Madame Flora pulled on her pointe shoes and seized Isabella’s hands. Round and round they galloped, forming a dance floor beneath the storm blooms. Peter and Brigitte jumped up to join in, followed by Paulo and Mariana. Soon everyone was singing and dancing and laughing and sipping fresh rain. Harper, Nate, Ferdie and Liesel formed a circle and Nate taught them all the umbrella dance. It was the best party any of the children had ever been to.
Out of the corner of her eye Madame Flora watched Liesel. She paid no attention to the little girl’s knotted hair and muddy face. Instead she took in the quickness of Liesel’s feet and the lightness of her toes. I wonder, thought Madame Flora, beaming a quiet smile, if this is the dancer I have long dreamed of finding.
More residents wandered to the rooftop to sip the sweet, fresh rain. From the shelter of a deep-green umbrella, Nate’s older brother Noah peered out. He watched the way Nate laughed and danced and held the hands of his friends. He watched the way Smoke sat slightly to one side, her ears pricked to the wind, her golden eyes fixed on the boy she loved most. He bent down to stroke her muzzle. “You and Nate are bound together by an invisible string of trust,” he said to the wolf. “But it’s OK for that string to stretch.” Smoke gave a little yelp of understanding and Noah picked up a fiddle to play.
From across the rooftop, Elsie Caraham’s bright-green eyes watched everything merrily. She took in the dancing and the party and the laughter of the children. Then her eyes came to rest on Ferdie and she smiled at the way that every so often he pulled the pencil from behind his ear to jot things down. “So he’s a writer,” she mumbled to Memphis and Tallulah. “Well, perhaps I’ll ask him to write my book.” Elsie had always wanted to tell the story of her life, only it was packed so full of secrets. She would need someone very serious to help her. Someone with a very serious scarf.
Another sound rumbled through the clouds. The whirring sound of a helicopter. “Great Aunt Sassy!” Harper screamed, flying into her arms. “You’re back early!”
“Harper, my darling girl! I missed you so much I thought my heart might break!” Sassy declared. She stroked Harper’s hair. “And I see you’ve discovered the secret of the Scarlet Umbrella” she added fondly.
Harper giggled. There were so many questions she wanted to ask. But she didn’t know where to begin. It had been a long night and, suddenly, she was very tired.
“Why don’t you enjoy your party, you clever girl? You can tell me all about your adventures tomorrow,” Great Aunt Sassy whispered.
As the stars grew fainter, the dancing slowed and the instruments were put away for the night. The children, the wolf and the white-tipped-tailed cat gathered under the Scarlet Umbrella, chattering and laughing and gasping at the brilliant adventure they’d had.
“Maybe we’ll go on many more quests,” said Ferdie, itching to grab his pencil and write them down, before they’d even happened.
“Next time we have to come for the whole adventure!” cried Liesel, stamping her foot.
“We won’t all fit inside the Scarlet Umbrella, though,” said Ferdie. And because he was a poetic boy, he thought of a poetic plan. “We could fasten a cat basket below, for Liesel. And I could attach my kite and fly above.”
Nate pulled a strand of edentwine from his pocket and all the children beamed. Harper yawned sleepily. She was still very tired. “Maybe not tonight,” she said softly.
“Soon then,” said Liesel.
“Soon,” echoed the others.
And with that the poetic boy, the mouse-like girl, the boy with the wolf and the girl with an enchanted umbrella wandered inside the Tall Apartment Block – each of them shining with the glow of friendship and the dream of adventures yet to come.
“Goodnight, Midnight,” Harper whispered. Midnight purred loudly, winked a green eye, and then the mysterious cat and the girl with the musical gift fell asleep, lulled by a song that seemed to come from the stars themselves.
In her dream, Harper sailed through the clouds in her Scarlet umbrella, her star song echoing all around her. She saw a mysterious red-and-gold tent before her and she knew in her heart it was the Circus of Dreams. And she knew that one day she would go there.
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First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd, 2015
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Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella Page 4
