in the burns ward looking after you too.’ He winks at Spacewoman and I turn in Alice’s lap and stare.
‘You’re a nurse? Not a spacewoman?’ I ask.
Spacewoman glances over at her space-helmet and then smiles at me. ‘Yes, I am a nurse. And in fact, it’s almost time for me to go to work. Maybe we should go to the hospital together?’ She glances at Alice, who nods.
‘Cool!’ says Vee, looking interestedly at my arm. ‘You’re so injured, you have to go to hospital.’
But Jessie isn’t paying attention to Vee, or my arm. She’s staring at Spacewoman like she’s just realised something. ‘You work night shift!’ she says.
Spacewoman nods.
Jessie grins. ‘So you leave for work now, and you get home at …?’
‘Five-thirty in the morning,’ says Spacewoman.
‘Oh,’ I say. I get it. I lean back into Alice. No wonder we never saw Spacewoman go through the front door. ‘You only go out when it’s dark!’
Spacewoman nods, as though she doesn’t understand why we’re so interested, and then turns to tidy away her tools.
Alice and Pyjama Man start talking about how long it takes to walk to the hospital (not long) and Vee starts begging to come too. I watch the water run over my arm, thinking hard. How can she be a nurse if she’s building a rocket?
Spacewoman meets us on the street in nurse-pyjamas. Vee and Jessie are here too because they begged, and because Alice and I didn’t have time to walk them home.
‘Do you think she’s really a nurse?’ I whisper to Vee as we set off walking under the streetlights to the hospital. Vee shrugs. Alice holds softly to my hand, keeping me close.
I’m about to ask what nurses have to do with rockets, but Alice cuts over me. ‘Now,’ she says, ‘I think you three have some explaining to do.’
So, as we walk, Jessie tells the story of the sparks on the roof and Vee seeing Spacewoman for the first time. She describes the tele-pad and how I thought Spacewoman was an alien.
My arm starts hurting from not being under the water.
Vee explains about making friends with Pyjama Man and how we were going to do the bobby-pin trick on the padlock. The adults shake their heads but I can tell they’re secretly smiling.
The hospital is huge, with enormous glass doors and a shiny tile floor in the foyer. It’s pretty empty at this time of night.
‘Look at those floors!’ says Vee and she does a drop-from-running knee-slide. She goes about five metres before she bumps into a couch.
‘Veronica! Stop it!’ Alice calls, and her hand tightens in mine.
But Spacewoman just laughs. ‘This way,’ she says. ‘The kids can wait in here while we grab the paperwork.’
Spacewoman takes us through to a little room with a tall bed in the middle. Then they leave us there. Everything is so blue and white and shiny. It almost feels like we could be in an actual spaceship.
I sit on the bed.
Vee says, ‘Hey check this out!’ and presses something on the side. The bed starts going up, up, up, with me on it and we all laugh.
‘How does it work?’ Jessie asks, getting in close to look at the switch.
‘All signed in,’ Alice says from the doorway. Jessie and Vee jump away from the bed, pretending they weren’t doing anything. Spacewoman comes in behind Alice, holding a tiny plastic cup.
‘This should help with the pain,’ she says.
I glance at Alice. Should I really take medicine from a rocket builder? But Alice nods, so I drink it. I like how small the cup is.
Spacewoman reaches for my arm. ‘Now, let’s take a look.’
I hold out my burn, feeling a bit uncertain. But Spacewoman takes it gently and smooths some cooling cream all over it.
It seems like she really is a nurse.
I look up at Spacewoman. ‘But if you’re a nurse, why were you building a rocket?’
‘But it’s not really a rocket, is it?’ Jessie interrupts. ‘It’s for a playground.’
As soon as Jessie says it, I realise she’s right. The rocket is exactly the right size for playing in and it’s made from the same metal as our space station. That’s why it looked so familiar.
‘Did you make the space station and solar system at our park?’ I ask.
Spacewoman laughs. ‘That’s me. I’m a sculpture artist. I’ve got a contract with the city council to make climbable art for playgrounds.’
She unwraps a special kind of enormous bandage from a packet. It’s really thin and she sticks it carefully along my arm.
‘But you’re a nurse!’ Vee says. ‘How can you be a sculpture artist?’
‘Der,’ says Jessie. ‘She’s a nurse and a sculpture artist. Just like Mum’s an astrophysics lecturer and a bunk-bed builder.’
‘Not to mention being a mum and a bonus-mum,’ says Alice, winking at me. It makes me remember how comfortable it was sitting on her lap.
I look at Spacewoman. ‘Is that true? You’re a nurse and a rocket-builder? Both?’
Spacewoman grins. ‘Yep. Sure am. Two completely different jobs. Sometimes it’s hard to get work making sculptures, so I don’t stop nursing. Besides, I kinda like fixing people.’
She leans back. ‘All right, brave lady. I think we’re done.’
She talks to Alice about how long to keep the bandage on, and when to come back to the doctor. My arm has stopped hurting and I start to feel extra, super sleepy.
‘Home time, Squisho,’ I hear Alice say. ‘You’re going to have a lot to tell your mum in the morning.’
Then she lifts me up into her arms.
I could walk if I wanted to.
I’m probably a bit big to be up here. But I’m being held tight and I feel so comfortable and cosy. So I let Alice carry me all the way home.
THE END
Ailsa Wild is an acrobat, whip cracker and teachin
g artist who ran away from the circus to become a writer. She taught Squishy all her best bunk-bed tricks.
Ben Wood started drawing when he was Baby’s age, and happily drew all over his mum and dad’s walls! Since then, he has never stopped drawing. He has an identical twin and they used to play all kinds of pranks on their younger brother.
For Beatrice and Arlen. I know you’re too grown up for Squishy, but I wanted you to have this one anyway.
Love from your fairy gold-mother.
– Ailsa
For Dad! Happy retirement!
– Ben
Squishy Taylor in Zero Gravity
published in 2016 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.
A CiP record for this title is available from the
National Library of Australia.
eISBN 9781743584231
Text copyright © 2016 Ailsa Wild
Illustrations copyright © 2016 Ben Wood
Series design copyright © 2016 Hardie Grant Egmont
Series design by Stephanie Spartels
Illustrations by Ben Wood
We welcome feedback from our readers. All our ebooks are edited and proofread vigorously, but we know that mistakes sometimes get through. If you spot any errors, please email [email protected] so that we can fix them for your fellow ebook readers.
