Just Call Me Spaghetti-Hoop Boy

by Lara Williamson

  I think of Mum in the hospital and when Dad starts he says what I’m thinking: he wishes Mum will come out healthy and happy. Minnie looks at Dad and she agrees. “Same, Dad,” she says. “I miss Mum already.”

  “I want Mum back at home. She’s my heart,” I say.

  Velvet thinks for a second and says, “I want a ribbon for Dog Star’s hair.” We all glare at her. “And I want Mum home so she can put the ribbon in his hair.”

  I tell everyone to wait and I run into my bedroom and come back with a sheet of paper, and I say I’ve already written a wish poem we could attach to the kite. I tell them I wrote it for homework about my real mother and now I know that’s definitely Mum. Dad says he wants to hear it and Velvet nods. Dog Star is biting his tail so I’m not sure he’s too bothered. With a trembling voice, I read:

  I know your heart’s a special place

  That I can call my home

  No matter what I do or say

  I know I’m not alone

  And if I have got worries

  I know that you will care

  You’ll wrap me up in lots of love

  I know there’s plenty spare

  And if I had a wish tonight

  I’d make that wish for you

  For you’re the only mum I need

  You’re my perfect mum come true.

  The heart-shaped kite soars through the night sky and the wish, which has been tied to the ribbon, goes with it. Stars twinkle and it’s as if each star listens to the wish and blinks in agreement. Dog Star barks at the moon like he’s a werewolf, which is ridiculous because he’s a schnoodle (a schnauzer poodle mix) and Dad says that he thinks Granddad Fred is looking down at us too. I look up into the sky as the heart kite sails this way and that and I imagine Granddad Fred is up there, and my heart feels so full of love that it could burst. It’s only when Dad says we need to get back that we bring the kite back to Earth.

  “I think our wishes will come true,” says Dad. Then he winks. “I didn’t really wish for a Scalextric with Granddad, you know.”

  I look at Dad.

  “I wished to be happy – and I truly am, because I’ve got my family.” Dad smiles and says, “You’re my perfect son come true.” He pulls me into a hug and then gives me a punch on the arm. I think I preferred the hug, to be honest.

  Mum comes home the following day and she’s tired and sore but she’s alive. “I’m still here,” says Mum. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

  Minnie grins at me and Velvet’s jumping up and down and so is Dog Star, although he doesn’t seem to know why.

  “Now,” says Mum, “we can put it all behind us and move forward. We are the Butters and we’re strongest when we stick together.”

  Mum wasn’t able to give us hugs for a few days but it didn’t take long before she was back to normal, and we found out the lump was benign, which meant it was okay, then life got back to normal too (well, normal for us anyway, because we’re not really normal at all, especially Velvet). School was the same as before. Mrs Chatterjee knew why I hadn’t turned up to the exhibition, and ever since then she’d check I was happy and tell me I could talk to her if I wanted to.

  The only thing that was different was that I couldn’t completely forget about Rose, because in real life you can’t just switch off your thoughts. Nothing is perfect, no matter how much you’d like it to be. But I’ve been thinking since everything has happened. I’ve decided that it’s okay to think about my other mother sometimes and it’s okay for life to be imperfectly perfect, because that’s good enough. If my brain had a big switch with the words ROSE WALKER on it I might have flicked it off, but since that’s not possible I just live with the fact that she’s in Switzerland and that I’m no longer looking for her because I found everything I needed right in my own flat.

  Last night Mum said that if I ever needed to write a letter to Rose, maybe in the future when things might have changed, she still had the envelope from Switzerland with the address and she’d keep it safe for me. I said I did need to write a letter but not to Rose. I needed to write a letter to someone who was very special to me once, someone who I didn’t spend enough time with, and when they had problems I didn’t notice because I was so wrapped up in my own and I felt bad about that. Sometimes you forget that others have problems too.

  Dear Tiny Eric,

  I’m still missing you. You were the best friend I ever had. You were a hero too. I know that now because there are heroes everywhere and sometimes they come in disguise. They come in the disguise of looking ordinary (when really they’re extraordinary). Dad told me that once but I didn’t understand and now I do. True heroes are all around us. There were heroes at the hospital helping my mum recently too when she had an operation.

  I hope you’re happy. I looked at your drawing of me as a superhero last night and I know I said you didn’t draw me as a superhero but you did, didn’t you? You just didn’t tell me. All those squiggly words at the bottom didn’t make sense but last night I looked them up.

  Już jesteś superbohaterem!

  You’re already a superhero!

  It was clever, Tiny Eric. If only I’d understood it before. You drew me as myself because you already thought I was great. I think you knew so much more than me. You helped me learn to believe with your drawings. You said the drawing of the four-leaf clover would bring me luck and it did, but I had to believe. It just took me a long time to believe in the most important thing of all: me. And not just me, but who I really am, and not who I thought I should be or who others thought I should be.

  Anyway, everything is okay now, although I still have to put up with Minnie. But that’s not going to change. I’m sorry your mum and dad have split up. Mrs Chatterjee said you were going to Poland, so I bet you’re with your babcia now. Perhaps you’re eating little pigeons (ha ha). I hope school is fun. Perhaps you’ve even made a new friend there. I hope so. Everyone needs a hero like you in their life.

  Another thing, I’m never wearing my bobble hat again. I know, I know. My bobble hat was a safe place and I loved it and when I was worried I’d go inside it and stay there for a while. I gave my old one away, but then Minnie got me a new one but I don’t think I need it. So now I’m giving you my bobble hat. It’s lucky – wear it and believe, but believe in you.

  I’d better go now because the bell is ringing and it’s lunchtime. Mrs Chatterjee allowed me to write this letter just before the break. Mrs Chatterjee is okay, sometimes. I’m not going to tell her that though.

  Goodbye,

  Adam

  P.S. I’m including the front page of the Pegasus Park Packet. Remember we did our Forest For Ever project and someone was going to feature in the paper? Well, that someone was you. I wrote about how you were a superhero to me and how superheroes come in all shapes and sizes. Mrs Chatterjee said it was brilliant and passed it on to the paper. She also put your tree in reception so everyone could see it. She said your tree was special because it branched out and reached everyone in the class. She said we’d never forget you because your tree was the tallest and most upstanding in our forest.

  Mrs Chatterjee takes the letter and says Tiny Eric will be very happy to get it. “And what’s this?” Mrs Chatterjee looks down as I hand her my bobble hat. “Are you sending this to Eric?”

  “Yes,” I reply. “I want Tiny Eric to have it.”

  “That’s lovely,” says Mrs Chatterjee, smiling. Then she adds that’s she proud to have me as part of her school family and she’ll make sure that Tiny Eric gets this lovely letter, the newspaper clipping and the gift. The school have his new address in Poland, she tells me. And she’s certain he’ll be very glad to hear from me. “Now, scoot,” adds Mrs Chatterjee. “You’ve only got twenty minutes of break left before you’re back in the classroom for maths.” Mrs Chatterjee pulls a scary face and I scoot right towards the door.

  Outside in the playground, everyone else is playing together. Even though it’s been a month since Tiny Eric left,
I still don’t have a new best friend even though I’ve got lots of mates. But as I sit on the wall by myself, I hear a little voice say, “Who is better, Batman or Superman?”

  “Batman,” I reply, looking up.

  “Why?”

  “Well, he doesn’t have any superpowers but he still saves the day.”

  “That kind of makes him sound ordinary.” The Beast sits down beside me and offers me a sweet.

  “Maybe,” I reply, taking one. I pop it into my mouth. “But that’s what all the real superheroes are. Look around you.”

  The Beast looks around. “What am I looking at?”

  “The superheroes,” I exclaim.

  “Where?”

  “Every person here in this playground is one,” I say and I feel myself swell up inside. “We all are. You’re a superhero because you’re you. I’m a superhero because I’m me. We all might look ordinary but we’re not, we’re extraordinary. I’ve learned that recently.”

  “You’re clever.”

  “I know,” I say, laughing. I happen to glance down at Granddad Fred’s watch and I can’t believe it but the cogs have started moving. “Look,” I say, pointing the watch towards The Beast. I grin. “The watch is working again. Mum said she took it to a shop to get it repaired and they couldn’t fix it, but they must have done something because look at it now.”

  The Beast says, “I know about your mum because she came into my uncle’s shop. I was there. I saw the watch and I knew it was yours but I didn’t say so. After your mum had gone my uncle replaced the strap but he couldn’t fix the workings. He tried everything he could but he said he couldn’t get the heart of the watch fixed. I asked him if he was sure it wouldn’t go and he said he was sure.” The Beast peers into the watch and sees the cogs rotating. “Maybe it was you who mended the heart of it.” The Beast grins. “It had to be you.” As The Beast turns away I say I’m sorry we weren’t friends before. The Beast says it’s okay and maybe one day we could be best friends.

  “You won’t throw me in a bush though?”

  The Beast laughs and says, “Oh, right. FYI that day me and my friend were playing superheroes and pretending we could fly and she tripped and fell in a bush.”

  “A holly bush,” I say.

  “Yes, that was unfortunate,” replies The Beast. “And not exactly superhero behaviour. But it wasn’t my fault and I did try to help her back out.”

  The bell rings and The Beast starts to walks away from me.

  I shout, “Hey, we can’t be best friends until I know what your name is.”

  “It’s Eve,” replies The Beast.

  “And I’m Adam,” I say, laughing. I was never Ace because Ace didn’t exist, except on a piece of paper.

  My name is Adam Butters and I love comics and the Zorbitans and I loved my bobble hat for a while but now I don’t need to hide in it. I love living on planet Earth, top floor flat, number 53, Pegasus Park Towers. I don’t smell of dogs any more but if I do it’s because we have one and I love him too. He’s part of our family. I love my little sister Velvet and I guess I love Minnie too, even though she still annoys me. I miss Tiny Eric every day but I love having a new best friend. Eve isn’t in my class but we meet up every lunchtime to talk about comics. Sometimes we swap them, and we’re going to the next Comic Con together. I still like sunshine, rolling down hills, and my teddy bear, but I don’t eat spaghetti hoops. I love my mum and dad. They’ve always believed in me and accepted me for who I am, not who I thought I should be. But most of all I love living here with my family and there isn’t anywhere else in the universe I’d rather be.

  Lara’s debut novel, A Boy Called Hope, has been shortlisted for lots of prizes, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the IBW Book Award, and won the Sheffield Children’s Book Award 2015 and the Salford Children’s Book Award 2016. Her second novel, The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair, was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award and nominated for the Carnegie Medal.

  Lara was born and studied in Northern Ireland, before moving to London. She loves tap-dancing, daydreaming, eating chips, wearing glitter and writing. Not necessarily in that order. What’s more, she has just found her first four-leaf clover and feels very lucky.

  @LaraWilliamson

  larawilliamson.com

  If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

  I’d love lots of superpowers. But if I had to choose, first on the list would be the ability to fly. Recently, I had a dream that I was a superhero and I could fly to the tops of skyscrapers. Oh, it was brilliant; exactly as you’d imagine. The wind was in my hair and I felt exhilarated and I was zooming everywhere until the alarm went off and I woke up. When I realized I couldn’t fly at all I spent the rest of the day sulking.

  If you could give yourself a superhero name, what would you choose?

  Lara was the mother of Superman so I’m pretty happy with my name already but if I had to choose another one I’d be “Glitter Assassin” and then I’d spray villains with glitter bombs that exploded from my hands. POW! POW! If you’ve ever tried to get rid of glittery particles you’ll know that they stick to you like glue. Imagine all those mean, miserable villains covered in sparkles that wouldn’t come off. It’s a fabulous thought, but fiendish too.

  And what would be your superhero motto?

  Secretly I’d like to borrow “Kazoo” from Adam but as it’s already taken I’ll go for “Persistence pays off”. That’s my real life motto and I use it all the time. Not so long ago I had this dream of writing a book and getting it published. It didn’t happen immediately but like all the best dreams I kept telling myself that persistence would pay off. And the more I said it, the more I believed and the harder I worked. I never gave up on myself, or the motto, and WHAM! the dream of getting published became a reality.

  What was your inspiration for Adam?

  I wanted Adam to think he was ordinary and to believe he needed to change and be extraordinary to be loved. But what Adam didn’t know is that he wasn’t ordinary at all. He was already extraordinary but he needed to go on a journey to discover that. Shhh…. Come closer and I’ll tell you a secret. Like Adam, you don’t need to change who you are for anyone. Being you is enough.

  In the story Adam writes a poem about his mum for the wish kite. If you were writing a poem for your kite what would you wish for?

  I’d wish to step inside a book,

  to meet old friends and take a look,

  at worlds beyond this earth I know,

  to Narnia with land of snow,

  to Faraway Tree with slippery slide,

  adventures with the Famous Five,

  midnight feasts – I’d have a few,

  I’d solve a crime with Nancy Drew.

  To Oz I’d go without a care,

  and Secret Garden? See you there.

  I’d talk to spiders all the day,

  I’d chat to Wonka on the way

  to midnight gardens and the rest

  to live in books would be the best.

  Do you feel sad to leave your characters at the end of a book?

  Adam wanted a tiny backward glance from his mother in this book. Without spoiling the story I feel like when I say goodbye to my characters I give them that one last little backward glance before we separate. I can’t resist acknowledging them, knowing that we shared a story and that it’s okay if we both walk away as stronger people. By that last page, even if it’s bittersweet, I recognize it’s time to let them go, and when I do, I know they’re the true heroes in the story, they’re kind, thoughtful, loving and they’re going to go on and be amazing in many ways (even if we don’t get to read about them).

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  There are many superheroes without whose help, support and enthusiasm I couldn’t have written this book.

  Superhero: Madeleine Milburn. Superpower: loyalty, all-round loveliness and calm in the face of any storm. Reads like lightning too.

  Superheroes: Cara Lee Simpson, Ha
yley Steed. Superpower: multi-tasking brilliance.

  Superhero: Thérèse Coen. Superpower: rights negotiating, support, and cycles at the speed of light.

  Superhero: Rebecca Hill. Superpower: eyes like lasers that see straight through a manuscript and find the heart and then make it beat stronger. Rebecca is a champion and I’m glad I’m on her team. Kapow!

  Superhero: Anne Finnis. Superpower: super-sharp eye for detail, passion for plot and the ability to support an author when they feel the manuscript might beat the living daylights out of them. Holy doughnuts, she’s ACE!

  Superhero: Katharine Millichope. Superpower: designs powerful, dynamic, out-of-this-world covers that make you go WOW!

  Superheroes: Becky Walker, Sarah Stewart, Anna Howorth, Amy Dobson, Stevie Hopwood, Sarah Cronin, and Will Steele at Usborne. Superpowers: reading, editing, publicising, designing and being all round dynamic. Go Team Usborne!

  Superhero: Carlos Aón. Superpower: making the cover come alive. Boom!

  Superheroes: Marvel, DC and Action Comics. Superpower: creating inspirational superheroes – Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Thing, Thor, Captain America, Adam Strange, Jack Frost and Jack Power and many more that we love.

  Superhero: Melissa Roske. Superpower: you’re a wonder, woman!

  Superheroes: Graham, Mum, David, Josie, Geraldine, Dessie, Peter, Joe and Ally. Superpower: being the best family in the entire universe.

  Superhero extraordinaire: Millie. Superpower: being a hero because you’re you. And that’s enough!

  Buy A BOY CALLED HOPE now.

  Since his dad ran off with the lady from the chip shop, Dan Hope’s life has gone a bit strange, what with his sister acting mean and Mum’s new boyfriend keeping secrets. And now – even stranger – his dad has turned up as a presenter on TV.