The Secret
Page 21
They coughed, and clung to the rock, and to each other. And they were shocked, and bewildered, but they hadn’t drowned yet, they hadn’t drowned! The water wasn’t as deep as Roy thought it would be – funny, that! But anyway they hadn’t drowned. Nicky was sobbing and retching, though, and Roy was terrified they might drown still if Nicky went unconscious like before, because he didn’t have much strength left now, for holding her up.
They sobbed together, in the dark and cold, and Roy thought, why doesn’t an angel come? One of Nicky’s angels that she believes in! If angels are real they ought to come now, Roy thought – because if they don’t do it soon it might be too late.
There was a whirring noise somewhere, a droning sound getting louder. It was a sound Roy had heard before, but the noise of the sea confused him, so he couldn’t think for a moment what that other noise was. Then the whirring was right overhead, and there were flashing lights as well, and an angel was coming. He was coming out of the sky, on a winch, lowered from the police helicopter that had come to save them!
‘Which one first?’ said the angel.
‘This one,’ said Roy. ‘She hurt herself.’
‘I’ll have to leave you alone for a minute, son,’ said the angel. ‘Not long. I’ll be right back. All right? All right, then?’
‘Yes,’ said Roy.
‘You’ll do,’ said the angel.
He took longer than he said he would, or it seemed like that. And it wasn’t very nice standing all alone, chest deep in wavy water, waiting for the angel to come back. But the angel, who was a policeman really, was pleased with him. Him! And Nicky was safe now. And he had held her in the sea, didn’t he, and that felt good.
It felt good!
The children were taken to the same hospital Mum was in, so they did find her in a way, after all. She came to see them for a minute in the night, and they were going to see her again tomorrow, and the nurse said she didn’t think Mum was going to be punished for leaving them that time, because she was sorry now, and she was never going to do it again, and anyway she’d been punished enough already. So that was all right.
Nicky was supposed to rest next morning, because of the knock on the head, but it was impossible to keep her in bed. She kept getting up, and hobbling the length of the ward, so she could boast to everyone about her marvellous brother who saved her life in the sea. She was a bit disappointed she didn’t lose her memory, like Mum, but you can’t have everything!
It worried Roy, at first, that people said it was him saved Nicky, when really it was the helicopter. He mentioned it to a number of people that it was the helicopter that saved Nicky really, not him, but they still said he saved her first. If he hadn’t held her up, she would have drowned, they said.
And then the thought came, it was his fault she fell in the first place, because he wouldn’t climb, and he told them that. But they still seemed to think he did something special. Him! Roy hunched his shoulders under the bedclothes, in the private darkness, and thought about it, and it felt good.
The nightmares, of course, would come later.
Mr Nelson came to see Nicky and Roy, just for a minute, in the morning.
‘You’re supposed to be in school!’ said Nicky, sternly. ‘Taking Assembly.’
‘I think the Office will forgive me,’ said Mr Nelson. ‘It was too late to get a train last night.’
‘And your arthritis is worse! Just look, what you done to your arthritis!’
‘I know,’ said Mr Nelson. ‘Very careless of me.’
‘You should look after yourself better!’ Nicky scolded him. ‘You’re getting to be quite a bit old now, you know.’
‘I shall try to bear it in mind,’ said Mr Nelson. ‘All right, Roy?’
‘Yes, Sir,’ said Roy, turning his head shyly.
‘Have you caught a cold as well, Mr Nelson?’ said Nicky. ‘Your voice has gone all funny.’
‘It must be a cold, then,’ said Mr Nelson.
‘Do you know what I’ve been thinking, Sir?’ said Nicky.
‘No,’ said Mr Nelson. ‘I’m sure it’s something interesting, though.’
‘I’ve been thinking I’m not going to fight for Roy any more, in the playground.’
‘I should think not indeed,’ said Mr Nelson. ‘He doesn’t need it!’
By the same author:
The Runaways
The Class that Went Wild
The New Boy
THE SECRET
AN RHCB DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 448 10188 7
Published in Great Britain by RHCB Digital,
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This ebook edition published 2012
Copyright © Ruth Thomas, 1990
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Hutchinson Children’s Books 1990
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