by Paula Hayes
The brown stuff was tea and then we saw the tea sippy cup next to her. The matron apologised and said she’d forgotten to phone and tell us that Nimmy became conscious again this morning and had asked for tea and her dear one. She particularly wanted her sister, whom they had never seen visit, so they hoped she might settle for tea. And she did, she took a sip and fell straight back to sleep. Only problem was she forgot to swallow it.
Then the matron looked at me and asked, ‘Were you named after anyone special in the family?’ I shrugged because I didn’t want to alert GG I am onto the secret, even if he is not. And the truth is, I am not sure if I am named after her or if it was one of those Freudian coincidences Fern keeps banging on about, like somewhere in the deep grooves of Dad’s brain he remembers a pretty girl in a mirror named Lily.
The matron smiled at me, which is odd because usually she is like super busy swishing around. She only stops to spray her hair with more hairspray behind the nurses’ station and then she is off again being bossy but friendly. Then she asked, ‘Who is Edgar?’
I shrugged in a noncommittal way. I’m getting really good at shrugging.
GG was a bit flustered but stayed strong for Nimmy and me.
After a while, the matron and the other nurses left and GG settled down. Sophie, our special nice nurse, stayed on. She asked GG if Lucy really did have a sister because last night she had been calling for her. It was two-thirty in the morning and the matron decided not to phone as Lucy’s vital signs were good for a dying person. Then Sophie lowered her voice and added that Lucy had managed to limp into her ensuite and there Sophie had found her banging on the bathroom mirror … calling out for Lily, her dear, dear sister, her dearest one. There was a bit of mumbling about her mama and pa too. At first, they thought she was calling for me and having the usual delusions and mixing everything up but something — the nurses and matron were not sure what that something was — made them feel like Nimmy was really remembering when she pleaded, ‘Please Edgar, please let her go, please I beg you.’ The matron was stunned and a bit unnerved as she had given Nimmy extra medicine, which usually makes her drowsy. It takes all the pain away and sends her on the express train to Nimmy Land … but not this time. Apparently, Nimmy lay her forehead on the glass and whispered, ‘I am sorry, dear Lily.’ Sophie said that it took three nurses and the matron to get her back into bed.
AND I DID STOP MYSELF FROM SAYING, ‘YES, SHE HAS A NON-IDENTICAL TWIN SISTER WHO HAS BEEN STUCK IN THE MIRROR SINCE NINETEEN FORTY SEVEN!’ Instead, I looked at GG and thought to myself, Well, go on, Colin … who is this sister that is never spoken of. Not even once.
And GG looked at me and said Lucy did have a twin sister named Lily who mysteriously disappeared in the summer of 1947. It was in all the newspapers. She vanished without a trace. The Dunnings were incredibly brave and carried on very well but Lucy never ever EVER wanted to discuss it. She ended up inheriting the house and he was very happy to live there, as it is a wonderfully big house with terrific bones. But Lucy tended to spend a lot of time in Lily’s old bedroom and he let her because it seemed to rally her spirits no end. Then he said Lucy was very secretive about the room and the disappearance and so it just naturally happened that her sister was never mentioned and forgotten. GG lowered his voice and said one of the main reasons dear Lucy had to go into the Home was because night after night she would get up and bang on the mirror. One night she got so agitated, she threw her favourite Bohemian cut crystal vase at the mirror and the vase smashed into smithereens. She was screaming, ‘Lily!’ Poor GG continued on bravely and said that was when he realised he couldn’t manage anymore. He was frightened Lucy might hurt herself. He dabbed at his eyes with his tissue.
And I am so so glad that I know Lily.
She is NOT NOT NOT NOT forgotten, not ever.
When Sophie left, GG said he wanted to go and find a cup of tea as he was feeling a titch headachy. When he left, I whispered into Nimmy’s ear, ‘Lily is going very well and she misses you heaps too.’ I hoped that Nimmy’s eyelids might flicker in recognition but they didn’t.
Grandad made some more phone calls in the corridor and I heard things like ‘strong heart’, ‘feisty spirit’ and ‘my dear one’ in his cracking voice.
Then it was time to go because the rest of my family will be arriving soon to say goodbye to Nimmy. Mum and Dad are flying in from their anniversary holiday. Zinnia is arriving shortly from Spain with Manuel. Fern is already driving down from Perth with the three munted Angora cats. And of course, Linden is sitting on the couch waiting too. There is only one turdburger in this family and that is Linden. He only has to walk three streets, not catch two planes and a bus.
TURDBURGER EXTREME.
But as we were leaving to go get supplies for three random cats (because no doubt Fern would have forgotten to pack their food) and food for the eight of us, the very nice nurse Sophie caught up with us in the car park. I thought Nimmy must be dead because she looked kind of agitated and shy.
Sophie said she was going on holidays with her friend — they were meant to go on a bushwalk but the friend had just texted and said she had twisted her ankle. She showed us the photo the friend sent and the ankle was enormous and disgusting so they wouldn’t be walking anywhere for a few days … but Sophie still had leave, starting from this afternoon at two pm, and because there were so many of us and because she was so fond of Nimmy and because Nimmy has asked her everyday for four years could she go home, she said she would be honoured to nurse Nimmy in GG’s house and, ‘Would he consider taking his Miss Lucy home?’
Well, GG looked so pleased and even though his mouth was smiling, it wobbled all over his chin. I was so happy I shouted ‘Yay’ out loud, which was way babyish but I couldn’t even be bothered being embarrassed. I actually gave Sophie a hug AND a high five and she looked incredibly pleased. The IMPOSSIBLE might be happening.
Sophie and GG went back into the Home as they had to check with the matron and get permission and stuff because apparently it is going to be a logistical nightmare.
Twelve
I was happy to walk home by myself because I knew Fern was nearly at GG’s house and suddenly I wanted to see my own sister. Even though I do not like her I do love her, plus I wanted to see what Linden did to the cats.
As I turned into our street I remembered about Dawn. The memory of the bright pink scar on Lily’s ankle rushed into my brain and I started to feel seriously angry. I could even hear my heart pumping blood through my ears and each thump was telling me to punch Dawn in the head even though she was an old lady. I have never felt like this — even with Linden.
I walked past really slowly and there she was.
‘Hello Lindy,’ Dawn shouted out all sickly sweet.
And then it was like I was channelling Harry Potter because I felt brave enough to say, ‘It’s Lily, I was named after my great Aunty Lily. L-I-L-Y DUNNINGS.’ Although that statement might be an erroneous lie, it rolled right off my tongue really nicely so maybe it’s true after all.
Dawn’s purple eyelids went all squinty as she looked at me over her triple chins. This made me feel even crosser and so I asked, ‘How is dear Chompers these days?’
‘Chompers? What are you talking about, girl?’ And you could actually see her brain trying to remember the poor dog … tick … tock … tick … tock … until eventually … it did remember. Then Dawn said, ‘Chompers has been dead since 1952, he is buried over there by the gate under the Vinca plants. How did you know I once had a dog named Chompers?’ She grabbed her Zimmer frame and bolted over to the gate where I was standing. Meanwhile, her two very much alive but really skinny dogs were going psycho and I began to feel scared, but only of pain and not of Dawn and the dogs.
And then I amazed myself as I got all mystical and mysterious and whispered, ‘Lily speaks to me from the Otherside,’ and just so Dawn got my vibe, I pointed to the sky.
Dawn’s goggly eyes followed my finger and she looked up. Now it was her turn t
o feel scared even though she pretended not to be. She laughed and said, ‘Oh yes? And what does that little blonde brat have to say?’ like she was humouring me.
I answered, ‘She says you are a big bully and that she is WATCHING YOU all the time. She showed me her ankle, not very nice of you, Dawn, not very nice at all.’
And Dawn’s bottom lip began to wobble as she whispered, ‘How do you know about the ankle?’
I pointed up to the sky again and looked happy like Other Lily was waving at me from a nearby cloud. And so I went on, ‘Who could forget the 12th of December 1947 when an enormous tortured dog chases you down the street, rips you off your Malvern Star and tries to eat your ankle!’
I know it was just a spooky coincidence but the two dogs went very quiet. The timing was freaky but probably they were exhausted because they are so thin. So I kept on talking. ‘How you treated Chompers and all your dogs is disgusting. Disgusting!’ and then I did get a bit carried away and I finished up with, ‘You haven’t got long to live, Dawn Hornbuckle, so you’d better make amends!’ Mum is forever telling us to make amends because life is short and precious.
Then I walked off quick smart, and Dawn shuffled closer to the gate and leant over it shouting out very dramatically that she was very sorry and, ‘Please Lily, please forgive me.’ I turned around to find her looking up at the sky. She looked really pathetic and I felt a bit sorry for her and so I quickly added, ‘Lily says she forgives you,’ and watched as a lovely smile spread across Dawn’s face. She didn’t look so ugly. She looked kind of nice, but then I remembered the other thing and I shouted, ‘Lily says to STAY AWAY FROM LUCY’S COLIN, NOW AND FOREVER!’
Dawn said, ‘Yes I will, consider it done!’
I kept walking, feeling shaky and sick but over the moon with joy.
When I got home and opened the front door, I found the good room in a big mess. There were chips and cushions and a spilt half-empty mug of Milo and magazines and newspapers everywhere.
I totally flipped out, I shouted, ‘What happened here because it looks like a wild boar on a rampage has gone through GG’s good room.’
Linden said, ‘Nothing happened … I got bored and hungry.’
So I said, ‘Nimmy is dying and Fern and EVERYONE is coming here soon to say goodbye.’ My voice cracked unintentionally but very dramatically.
He replied, ‘She is old. CARE FACTOR — ZERO!’
And I am utterly speechless and beyond cross.
Without thinking, I found myself going into my bedroom to find the hidden finger. I tucked it into my pocket and went back into the good room and plopped it right into Linden’s Milo while he was laughing his head off at some stupid children’s cartoon. Linden always, always finishes off his Milo with an enormous slurp and then he sticks his own finger into his cup and scrapes off all the sugar and crunchy bits. Vomitous behaviour. Shake hands with Original Lily, Pig Boy!
And so I started cleaning up with great indignation until I remembered the good news that Nimmy might be coming home and that Dawn was going to start behaving herself. By this stage, Linden had rammed his earplugs back in and was starting to gyrate on the sofa like a frying piece of bacon crackling in GG’s extra large pan. WEIRD MUCH?
So I took out the key and visited OL. She was waiting for me and almost touching the glass with anticipation. I said straight off that everything is okay and that Nimmy was not dead yet and she might, just might be coming home thanks to a very nice nurse called Sophie and a twisted ankle friend.
Lily was completely silent with joy and started rocking back and forth like she was trying to keep the joy in. Kind of unnerving! I had to get my nerves together and tell her that Nimmy coming home was only a might, a probably, and not a guaranteed thing. I was worried that she would explode into tiny parallel universe pieces if she didn’t see her Lucy dearest soon.
This freaked me out and so I quickly changed the subject and said that Linden was pure evil and that I hope she didn’t mind but I’d gone straight to phase two and dropped her finger into his Milo. OL looked at her hand in a curious way and replied she didn’t mind at all and hoped he had a nasty choke on it.
She went quiet for a minute then finally said, ‘Years ago, before it was lost — and only sometimes and not always — I could make the finger wiggle and wave. If Lucy held it up for me and I concentrated hard, it would move. It would give us both such a blast that Lucy would roll around on the ground dying with laughter.’
OL and I both went very quiet and I guess it was because Lucy is dying for real this time.
When I was done feeling maudlin (I feel this word is totally me), I went to ask OL would she like me to read to her or something, while we waited for the pig to make his big discovery. I even picked up her favourite copy of Biggles but as I turned the pages I could feel a very sorrowful silence coming from the mirror. It was not in the least bit maudlin but it was very intense. My vibe detector was totally shrieking ALERT! BIG-TIME. So I looked up from Biggles (who was getting into his plane … again … beyond boring … I don’t understand why she likes it so much!) to find that OL was looking past me and at the old dusty furniture. Her blue eyes were wide and watery and I could see her hands trembling like she was being gripped by something terrible.
‘Lily!’ I shouted, ‘What is the matter … apart from the obvious?’ (Dying sister and long-term entrapment etc etc.)
OL was quiet for a long time and I knew she was thinking of how to say something that is upsetting in a non-upsetting way, but then it all just spurted out anyway.
‘I am being as dull as dishwater. I do apologise. It’s just that lately I really do feel weak, I feel like a paper-cut out dolly that needs to be glued to stiff cardboard to keep me upright.’
BINGO. OL totally nailed her new condition.
I was torn. Did I mention to her that in the last couple of days, she disappeared whenever she turned sideways? The whole dying sister thing was enough at the mo. A tiny bit of logic in my brain told me that perhaps these two things were connected.
But OL rallied and repeated the words, ‘Chin up, chin up, chin up,’ which I think means be brave and positive. She brightened and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if I could wiggle my finger and give Linden the biggest fright in the world?’
I replied the finger was in the good room sitting in a cup on the coffee table by the bookcase and OL breathed in deeply and put her fingers on her temples and whispered, ‘I am visualising the finger in the Milo cup and I am commanding it to wiggle in a most violent and obvious nature.’
She spread her hands out and wiggled each finger in turn until she came to the empty spot. She clenched her eyes shut and I could almost feel the electricity zapping off her and down into the good room. She opened one eye and said, ‘Go and see if it is working because it will be a jolly good spectacle indeed.’
I lowered the dust sheet over the mirror, leaving OL looking constipated in deep concentration. I whispered, ‘Goodbye, I will be back shortly.’
I tiptoed down the passage and peered between the crack in the doorway, just in time to see bubbles coming out of the top of the cup. There was a veritable (no idea as to meaning but feel it really suits) cappuccino froth going on but Pig Boy did not notice because he was going crazy over a new violent movie that was being advertised loudly on the telly.
Just when I thought all dear OL’s energy was being wasted on this pudding head, he picked up the Milo and started to drink it — but his eyes were still glued to the screen and he didn’t notice the finger slip down onto his tongue. And this is when he did start to notice it. He screamed and had conniptions beyond belief and literally vomited up the rest of the Milo in a chunky custard style. And there in the middle of GG’s good room mat was Lily’s pointer finger waving and wiggling like it was possessed. It was grooving and flexing like a gymnast on fast-forward. It was KERAZEE TOWN.
I opened the door and just stood there and my mouth was actually gaping open. It was like bizarro world had arrived at GG’s.
It was a good thing I looked so shocked because Linden pushed past me screaming as he bolted to the front door. He actually screamed, ‘Mutant body part. Run for your life, Lily!’ as the finger started to propel its way forward like it was spring-loaded. I watched him run out onto the street and keep on running.
HUZZAH, LOSER! OINK-I-TY OINK OINK!
Thirteen
I ran and snatched up the finger and quickly rinsed and dried it and then I burst into the Rosy Room, ripped off the dust sheet and held up the finger like it was made of gold!!
‘TA DA!’ I said, ‘Best dancing finger in the world!’ Even if it’s highly plausible it is the only dancing finger in the world.
‘Did I wriggle it? Did it move?’ she asked anxiously.
And I answered, ‘It totally rock-and-rolled, Lily!’
‘What is this rock-and-roll again?’ Sometimes I forget she has been in the mirror for sixty-something years.
‘Never mind, what I mean is, it worked!’ I stopped and tried to remember an old-fashioned dance and then I said, ‘It foxtrotted, shimmied and strutted like crazy.’
And OL was delighted with this news.
But then she slumped to the ground and said, ‘Dear me, I am quite exhausted from the exertion!’ Nanna Pinkie is prone to saying this and then she has a nanna nap and feels better. I began to feel very worried for OL. Something was changing about her. It seems the weaker Nimmy gets the more out of shape Other Lily becomes. And that’s a seriously sad thought. Though I have only met OL a few days ago, I feel like I have known her all my life. We are kindred beyond words.
But then I remembered Deadly Dawn! Double Whammy!!
And so I said, ‘I bumped into your good friend Dawn.’ (sarcasm MUCH?)
‘Oh, I knew she never moved house but I thought (read — hoped) she might have snuffed it,’ OL said.
‘She is lumpy and old and on her way out, but she has all her marbles (Dad-ism for not crazy) and she is after Colin!’
