by Ann Bryant
“But she might be wrong about Mrs. Stockton,” said Nicole. “And it’s important that you leave no stone unturned.”
“No…stone…unturned,” I repeated slowly. “I think I understand what that means.”
“Ah, that was good timing! I was just coming to find you.” We turned to see Mrs. Pridham coming out of her flat. “Your father has just phoned, Antonia. He’s coming along to see the bursar to sort out the fees after school and he’s popping in here first. He wanted you to make a start on your packing, so I’ve asked Mr. Monk to get your cases out of the storage room and take them up to Emerald. I think your dad would like to pop in and check the kitchen facilities too for Saturday night. Now the thing is, I’ve got a meeting after school, so once I’ve had a quick word with your dad, I’ll leave you to show him the Forest Ash kitchen. So can you be as quick as possible coming back here at the end of lessons, all right?”
I hated all this talk of bursars and fees and it felt weird to think of Papà suddenly coming to school at the end of an ordinary day and me showing him the kitchen. But then everything was strange and different at the moment.
“Yes…that’s fine. Thank you, Mrs. Pridham.”
The last lesson of the day was double art.
“It’s like we live in the art rooms!” said Emily, as we all trooped in, and Bryony took my crutches and propped them up in the corner while I hopped to my place.
I gave Emily a questioning look but she just grinned at me and said, “And no comment from you, young lady!” in a strict teacher’s voice, which made everyone laugh.
When we were all sitting down, Mr. Cary started explaining about the art lesson and it was then that I noticed my bandage was starting to look rather grubby – I mean, apart from having purple paint on it. Matron was supposed to be changing it after school and I was really hoping that she might say the skin had healed enough to leave the dressing off altogether. I was so fed up with the bulky thing making everything awkward for my right hand. And suddenly I was desperate to see how the skin was doing under the dressing. There was no harm in having a quick look, was there? After all, I could get Nicole to put it back on again for me afterwards.
As Mr. Cary talked I found myself examining the knot of the bandage in my lap. It had actually come a bit loose. With my eyes fixed attentively on Mr. Cary so no one could tell what I was doing under the table, I very carefully rubbed at the knot with the thumb and forefinger of my left hand until I could get hold of one end and gently undo it.
It was at the very moment Mr. Cary told us to set to work that I found I’d unwound the dressing right down to the big wound pad, which was pressed against the fleshy bottom part of my thumb and inside of my wrist. I gave the gentlest of tugs to see if there was any dried blood sticking the pad to my flesh and it came away quite easily.
“Nicole…” I whispered, as I stuffed the bandage in my pocket with my left hand. “Look!”
She followed my eyes and looked at the hand in my lap. “Oh wow! You’ve taken it off. Let’s see.” She examined it carefully – no one was paying attention because they were all busily collecting materials they needed, and Mr. Cary was right at the other end of the room. “Does it hurt?”
“It feels fine. I think I might keep the dressing off – it’s so much easier.”
“But it still looks like an actual wound though, doesn’t it?” said Nicole, wrinkling her nose. “What if you knock it or something?”
“I’ll be really careful.”
Izzy and Sasha wanted to know what we were looking at and then Emily and Bryony tuned in too.
“It must have been really painful when you first did it,” said Sasha, pulling a bit of a face as they all stared at my hand.
I thought back to the bike ride and the awful moment when I realized I’d had an accident. “I can only really remember that tissue all covered in blood and the pains shooting up my leg.”
“Aren’t you going to put the bandage back on again?” asked Izzy, looking shocked as I got up to go and find the paper I wanted.
“No, I think I’ll be all right.”
Izzy looked a bit doubtful, but then we all forgot about my hand because Mr. Cary was coming over to see what we’d planned to do.
That art lesson turned out to be brilliant. Mr. Cary had collected a massive bag of freshly mown grass and split it up into about twenty smaller bags. He’d kept the bags in all different places, so some of it had dried out quickly and was really crisp and some had dried out naturally so it was soft and light, some still felt strong and supple, and some had started to go into a bit of a mulch.
Mr. Cary wanted us to make landscape pictures using the grass. But we were allowed to use it in other completely different ways if we liked. My idea was to actually drop lots of grass into the different coloured paints in my palette and create a textured rainbow effect, so I carefully took grass from each of the bags, using my left hand. Other people concentrated on just a single texture and used a lot of glue, so it was clear that everyone’s pictures were going to come out completely differently.
I didn’t want the lesson to end as it was such good fun, and when the bell went it gave me a jump, partly because I was absorbed in what I was doing, but partly because I suddenly remembered that my dad would be arriving at school very soon.
As we cleared away I was very careful not to bash my hand at all, and after a while I got quite confident about it and felt sure that Matron would agree that it was fine to leave it open to the air from now on. The others said they wanted to stay on for a little while in the art room – something to do with my surprise, whatever it was – but Nicole said she’d come with me. I felt sorry for her always having to stay with me when I bet she’d rather be doing whatever the surprise was, so I told her I’d manage on my own, as there were always plenty of people around to open doors and things.
“Why don’t you set off, Antonia,” suggested Emily, “and I’ll catch you up in a couple of minutes? I’m coming over to Forest Ash to get changed for gardening.”
“If you’re sure you’re okay, I’ll stay for now and catch you up later too,” said Nicole. “I just want to see something.”
She took my school bag off me so I’d have nothing to carry, and off I went. But as soon as I took the first few steps I realized that my hand would need to have a plaster or some sort of dressing on it for a bit longer because it stung when I gripped my crutches. The bandage was still in my pocket but I’d never be able to put it back on again properly on my own, and anyway, the pain wasn’t too bad to put up with for now, so I just kept going. I’d be seeing Matron in a few minutes, after all, before going to meet Papà, so there was no need to worry.
By the time I got to Forest Ash, though, my hand was really hurting me and I so regretted taking the bandage off. But I forgot all about that instantly when I noticed a big shiny car parked just outside the front door and wondered if it was Papà’s. I’d never even thought to ask him if he and Mamma had hired a car or if they were getting around by taxi and train.
And at the same time I realized I’d got grass all down my front, so I leaned one of the crutches against the wall near the front door, and flicked the blades of grass off my sweatshirt. Then as I looked down I saw that there were also bits stuck to my plaster. If Papà saw me in this state he’d think I couldn’t look after myself properly, or I’d fallen over or something. So I bent right down, balancing on my good leg, and rubbed at my plaster. Immediately I felt a stinging sensation and realized that I’d forgotten to be gentle with my right hand. I’d used it just as though it wasn’t injured at all.
I drew my breath in sharply at the pain I felt, then got a shock when I saw that the skin was all broken and droplets of blood were oozing out from all over the torn area. But worse, there was quite a bit of blood on my plaster. I quickly got a tissue out of my pocket and dabbed the plaster and then regretted it instantly because now I’d made a big pink smear.
This was awful. I needed to get to a wash basin as quickly
as possible.
“Antonia!”
I turned to see Nicole and Emily flying towards me.
“Is that your dad’s car?” called Emily.
I didn’t answer because all my attention was taken up with my bloody plaster and my hand, which looked almost as bad as when I’d first fallen off my bike. Well, it probably wasn’t that bad, but my dad hadn’t seen how bad it was then so he’d think it was truly awful now.
“What’s up, Antonia? Did you fall?” came Nicole’s voice, full of worry.
By this time they were almost right up to me and I watched the shock come into their eyes at the state of my hand and my cast.
“Oh no!” gasped Emily. “What happened?”
“Nothing. I mean, I was just rubbing the grass off me and my hand started bleeding…”
Nicole was biting her lip. “Oh, Antonia, we need to sort you out. But is that your dad’s car?”
“That’s the trouble. I don’t actually know. But I’m crossing my fingers that it isn’t. I don’t want him to see me in this state. He’d go mad.”
“It must be him,” Emily pointed out logically. “We don’t usually have strange cars parked outside, do we?”
“Look, I’ll go in first and see if he’s around,” said Nicole, taking charge. “With a bit of luck he’ll be in with Mrs. Pridham. I’ll come out and get you as soon as I know he’s nowhere in sight, then we can go straight up to Matron for a new dressing.”
So Emily and I waited nervously outside and a few seconds later Nicole beckoned me in. “No sign of him. Hurry though. Remember Mrs. Pridham said she’d got a meeting to go to, so we might not have much time.”
Once inside the big reception hall, Emily suggested it would be quicker to go straight to the downstairs toilets. My hand was hurting too much to manage crutches, so I gave them to Emily and just hopped across the hall towards the corridor, with Nicole helping by holding tight to my arm and sort of jumping me along. I could feel myself getting hotter with the worry of having to rush, and I couldn’t wait to get to the basin and clean away the blood and get my bandage back on again.
“Well done,” said Nicole, trying to encourage me when we were on the other side of the hall. “Nearly there.” Then she must have seen the funny side of what we were doing, because she broke into giggles. “Sorry, Antonia, it’s just that you look such a sight!”
Emily joined in and their laughter was infectious, or maybe I was just getting hysterical. “Stop it, you two! I can’t hop when I’m giggling.”
But a moment later the giggles froze inside me at the sound of a door opening behind us and Papà’s cheerful voice.
“Ah, there she is!”
Chapter Eight
Nicole turned to me in horror as we all three stood glued to the ground like statues, not daring to turn right round.
“Lovely to talk to you again, Mr. Rossi,” said Mrs. Pridham, sounding relieved. “I’ll leave you in Antonia’s capable hands. Sorry I have to rush off.”
“Not a problem,” said my dad. And I knew I absolutely had to turn round now.
I swallowed and was about to face the shock and the anger that I knew I’d see in my father’s eyes, when I realized Matron was coming downstairs. I also knew immediately that she’d seen what a state I was in.
“Ah, Antonia, there you are,” she said, much more briskly than usual. “Well done for getting here so promptly.” She hurried down the last few stairs and took the crutches from Emily. “I’ve just got two minutes to change that dressing, so could you come…” Then she looked across at my dad and spoke as though she’d only just noticed him. “Oh hello, Mr. Rossi. I’m so sorry to drag Antonia away. We’ll be very quick.” Her eyes came back and rested on Emily. “Could you look after Mr. Rossi, Emily? Show him the kitchen, dear, and we’ll be with you in a jiffy.”
It had all happened in seconds and I still hadn’t turned round, but Emily was obeying Matron’s instructions and Mrs. Pridham was calling out, “See you on Saturday then, Mr. Rossi.”
With Matron’s hand on my back I had the courage to quickly call over my shoulder, “See you in a minute, Papà,” and he smiled and nodded, then switched his attention to Emily, who was introducing herself to him.
“Hello, Mr. Rossi. I’m Emily Dowd, Antonia’s friend,” I heard her say.
“Dearie me, whatever have you done, Antonia?” Matron said in a loud whisper as we went into the downstairs loos.
“I…I…” But suddenly everything seemed too much and I felt like crying.
“All right, let’s get you sorted out,” came Matron’s soothing voice as she helped me sit down on the bench that ran along one wall. Nicole sat down beside me and stayed silent as Matron went into one of the toilets and unrolled some loo paper, saying, “This will have to do.” Then she let the water run warm and began dabbing away at my hand. Her face took on a disapproving look the more she dabbed. “You really shouldn’t have taken the dressing off, Antonia,” she said, making a tutting noise with her tongue. “You don’t want to get it infected, do you?” She frowned and peered closer. “Hmmm… It looks worse than it is, but I can imagine your dad wouldn’t have been too pleased.”
“Thank you for…”
Matron’s teachery look was gone, thank goodness. “What, for rescuing you?”
I nodded.
“That’s all right.” Then she chuckled. “I must say I’m quite proud of myself actually. Right, Nicole, I need you to run up to my room for a new dressing. You’ll see it on my table.”
Nicole was staring anxiously at my plaster. “We’ll need something to cover that bloodstain up with, won’t we?” Her eyes suddenly sparkled. “I know. Nail varnish! I’ll raid our cupboards and see what I can find. I’m sure the others won’t mind. It’s all in a good cause!”
“Right, off you go, dear! You’ll need to be quick.”
As soon as Nicole had disappeared, Matron said she’d been thinking about attacking the pink blotch with soap and water, because she was concerned that my dad might get anxious about it, but she’d been worried that might make it worse.
“But with the nail varnish it will look as though someone has purposely done me a colourful pattern instead of signing their name,” I said. “Won’t it?”
I felt so grateful to Matron as she and Nicole and I made our way along to the kitchen. She was reminding me of my grandmother more and more each day, being so gentle and caring, and yet also a bit crazy and very individual. I loved the way she was determined to learn Italian, for example, rather like my grandmother learning to play the accordion. It was lovely to think that I’d be seeing so much more of Nonna after Sunday, but very sad to think that Matron would no longer be in my life.
Emily and my father were just coming out of the kitchen as we approached. The first thing I noticed was that Emily looked relieved to see us. Her eyes flicked from my hand to my plaster and I saw her blink a few times as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Hi!” I said cheerfully to them both, willing Emily not to say anything about the nail varnish.
“Hello, Toni. All done?” said my dad, glancing at my hand. But like Emily, his eyes went straight to the gleaming blobs of colour on my cast. “Whatever is that?” he asked, with laughter in his voice. “I thought people just wrote messages on casts!”
“No, these days the girls are full of much brighter ideas!” said Matron, breaking into her lovely chuckle. “Nail varnish!” she added, rolling her eyes at Papà, as though they were in a grown-ups’ conspiracy together. “What will they think of next?”
Papà laughed, then changed the conversation to the Italian evening and said he was sure that the Forest Ash kitchen would be absolutely fine for the cooking and preparing of the food. “I’ve got some ingredients in the car that I’ll leave in the cupboard if that’s all right,” he went on.
“Of course,” said Matron. “I’ll be getting on then, and I’ll see you on Saturday, Mr. Rossi.”
“And actually I’ve g
ot to do some gardening now,” said Emily.
“Ah,” said Papà. “Well, thank you very much for your help, Emily. I’ll see you on Saturday!”
“I’ll take the ingredients to the kitchen for you, Mr. Rossi,” Nicole immediately offered.
I realized that my dad had never met Nicole before. “This is Nicole, my best friend,” I said, and Papà shook Nicole’s hand and said he was very pleased to meet her. Then we three went outside to the car, and while Nicole hurried back inside with the carrier bag, I stayed with Papà.
“Well you seem to be coping fine, Toni,” he said once we were alone.
I nodded and felt my heart yo-yo at the thought of what he would have said if Matron hadn’t come to my rescue.
“And your packing is begun?” he went on, his eyebrows raised. I nodded, because I had the feeling he was just about to go, and definitely wouldn’t come up to the dorm to check.
He smiled. “Good. Now, Mrs. Pridham says the Italian evening starts about six on Saturday, so Mamma and I will be here at four thirty to give me time to cook.”
“Okay.” I didn’t know what else to say. I think I was still feeling a bit shocked about all that had happened. And it was actually a relief when he went. I waved his car out of sight, then went shakily back inside Forest Ash to find Nicole.
On Friday morning I could hardly concentrate at all during double English, because I was going over and over in my mind the words that my friends and I had worked out together in the dorm the night before. The words that I was about to say to Mrs. Stockton in just a few minutes when the bell went for the end of English.
After lights out we’d all sat up and talked by the light of the little lamps built into the cabin bed headboards. It was such a sad time for all of us, and Nicole and I had been close to tears at the thought that there were only two more nights to go and then Emerald dorm would never be the same again. Then Sasha had got upset too and it had gradually spread round us all.
