‘We ate a burnt mince pie and we made a wish,’ Calvin said. It started to come back to Calvin then, slowly at first and then rushing at him and knocking the breath from his body. The row. The peculiar winged being destroying their Christmas tree. The wish to swap lives. The fairy had said they could switch lives – live as one another – until Christmas Day. All they had to do to make it happen was eat one of those dodgy mince pies.
‘Up to Christmas Day?’ Judy had asked. ‘Or including Christmas Day? It’s just that Calvin would never be able to handle the turkey and everything. We’d end up having a not-very-festive plate of egg and chips for lunch if it was left to him.’
‘Hey!’ Calvin had cried. ‘I can handle a bloody turkey. All you have to do is shove it in the oven.’
Judy and the fairy had shared a look. ‘Up until Christmas then.’ The fairy gave a decisive nod of her head. ‘You’ll spend Christmas Eve as the other person, then you’ll switch back in time for the big day.’
So they didn’t trust him with the bloody turkey. ‘Isn’t Christmas two weeks away?’
The fairy had turned to Calvin with a sweet smile, her eyes twinkling like a set of fairy lights. ‘Don’t you think you could handle two weeks of Judy’s life, Petal?’
‘Handle it?’ Calvin had snorted with derision. ‘It’ll be like a holiday. Bring. It. On.’
‘Then wish it. Say “I wish we could swap lives”. Both of you. Then take a bite of the mince pie.’
Judy and Calvin had looked at one another before they both uttered the words. ‘I wish we could both switch lives.’
But that wasn’t real. It couldn’t have been real.
‘Look, Calvin.’ Calvin’s replica pointed to the other end of the room, at the large mirror on Judy’s dressing table. The image of Calvin and Judy stared back at them in the wrong order. ‘I’m you. And you’re me. The wish came true. We’ve switched bodies.’
CARINA™
ISBN: 978 1 474 04744 9
The Wedding Date
Copyright © 2016 Jennifer Joyce
Published in Great Britain (2016)
By Carina, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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