‘Not easy with ownwee one arm,’ my horrible sisters chorused together, while pulling silly faces at me.
‘You two have no idea what it is like to live in pain,’ I said as I pushed past them. They didn’t. Even the simplest of tasks, like getting dressed, is hard with only one working arm. Luckily my ankle was feeling a lot better – almost back to normal – but I wasn’t going to tell them that.
They both creased up laughing. Cissie held the back of her palm up to her forehead. ‘You haf no idea vot it is like to lif in pain,’ she said in a stupid fake Russian accent. ‘My life is so trageek.’ Eleanor took advantage of Cissie being distracted to get into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.
‘Oi! I was next,’ cried Cissie as soon as she realized, and then the thumping on the door began again.
‘Be quiet out there,’ Dad called from the bedroom.
Indie music was blasting in Eleanor’s bedroom, world music from Cissie’s and I could hear the radio on down below in the kitchen.
‘This house is SO noisy!’ I said, heading back into my bedroom. ‘And TOO small.’
It wasn’t even a week since I had left the hospital and it was back to business as usual. My sisters’ sympathy had lasted about twenty-four hours, about as long as the chocolate fudge cake which they had baked for me and which they polished off when they got home from school. It had been good being back to classes for the first few days – I had been the centre of attention and everyone had wanted to sign my cast. But they soon lost interest and moved on to other things like the school show. The hurt that I couldn’t play the Ice Queen had soon come back when I saw that Carol Kennedy was playing my part.
I’d tried to talk Mrs Pierson into letting me do the part with my injured arm and ankle. I said it would show what a liberal school we were – letting the less than fortunate take main parts. She smiled, patted me on the head and called me a poppet, which made me CROSS.
I’d bumped into Mario a few times along the corridor near the gym and each time he asked the same thing: ‘Got it yet, Zodiac Girl?’
Each time, I gave him the same reply. ‘Nope.’
I wasn’t being difficult. I really didn’t know what he was on about.
‘Marsha, are you ready?’ Mum called up the stairs. Her sympathy hadn’t lasted long either – once she knew that I wasn’t going to die, she had soon reverted to being her usual bossy self.
So much for being a Zodiac Girl, I thought as I struggled into my jacket. All the treats and fun of that had dried up as soon as I’d got home apart from one text message saying that Mercury was retrograde so it would be a quiet time for a week or so.
‘Almost,’ I called back. It was time for my first physio session at the hospital.
The physiotherapy wing was in a separate part of the hospital to where I had stayed previously. It was a modern building with plenty of light streaming in through tall windows.
‘This is nice, isn’t it?’ said Mum as we made our way to the waiting room. ‘Not as depressing as that other place.’
‘I just hope it doesn’t hurt,’ I said, hobbling along.
Mum hugged me. ‘It will help,’ she said.
There was only one other person in the waiting room when we got there. Skye. Despite her being so cool with me when we were in the hospital ward, I felt pleased to see her. We had shared an experience that no one else – especially my sisters – could understand. She glanced over and jutted her chin out. I suppose that was her way of saying hi.
‘Hey,’ I said. ‘You’re out.’
She nodded. ‘Time off for good behaviour.’
Mum went off to find a Ladies so I sat next to Skye.
‘How’s it been?’ I asked.
She shrugged. ‘Better than being in here,’ she said.
‘Ditto. My own pillows. My own bed.’
‘Been up to see Amy?’ she asked.
I shook my head. I hadn’t even thought about Amy in the last few weeks. I felt ashamed. ‘No. I er . . . I thought she went home in between her treatments.’
‘Not this time,’ said Skye. ‘Something to do with her blood count being low and her immune system being weak, so they want to keep an eye on her.’
‘Poor thing,’ I said. ‘I’ll go up after the physio.’
Skye nodded, then got out her iPod and put the headphones in her ears. I got the message. Conversation over. I found my magazine and started to read. After sitting reading for half an hour, a nurse called Skye’s name and mine.
Skye hobbled up. I stayed where I was.
‘Must be a mistake,’ I said. ‘I’ll wait here.’
Skye nodded then shuffled off down the corridor and disappeared into a side room. Moments later, the nurse called again. ‘Marsha Leibowitz.’
‘You’d better go, love,’ said Mum.
I got up and made my way along the corridor and into the room where Dr Sam was sitting and Skye was standing over by the window.
‘Hey, Marsha. How’s the arm and the ankle?’ he asked.
‘Good. Both a bit stiff.’
‘Then this will be timely. Now I bet you’re wondering why I’ve got you both in here together.’
I nodded and Skye glared at him.
‘Well, Marsha, there’s not a lot we can do for your wrist at this stage, so today will be to keep your ankle improving. Your physiotherapy is going to be really similar to Skye’s and it’s always more fun to do it with a pal, so I thought I’d put you both in together.’
Skye and I exchanged unenthusiastic glances. If she were going to continue being unfriendly, then so was I.
Dr Sam left the room and a lady in a white coat came in and introduced herself as Martha. She asked us to stand up then put us through a series of exercises. It felt good to me to do the rotations and stretches, but I could see that Skye was finding it more difficult. I glanced at her at one point and her face looked strained and pale.
‘Take it easy, Skye,’ said Martha.
Skye grimaced. ‘Yeah, don’t try to run before I can walk,’ she said.
‘Something like that,’ said Martha.
Mum was waiting for me when we got out.
‘Ready to go?’ she asked.
I shook my head. ‘Can you give me a few minutes? I want to go up to see someone on the ward.’
‘Sure,’ said Mum. ‘I’ll go and grab a coffee from the café.’
We made our way over to the main hospital building and Mum left me at the lift. I didn’t have to wait long, and was soon back on the ward. It felt strange being there again and I felt a strong sense of relief that I wasn’t going to have to stay this time.
Nurse Cheryl came out of her office. ‘Hey, if it isn’t our little marshmallow. How’re you doing, Marsha?’
‘Great,’ I said. ‘Least, OK. I came to see Amy. Is she still here?’
Nurse Cheryl nodded and looked over to the section I’d been in. ‘She’s been missing you girls, I think.’
I crossed over to the section where I’d stayed and saw that there was only one bed that was occupied and that was Amy’s. She appeared to be asleep and I was about to leave when she opened her eyes and her face lit up. ‘Marsha,’ she said. ‘I’d been hoping that you might come back. Skye was in earlier.’ She sat up and patted the end of the bed. ‘How are you?’
I glanced over at the empty beds. ‘I’m doing fine, thanks, but . . . is there no one else in here with you?’
She shook her head. ‘No. The nurses say it’s lovely and quiet now, but . . .’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘It’s been awful, especially at night. I know we didn’t talk much when you were in and Skye kept herself to herself most of the time, but at least you were there. I knew there was someone in the other beds and I didn’t feel so alone.’
I reached out and took her hand. I felt like my heart was going to break. I was free, but she was still in here, away from her family and home. ‘What about during the day? Has the clown doctor been in?’
Amy shook her head. ‘I asked
about him, but apparently there’s only him and he goes around a few hospitals, not just this one. One of the nurses told me that they didn’t have the budget for entertainment.’ She smiled. ‘He was great, though, wasn’t he? He really took my mind of things for a while.’
I nodded then I had an idea. I got up and did the funny dancing that I used to do when I was younger to entertain aunties at Christmas. It’s a bit of moonwalking then robot dancing. As I was dancing, I didn’t notice that Skye had come in and was standing behind me. I noticed Amy looking over my shoulder, so I turned. Skye gave me one of her chin-jut nods. I jutted my chin back at her.
‘Not bad, newbie,’ she said. ‘Don’t let me stop you.’ She started counting time by snapping her fingers, so I started dancing again. Slowly, Skye came over and began to move in time with me, mainly her upper body but she could move her feet a little with the help of her crutch. Despite her injured ankle, I could see that she had natural rhythm and could dance, if a little slowly because of her foot. It was as if we tuned into each other and went into this spontaneous routine.
When we’d finished, Amy clapped. ‘Brilliant,’ she said. ‘Hip hop heroines.’
‘Yeah, cool,’ said Skye.
I grinned back at her. ‘Thanks.’ I turned back to Amy. ‘Hey, I have to go now. My mum is waiting downstairs, but I will come back and visit.’
‘Promise?’
‘Promise,’ I said.
‘And I can stay a while longer,’ said Skye. ‘My mum’s not picking me up for another fifteen minutes.’
‘Great,’ said Amy.
‘Laters,’ said Skye, and, for the first time, she smiled at me.
‘Laters,’ I said.
That night, before I went to sleep, I checked my zodiac phone and there was a message from Mario saying:
Time is running out, have you got it yet?
I got into bed and lay staring at the ceiling. Got what? Got what? I asked myself. I couldn’t concentrate for long, though. I couldn’t stop thinking about Amy. I was home, comfy and in familiar surroundings. She was still in hospital and although the staff were lovely and did what they could I knew that it felt strange at night with the distant noises down the corridors and comings and goings on the ward. And then it was as if a light bulb flashed on in my head. That was it! That was what Mario had been waiting for. I climbed out of bed, got my zodiac phone and replied to his message.
Got it. I know exactly what I have to do!
Chapter Fifteen
It’s Showtime, Folks
‘You want to do what?’ asked Dad as the family sat around having breakfast on Saturday morning.
‘I need to raise about . . . um, a million pounds ought to do it,’ I said.
Dad almost spat his coffee out. Mum, Cissie and Eleanor burst out laughing.
‘Full points for having a goal,’ said Mum.
‘Yeah. But . . . how exactly are you going to get this million pounds?’ Cissie asked.
‘OK, maybe not a million, then, maybe just about five hundred grand. I haven’t actually researched my figures yet.’
All assembled fell about laughing again like I was telling the best jokes ever. ‘Not researched my figures yet,’ Cissie mimicked in a fake posh voice.
Dad was the first to make an attempt to straighten his face. ‘Sorry, Marsha. We shouldn’t be laughing. Now explain what all this is about.’
‘You can laugh. You’ll see. I’m an Aries and we’re the leaders of the zodiac, in case you didn’t know. The movers and the shakers. We make things happen,’ I said.
‘So what are you going to make happen?’ asked Eleanor.
‘I am going to raise enough money to build a recreation wing at the local hospital so that children and teenagers in there can go and chill out or play on computers or listen to music or paint or whatever they feel like. I also need to fund a regular bunch of entertainers to go in for those who can’t get out of bed.’
Hah! That shut them up.
‘Wow! Good for you,’ said Mum, ‘but don’t you think that’s maybe a bit ambitious?’
I shook my head and quoted back our headmaster’s favourite quote: ‘We have to reach for the stars.’
Cissie giggled and grabbed her bag, which was on the dresser behind us. She pulled out her purse and handed me a coin. ‘There’s twenty pence, kid,’ she said, and she and Eleanor started laughing again.
I got up to leave. ‘I should have known better than to expect you lowlifes to take me seriously.’
‘We do, sweetheart,’ said Mum, ‘but you have to think this through a bit.’
‘I know that,’ I said. ‘I’m not stupid. I am going to work out a business plan.’
Dad was doing his best to keep his face straight, but he couldn’t do it. I gave him a filthy look.
‘No, no,’ he spluttered. ‘I think it’s marvellous. You make me very proud.’
‘I am going to change the world. You’ll see,’ I said, and I left the room, slamming the door behind me so that there was no doubt about how I felt.
Lois was more understanding.
‘Great. So how are you going to do that?’ she asked after I’d told her my plan over the phone. I looked down at the blank page in my note pad in front of me. ‘Er . . . Well . . . You got any ideas?’
‘Um . . . No.’
‘OK. No problem. Let’s go to the library. There must be a book on how to make millions. Meet you there in half an hour.’
Our local library was only round the corner from where we lived and I got there before Lois. I decided to call Mario while I stood outside waiting. He sounded pleased to hear from me.
‘Hi, Zodiac Girl. I got your message. So you know what to do?’
‘Yep. Raise money for a recreation wing at the hospital.’
I heard a sharp intake of breath, then he chuckled. ‘OK. Good. How much are you aiming for?’
‘About a million.’
I heard another sharp intake of breath. ‘Good. Good to be ambitious.’
‘Is that what you were waiting to hear?’ I asked.
‘Sort of. It’s always up to the individual Zodiac Girl to decide what she’s going to do with her month. Some do a lot, some do very little. With you being Aries, I knew it would be something extraordinary, but, as I said, it had to come from you, so, no, it wasn’t exactly what I was waiting to hear.’
‘So how do I do it?’
‘Ah. Now that has to come from you too.’
‘Aren’t I supposed to have won a prize or something? And part of that is your help?’
‘Right. But you’re an Aries. You have to lead.’
I was beginning to get impatient. ‘You’re not being very helpful.’
‘I will be when you tell me what to do.’
‘OK, which of your team has anything to do with finance?’
‘That would be either Jupiter, which is the planet of expansion so, if it’s favourably aspected in your chart, it can mean winnings of some sort as everything it touches expands. And then Pluto is sometimes known as the Lord of Wealth so get those two together in a chart and it could be good depending on where they are.’
‘Can you look at my chart and see where they are?’
‘Can do. I’ll get back to you. Wait until you’ve heard from me, though, won’t you?’
I could see Lois coming down the pavement and I waved. ‘OK. Maintain radio contact, Mario. We’re not through yet.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ he said, and clicked off.
Lois linked her arm through my good one and we went into the library and up to the desk where a tall, thin lady with a wrinkly neck was busy stamping books.
‘Excuse me,’ I said. ‘Where are the reference books?’
‘What kind?’ she asked without looking up.
‘The ones on how to make a lot of money.’
She looked up then with an amused glint in her eye. ‘You need to be more specific,’ she said. ‘You mean like what career can make you money?’
‘N
o. Now. I need to raise about a million, soon, maybe five hundred grand.’
‘Don’t we all, dear,’ she said, and jerked her chin towards a small room off the main part of the library. She looked as if she were having a hard time not laughing. ‘You might find something in there. Let me know if you find anything good.’ And she went back to her stamping.
I rolled my eyes. ‘What is wrong with people that they all find this so funny?’
Lois shrugged. ‘Yeah. They don’t know you, do they?’
‘Do you think I could do it?’
‘I think when you set your mind on something you go for it,’ she replied.
I pointed up at the sky and did a small kung fu leap into the air. ‘Hazah! Zodiac Girl, watch out, she’s coming.’
‘Shhh,’ shushed an old man, who was sitting and reading a newspaper.
‘Sorry,’ I whispered back. Lois and I tiptoed into the reference library and began to search the shelves.
After half an hour of hauling books down and flicking through, looking for any kind of clue on how to make money fast, I turned to Lois.
‘Anything?’
She glanced up from the heavy book she had in front of her and shook her head. ‘Corporate this, corporate that and a load of graphs I don’t understand, but no make-money-quick schemes. How did you get on?’
‘Nothing. I don’t think we are going to find the answer here. Let’s go and get a juice down the road and rethink the plan.’
Lois saluted. ‘Aye, aye, captain.’
We made our way out of the library and along the high street. It was a grey day outside, so we hurried along, eager to get out of the cold. Just before we turned into the doorway at the Juicy Juice bar, a poster in the window caught my eye. Lucky Lotto scratch cards. That was the answer. Spend five pounds and the prize was one million pounds. And Mario had said something about Jupiter, hadn’t he? Something about everything it touched meaning expansion. Well, you couldn’t get a better expansion than five pounds into a million. I just knew I was going to win.
‘How much money have you got on you, Lois?’
Lois put her hand in her pocket. ‘Four pounds fifty.’
Dancing Queen (Zodiac Girls) Page 9
