“I dreamed of that snake,” Silas said. “I dreamed it was there and I knew not to stretch out my legs and that dream saved my life. Sixth sense, I call it.”
We don’t learn about sixth sense at school. We just learn the five main ones: hearing, smell, sight, touch and taste. My teacher said to imagine using them when someone’s cooking dinner but it’s more fun to imagine them when someone’s burning dinner. You hear hissing, you smell burning, you see the burnt pan, you touch the hot handle and you taste the burnt food. Then you spit it out.
But sixth sense is different. It’s sort of invisible. I think it’s like knowing someone’s burnt the dinner even though you’re not back from school yet. Silas says we’ll recognise it when we need it. He says if you trust it, it can get you out of trouble.
But the best thing about Silas is he’s a care kid like us so he understands how we feel. All he knows about his family is his dad was called Bernard and his mum was called Hilda. He doesn’t even know why they called him Silas. He was born in London in the war and when he was a baby a bomb landed on his house and killed his mum and dad. They just couldn’t get out quick enough. Hilda was probably trying to get him into his little jumper and Bernard was probably getting him some milk.
“I was pulled out of the rubble,” he said, “and passed from one pair of hands to the next. Just like you lot.”
He went to live on a farm away from the bombs and when the war finished he didn’t have anywhere to go so he stayed in the countryside and got moved from one place to the next.
“I used to think I could be picked up and carried anywhere,” he said, “but I learnt something you lot should understand. They can take you anywhere they like but they can’t choose where this goes.”
And he banged his hand on his chest where his heart must be. I know what he meant. If you don’t have a family you have to hold on extra tight to what’s inside. I hold on to my heart really tight. Zac holds his even tighter.
Apart from me, Zac and Jimmy there’s six other kids at Skilly. This is them not in any special order, just how they come into my head.
Sophia’s the oldest. She’s fourteen. She’s kind and quiet and she doesn’t say anything about herself. She’s like me and Zac in that way. She writes poems and she’s got a little typewriter and sometimes you can hear her typing in her room. But then she hides her poems so you can never read them. She puts plaits in her hair and wears bright shirts, which is funny because she doesn’t really like to be noticed and if you wear bright shirts people notice you. She looks like a pop star but I’ve never heard her sing.
Ashani’s the youngest. She’s eight. She wishes she was a boy because she wants to be a footballer when she grows up and she wants to play at Wembley. She supports Crystal Palace and when she talks about football she says things like, “We only lost because the ref was rubbish and our striker was injured.” She makes it sound like Crystal Palace played best even if they didn’t win. She’s got a Crystal Palace shirt but it’s too big for her. It’s probably big enough for Jimmy. Hortense sewed it up but the shoulders still come to her elbows.
Ashani’s everyone’s favourite. She makes funny faces and she laughs a lot and she’s easy to make happy. If I was going to adopt someone I’d adopt Ashani. Then I’d buy her a Crystal Palace shirt that fits and take her to a real live football match so she didn’t have to watch it on TV. And I’d buy her chips afterwards and Coke.
Esther’s nine. She loves yellow. She doesn’t feel like herself if she’s not wearing it. She feels like someone she doesn’t like. She gets upset if her clothes get messy and when she came to Skilly she was angry because she wants to live somewhere pretty. She’s the same age as Zac but he doesn’t like her. Sometimes she plays dressing up and wants him to be her husband. But Zac doesn’t want to play families. He wants to play knights and soldiers. And he doesn’t want to rescue a princess either.
Miles is thirteen like Jimmy but he’s small so you can’t tell. When he first came, Jimmy wanted to fight him but Miles just walked away. He’s got tiny hands and he spends ages in his room making things with sticks or taking things apart and putting them back together. Hortense gives him matches when she’s used them, so they can’t catch fire, and he makes stick men or houses out of them. One time Silas made holes in conkers and Miles put matches through the holes so they were like wheels and made little cars and we had races with them. They didn’t last long though. They kept breaking.
Milap and Harit are ten and nine and they’re brothers. Milap is really good at magic. He can make little red balls disappear and then appear somewhere else. He can do card tricks too and he knows what your card is even though he can’t see it. Harit likes animals, especially extinct ones. He’s like Zac because he knows all the names of dinosaurs. His favourite is Triceratops, which is the one with three horns. Zac likes Tyrannosaurus rex best.
But Milap and Harit are always waiting to leave Skilly. You can feel it. Even if you’re talking to them it’s like a bit of them isn’t listening properly in case the doorbell rings and it’s their mum come to get them. Their mum’s in hospital because she got worried and her brain needs a rest and their dad couldn’t look after them because he got sad thinking about their mum. It’s called mental illness. You can’t see it like a broken leg but it’s just as bad. Maybe worse. When their mum gets better they’re all going to get back together again because then their dad will be happier too. Then they can go home.
We all got Easter eggs today with our names written on them in squiggly chocolate writing. Ashani said she saw Mrs Clanks taking them out of a bag and putting them on the kitchen table but I don’t think so. I think Mrs Clanks was taking them off the kitchen table and putting them in a bag. That’s what she’s like. She doesn’t want us to have fun. It was lucky Ashani walked in.
After breakfast Silas hid the eggs in the garden and we had an egg hunt. Jimmy found his first. I found Milap’s, Milap found Esther’s, Esther found Sophia’s and Sophia found mine so we all swapped round. It’s the first time I ever saw “Ira” written in chocolate. It looked so nice. If it was always written in chocolate I’d like it much better.
We all found our eggs really quickly apart from Zac. Jimmy had nearly eaten his and Ashani kept getting us to hide hers again and Zac hadn’t even found his for the first time yet. He was beginning to get upset. Silas looked worried because he hid eight eggs and he couldn’t remember where they all were.
Esther said, “You can have mine if you like,” but Zac said, “No thanks, it’s got Esther on it!”
I was thinking how quickly things get spoilt when Harit said, “Look!” and there was Zac’s egg hidden behind the ivy high up on the wall. Silas was surprised because he hid them all low down, so I think Jimmy moved it. Anyway it was all OK.
Eating an egg with your name on is one of the nicest things in the world. But it does have to be your own name.
There’s daffodils and daisies in the garden now. It shows summer’s coming. I tried to draw them today but I couldn’t even make them look like flowers so I put little legs on them and made them into insects. They looked funny crawling across the page.
Zac and Harit were chasing each other with bows and arrows but I didn’t mind as long as they kept away from me. I was sitting in a patch of sun and it was really warm on my back. Silas was in his garden next door.
Silas lives in the bungalow next to Skilly. We’re not allowed in his garden but if we see him we talk to him over the fence. Unless Mrs Clanks sees us because then she comes out and tells us off. She says things like, “Isn’t Silas allowed some time to himself?” And all the time she’s flapping her hands to keep insects away. She doesn’t like nature. She’s an indoors sort of person. Zac says he’s going to put a spider down her back one day but I know he won’t. She’s too scary. It’s just one of his dreams like fighting dinosaurs. I don’t think even Jimmy would do it.
But Silas likes talking to us. He says things like, “How’s it going?” or “What you up to
?” One time he showed us a beetle. It had a green and blue shield on its back that looked like a shell. It’s called a shield bug. The shield’s meant to protect it but it hadn’t worked because the beetle was dead when Silas found it. Now Zac’s got it. He put it on our windowsill, next to Glenda Hyacinth’s name. I moved it along in case she didn’t like insects but she might not mind. It’s quite pretty.
Silas is always finding things. That’s why his garden’s full of junk. He says it’ll come in handy one day but I don’t know how. He’s got an old table and piles of wood and pots of paint and a broken chair and a cage with a wheel but no hamster in it. Usually he’s got a pint mug of tea, which is a whole teapot full.
One time at school everyone had to say what their perfect day would be and I couldn’t even imagine because I’ve never done anything perfect. My heart was beating so loud I thought the whole class would hear. Other kids were saying things like going to Disneyland or camping next to a stream but when my turn came I had to say I didn’t know. It was embarrassing. But actually I think my perfect day is drawing in the garden with the sun shining and Zac playing and Silas in his garden too. So I think today was my perfect day.
When I finished drawing I went to talk to Silas over the fence. He was hammering a nail into some wood.
“What are you making?” I said.
“I’ll show you.”
He lifted up a stick with a bit of board nailed to it. It looked like a giant lollipop.
“Is it a placard?” I said.
He nodded.
“It’s just to tell people what I think.”
Me and Zac see placards every day on the way to school. People stand outside the library with them, even if it’s pouring with rain. I think they must take sandwiches because they’re still there when we’re walking home. They’ve usually got NO POLL TAX or CAN’T PAY, WON’T PAY written on their placards but they don’t look too fed up.
“Are you going to stand outside the library?” I said.
“No,” Silas said. “I’m going on a march.”
“About the poll tax?”
He nodded.
“With other people?”
He laughed. “I hope so.”
Hortense says the poll tax isn’t for kids to worry about. It’s a grown-up thing. She says it’s money grown-ups have to pay but lots of people are worried because it costs too much. That’s why they have placards. So they can tell everyone it’s a bad idea. She says history’s full of people holding placards.
I’ve seen lots of placards. Sometimes they say ONLY GOD CAN SAVE YOU and sometimes they say CHARLIE’S JERK CHICKEN 99p. It all depends.
But I think life would be more straightforward if everyone had a placard because then you don’t have to say what you think out loud so you don’t have to be rude. It’s like shouting without making a noise. You could maybe even stop a war that way.
“I wish I had a placard,” I said.
Silas said, “What would you write on it?”
“I’d write LEAVE ME ALONE for when kids keep pestering me.”
He laughed.
“Mine would say ANY CHANCE OF A CUP OF TEA?”
After that I kept thinking of different things to write.
Zac’s placard would say ARE YOU MY MUM? Because every time he sees a woman who looks like us he thinks she’s our mum. If he had a placard he could stand in the street and people could come up and say yes or no, or they could just walk past but at least he wouldn’t have to keep asking me. I expect most would walk past. Maybe all.
Esther’s would say HAVE YOU GOT THAT IN YELLOW? Milap and Harit’s would say WAS THAT THE DOORBELL? Ashani’s would say CRYSTAL PALACE FOREVER or THAT WAS A FOUL or THE BOYS WERE UNLUCKY.
I’d have different placards for different occasions. I’d have the one saying LEAVE ME ALONE for if I was reading or drawing. I’d lean it against my chair so I could hold on to my book. And I’d have one for when people are being horrible or telling me off. I’d hold it up in front of Mrs Clanks or my teacher or Skilly kids when they’re making me feel bad. It would say STOP NOW! And I’d have another one for when Zac’s embarrassing me, like when he rings people’s doorbells and runs away. It would say THAT BOY IS NOT MY BROTHER.
These are my favourite people. There aren’t many. If I die and there’s a funeral not many people will come because I don’t know many people. If I had a family I’d have cousins and aunts and grandparents but I’ve only got Zac. I’ve written a list just in case. Zac’s at the top even though he’s annoying sometimes.
Silas and Hortense are next. Silas because he’s the best person in the world and Hortense because sometimes she puts her arm round me and gives me a kiss and I don’t even know why and apart from Anita she’s the only person who’s kissed me for years and years. Also, she goes to church to say prayers and sing hymns, which makes her really good. I hope she says prayers for me and Zac because if I was God Hortense is exactly the sort of person I’d listen to because she’s like an angel.
Anita’s on the list as well because she’s always looking out for us and even though she must be fed up of looking out for two kids nobody wants, she doesn’t show it. She just keeps on trying to cheer us up and surprising us with her hair.
The Skilly kids are on my list too. I put Jimmy and Ashani at the top because they’re my favourites. All the others are on the same line because I can’t choose between them. I like them all the same.
I also put Amanda and Kaleigh from my class on the list but I put them at the bottom. Because I don’t always know if they’re going to be nice and I’m not even sure if I like them. I put them at the bottom so I can tear them off or fold the paper over if I change my mind.
Mrs Clanks isn’t on my list because she makes me feel bad. At first I thought she was a ghost but now I know she’s just a horrible living person. I hope she never becomes a ghost because if she does Skilly will be haunted forever and nobody will want to come in because all the kids would die of fright. Even as a living person she spoils things. She’s always trying to catch kids doing something wrong and she’s always thinking things and you can’t tell what they are except they’re not very nice.
Jimmy said she locked a boy in a cupboard once and left him there and he died. He told Zac, and Zac told me. Zac’s eyes were really wide like he was scared and excited. Like when the tree blew down.
He said, “And when the boy died he became a skeleton and someone opened the cupboard and the skeleton fell out and no one knew who he was or even if it was a boy or a girl because you can’t tell with skeletons.”
I said, “Don’t be stupid, Zac, she couldn’t do that. Someone would find out.”
But Zac said, “It’s true. Jimmy says so and he’s been here the longest.”
I said to Hortense, “Did any kid just disappear in Skilly and never be found for years?”
She said, “No, what a strange thing to say. Kids leave to go somewhere else but they don’t just disappear into thin air.”
I said, “I think the kid was found in the end but by then he was a skeleton.”
Hortense laughed. She said, “Who’s been telling you stories?”
I said, “No one.”
Then she looked up at the sky in case God was watching. It’s what she does when she’s thinking how stupid the world is. And then she hugged me so I think it’s OK. Hortense has been here even longer than Jimmy so she knows.
But even if Mrs Clanks didn’t lock someone in a cupboard I don’t want her on my list and I don’t want her to come to my funeral because she’s not very nice. She hates being here and she hates us being here too.
One time her husband came to get her after work. He waited outside in his car. I didn’t even know she had a husband but Hortense said that’s who he was. When she got in the car she gave him a proper smile, not like the ones she gives us. She was just so glad to get away from Skilly.
I think Mrs Clanks probably wanted to be an air hostess or a trapeze artist when she was a child and
she’s disappointed she ended up here. That’s why she makes so many rules. She wants everyone else to be unhappy too.
Some Skilly rules:
Don’t drop your bags and coats on the floor.
Don’t bother adults if they’re busy.
Don’t fight with sticks.
Don’t bother Silas if he’s in his garden.
If the toilet roll runs out tell Hortense.
Don’t put toilet roll down the sink.
Don’t run in the house unless something bad happens like a fire and if there is a fire don’t run because you have to walk out of the house in an orderly fashion.
Don’t put anything in front of the fire exits because then you can’t get out.
Don’t take food up to your bedroom.
Something amazing happened today! I’m not going to tell anyone because it’s my secret. I’m so happy I have to stop myself dancing around because when Zac saw me he said, “What’s up with you?” and I’m not telling anyone what’s up.
This is what happened.
I dropped a pencil down the side of my bed and when I crawled under to get it a bit of floorboard moved. And under it was a letter! I’ve been sleeping above a letter since I was nine and I didn’t even know! All I was thinking about was the birds on the roof. It was in an envelope with stars drawn on it and writing that said To whom it may concern, which means the person who wrote it didn’t know the name of the person it was for.
When I found it I could hardly breathe. I didn’t know what to do. I sat on the floor and just stared and stared at it. And then I thought if it’s not for someone special it could be for me so I opened it. And inside was a letter from Glenda Hyacinth!
Little Bits of Sky Page 3
