by Angela Hope
****
Gemma’s brother was born on the 20th September. For months she had believed she was going to have a little sister to play with and now the disappointment was almost too much for her.
“Who wants a brother, we don’t! Boys don’t play make believe, or have tea parties. They don’t play with dolls, only train sets and cars. He won’t take ballet lessons or let me put ribbons in his hair. I’m going to ask mum to take him back and change him for a girl. If not, I’ll give him away or swap him at a garage sale. Yes that’s a good idea.” She bathed one of her dolls and put her in a clean dress, chatting away, pleased with her thoughts.
Gemma went to visit her mum and baby David in hospital.
“What do you think of your brother,” asked Jack.
Gemma wasn’t sure; David wasn’t at all what she wanted or had expected. There in her mother’s arms was a tiny funny looking thing with hardly any hair and a pinched up pink face.
“Can’t you exchange him for a girl? There must be lots of girls here in the hospital, couldn’t I choose one?” asked Gemma.
Her mother laughed “David is your brother, he cannot be exchanged.”
That evening Gemma told Barbara that her mum and David were coming home from the hospital tomorrow. “I hope she’ll change her mind and bring me a sister instead of David, oh I do hope so.”
Everything was changing in Gemma’s eyes. No one seemed to have time for her any more. David was either crying, being changed or fed.
Mum was busy feeding, washing nappies, cleaning the house or shopping. Gemma’s school work was suffering. She was tired of being woken every night by David’s crying and it made her so bad tempered that she argued a lot with Barbara. She went back to Gruff and her dolls more and more. The only time she felt happy was in her make believe world.
“David won’t be staying much longer. Dad is taking him to live in another house so that my sister can come and live here with me. She is coming all the way from a place called England where she lives in a castle with the Queen. She has never seen the sea, so I can teach her to swim and make sand castles. I will miss my dad, but, he will be back when David is older.”
Her conversation was interrupted by her mother calling.
Gemma pointed a finger at her dolls, “Don’t make a noise while I’m gone. You’ll start that baby crying again!”
Gemma was on her way to the corner shop for her mother when she saw Barbara with another girl. “Have you exchanged your brother yet?” asked Barbara with a giggle.
Gemma didn’t like the way the two girls were making fun of her.
“I don’t have to because my dad is taking him away to live. My mum is fed up with both of them.”
Gemma was getting herself deeper and deeper into her make believe stories. She couldn’t stop herself.
Barbara and her friend giggled as they walked away holding hands. Gemma was so upset she wanted to cry. She entered the shop, but couldn’t remember what she had been sent there for. She didn’t want to go home, so walked down the pathway to the beach. She had never been to the beach by herself before. The sea was calm and the white sand felt lovely between her toes as she carried her shoes. A few children were swimming in the crystal clear water, with their families sitting close by.
Gemma watched as two girls ran along the beach holding hands and laughing.
She felt lonely as she knelt down and started to make a sand castle. It wasn’t long before she forgot her troubles and the time didn’t seem to matter any more.
When Gemma hadn’t returned home her mother became frantic, running to Mrs. Clark’s to see if she or Barbara knew where Gemma had gone.
“Barbara saw Gemma heading in the direction of the beach an hour ago.” said Mrs. Clark looking concerned. “I think you should know that Gemma is making up stories. She told Barbara that Jack was leaving you and taking David to live in England.”
Sylvia left the baby with Mrs. Clark, she had to go to the beach to look for Gemma and find out why she was playing make believe again.
Safely at home Gemma told her mother how unhappy she was. Barbara had found another friend and she didn’t like having a baby brother at all.
Later in the kitchen David screamed in his pram while Gemma sat at the table eating her tea. She finally walked over to the noisy baby ready to tell him off.
“What a lot of noise you make,” she said.” “There isn’t even a tear in your eye.”
David stopped crying and gave her a great big smile that melted her heart.
“He’s smiling at me, Mum! Dad! Quickly come and see.”
They both came and stood beside her. David was still smiling.
“I think we had better cancel that garage sale” said Gemma.
“From now on I hope things will be different,” thought Sylvia.
The months passed and Gemma enjoyed her brother more each day.
She happily played in her bedroom for hours with David propped against the pillows listening to every word she was saying.
Gemma’s school work had improved and her favorite subject was still geography. She had learnt quite a lot about America and was now becoming interested in England. Her stepfather Jack, had been born there, and his parents still lived in the house where he spent his childhood.
Jack was very worried about his father, he wasn’t recovering too well from an operation he’d had a few months ago. The time had come for Jack to be at his father’s bedside. He put his suitcase into the taxi and gave Gemma a hug.
“You take care of your mum and David while I’m gone,” he said looking down onto her tear stained face.
They stood waving until the taxi went out of sight.
That night Gemma couldn’t sleep. She heard David making gurgling noises in the room next door to hers and went into the kitchen to fetch his bottle of milk.
She quietly carried him into her room and held him in her arms as her mother had shown her. He was hungry and drank all the milk in his bottle Gemma rubbed his back to bring up the wind. Then changed his wet nappy relieved that he was wearing disposable’s, she couldn’t have done such a good job with nappy pins.
She put him into her bed and they fell asleep cuddled up close together.
Sylvia woke up with a start. She hadn’t heard David and wondered if he was alright. She ran to the nursery but his cot was empty. She went to Gemma’s room and opened the door.
Gemma and David were both fast asleep; an empty bottle lay on the floor next to a wet nappy.
“Anything could have happened, David could have choked! But he didn’t. He could have fallen out of bed! But he didn’t. He could have suffocated in the covers! But he didn’t.”
Her mind was working overtime.
She stood and watched them. Here was her daughter sleeping peacefully with the brother she wanted to swap at a garage sale.
Sylvia smiled to herself as Gemma opened her eyes.
“Hello Mum! I’ve fed and changed David for you.”
Later that day Gemma was full of pride when her father told her what a good girl she had been.
“Well you told me to take good care of them didn’t you Daddy?” she said into the phone.
Jack told Sylvia that he was staying another week for his father’s funeral.
A week later David, Gemma and her mother set off to the airport.
Gemma had never been to an airport before and was fascinated by everything she saw. She watched a plane approach the runway while another soared into the air. “You don’t think daddy’s plane will run into bad weather do you?”
Before Sylvia could answer Jack walked through the crowds of people. He put his luggage down as Gemma raced towards him. Leaping into his arms she was lifted high into the air.
“Oh how I’ve missed you Gem”
“I’ve missed you to Daddy!” she replied smothering him with kisses. He put her down to cuddle Sylvia and David.
“How was your flight?” Sylvia asked.
“Not too bad. I’ll
tell you all about it on the way home, but, I do have a bit of news that can’t wait. My father has left me enough money to pay off all of our debts. We can also afford to go away on holiday. After all, I think we deserve one, don’t you?”
Sylvia was speechless.
“Does that mean I can go on an airplane Daddy?”
Her father winked, “We’ll have to see what we can do.”
Back in her bedroom Gemma spoke to Gruff but this time she didn’t have to make believe, her life was just the way she wanted it to be.
The End
