Sundance woke early too and kept fussing, not feeding properly.
‘Please try, little darling,’ Mum kept whispering.
‘Maybe he’s not hungry, Mum?’ I suggested.
‘No, he’s starving, poor little mite. It’s all my fault. I’m all tense with worrying about Martine. I’ve lost her, Dixie.’
‘No you haven’t, Mum.’
‘She’s not coming back. She obviously hates me. I don’t blame her. I’m a useless mum. I can’t look after any of you. I can’t even feed my own baby.’
I didn’t know what to do. Mum wouldn’t stop crying. Sundance cried too, and I couldn’t quieten her.
‘God, what a racket!’ said Rochelle. ‘I’m out of here. I’m going to the school over on Neptune to see if they’ll let me sit in on some lessons.’ She was all dressed up in her shortest skirt and highest heels.
‘What kind of lessons?’ said Jude. ‘How to be a mini-hooker? You can’t wear that to school! Put your Bletchworth uniform on.’
‘But I’m seeing Ryan. I can’t let him see me in that old uniform, I look like a silly little kid.’
‘Rochelle, guess what: you are a silly little kid,’ I said.
‘Shut up, you silly little squirt. It’s a waste of time you going to school, you’re so braindead you just get to sit by yourself and do colouring. But you’ll come with me, won’t you, Jude?’
‘What? I’ve got better things to do than try to blag my way into a new school!’ she said. ‘You’re crazy, Rochelle.’
Jude wanted to spend the day with Bruce, having intensive Wing Chun instruction. Bruce’s back was a little better, so he could just about hobble around downstairs, though he was still happiest flat out on the mattress. Jude stood by his head, barely able to move for furniture, adopting the front fighting stance and practising an arrow punch.
I joined in for a bit but it was so boring doing it over and over fifty times that I wandered off by myself.
I trekked through the jungle, heaved myself up onto the wall and stared at Mary’s empty garden. I couldn’t see a sign of any dustbins. They must be kept round the front of the house.
I jumped down off the wall and walked along the alleyway to the end, wishing I had Jude with me. I made it along Mary’s street and stood outside her house for several minutes, wondering if I dared creep up the crazy paving and search for their dustbin.
I had my hand on the front gate when I saw Mary’s mother spraying the living-room window and then wiping away at it vigorously, even though the glass was already sparkling. I ducked down and ran bent over until I was sure I was out of sight. I didn’t feel safe until I was in my own back garden. I didn’t know why I felt so frightened. Jude had made me wonder if she was really as scary as Mary made out. Even if she was, she couldn’t smack me or make me eat crusts or cut my nails or throw out anything of mine. She wouldn’t really throw Bluebell into the bin too, would she? It seemed so awful she could do all these things to Mary, just because she was her daughter.
I decided I should get Bruce to teach little Mary Wing Chun too. Then every time her mum made a move Mary could block it. If her mum got really mad Mary could spring into action and whirl her way over her head. Then Mary and Bluebell and I could whiz off to Planet Dixie where no one could pick on us.
I so so so hoped Bluebell was safe and sound. I kept automatically reaching for her up my sleeve. I did a lot of colouring in my fairy story book to keep my hands busy but it still seemed endless hours until lunch time, and then the whole afternoon stretched out for ever.
I was waiting on the wall, watching out for Mary, from three o’clock onwards. I knew I was much too early to see Mary but I couldn’t help it. I fidgeted so much on the rough bricks that I rubbed my legs raw. I heard a clock chime quarter past, half past, quarter to four, then four.
Mary must be home from school by now. Why didn’t she come out in the garden to see me? She knew I’d be wanting to see her. Couldn’t she get away from her mother? Had she taken Bluebell to school with her, hidden in her school bag? Or had she tried to hide her in her bedroom? I thought of her mum shaking the duvet, pounding the pillows, opening every drawer and cupboard.
I was starting to think I’d never ever see Bluebell again.
‘Fly home to me!’ I whispered, and I looked up. There was Mary at the upstairs window, her palms on the glass. She was standing right up on the windowsill in her bare feet. I saw a flash of dusty blue in one of her hands.
I jumped down off the wall, rushed across the alleyway and climbed right over her gate. I crept across the velvety grass, nearer and nearer.
Mary stayed spread-eagled against the glass, wearing a long white gown. She was mouthing something. I couldn’t see her lips clearly enough to work out what she was saying. I shook my head. She tried again and again.
I got as near as I dared, almost up to the house, craning my neck up at Mary. It looked as if she was crying. I realized the long white gown was her nightie. She was obviously in trouble again and had been sent to bed.
She waved Bluebell to show me she was safe. She held her to the glass, as if willing her to fly straight through.
‘It’s OK!’ I mouthed. ‘You keep her for a bit.’
Mary tried to reply. I still didn’t understand, but I nodded my head to encourage her. Mary still looked very anxious but she smiled bravely. She started fiddling with the catch on her window. I stared up at her, wondering if she was going to try to throw Bluebell down to me.
‘Don’t, Mary! Careful! No, it’s too dangerous!’ I called.
Mary jerked the window right open. She leaned forward and put one foot out of the window, right onto the ledge. She was still clutching Bluebell in one hand.
Then I remembered my own words.
All you have to do is jump into the air and Bluebell will flap her wings and you’ll both fly into my arms.
‘No! No, Mary, don’t!’ I screamed.
It was too late.
Mary leaped into the air, her white nightie billowing. For a split second I thought she might really fly. Then she tumbled downwards.
I ran to catch her, my arms out.
Then she fell on me with hammer-blow force and the ground opened up and swallowed both of us.
17
I COULD SMELL lilies, lots and lots of lilies, so overwhelming they were sickly sweet. I felt their soft velvety petals stroking my cheeks. My head throbbed, my legs felt weirdly heavy and my whole body ached. I tried to roll over but I couldn’t move. I was held rigidly in some sort of container, trapped.
I opened my eyes and there was Dad leaning over me. My dad, who never came to see me. My dad, the embalmer.
I was lying in a bed of flowers and I couldn’t move, as if I was in a coffin.
My whole family were gathered all around me. Mum, Martine holding little Sundance, Jude, Rochelle and Uncle Bruce. They were all gazing down at me, and everyone was crying.
‘Am I dead?’ I whispered.
‘Oh Dixie, what are you like?’ Mum said. She was laughing shakily but tears were pouring down her cheeks.
‘What’s happened?’ I said.
‘You’ve been in an accident, lovey. Don’t you remember?’ said Mum. ‘You’re in hospital now.’
‘What did I do?’
‘You went round to Mary’s house,’ said Jude.
Then I remembered. I saw Mary flying through the air like a little white angel. ‘Mary!’ I said, and I started sobbing.
‘Hush now, darling, it’s all right. Don’t cry so. You’ve been such a good brave little girl,’ Mum said, rubbing her face against mine.
‘I’m bad, I’m terrible, it’s all my fault,’ I wept. ‘I told Mary to jump off the wall and then she tried to jump right out the window and I couldn’t stop her. Where is she? Is Mary all right? Oh please, tell me, is Mary dead?’
‘Ssh, ssh, Mary’s fine. There’s barely a scratch on her, I promise you,’ said Mum. ‘Look, my darling, here’s Bluebell. Mary said you had to have h
er back.’ Mum tucked Bluebell in beside me, her beak nuzzling my neck.
‘Where is Mary? Is she really really all right? Can I see her?’
‘Well, her dad’s taken her home now, pet,’ said Mum.
‘Her mum will be so cross with her!’
‘No, no. I had a long talk with her dad. Don’t you worry about Mary now. She’s going to be staying with her auntie and uncle while her mum’s in hospital.’
‘Did her mum get hurt too?’
‘No, but she’s … she’s not very well.’
‘She’s gone off her head and now she’s in the loony ward. I think they should lock her up and throw away the key,’ said Rochelle.
‘Now, we shouldn’t judge. Mary’s dad said she’s always been bothered with her nerves, right from when Mary was born. It started off as post-natal depression.’
‘That’s just a fancy excuse. As if !’
‘That’s enough, Rochelle. It can make you do all sorts,’ said Mum. ‘You don’t know the half of it.’
‘I know she was being horrible to Mary. Why didn’t you tell, Dixie?’ said Rochelle.
‘She did tell. She told me. And I just told her to shut up and go to sleep,’ said Jude. ‘It’s my fault.’
‘It’s not anybody’s fault. Don’t be so silly, girls,’ said Mum. ‘And Dixie, you must feel very very proud. You saved little Mary’s life running forward like that.’
‘I caught her?’
‘Yes, you did, you mad little darling. You took the full force of her weight. You were knocked unconscious.’
‘Yeah, you’ve been in a coma, Dixie, and we were all starting to think you’d never come round and you’d stay a total vegetable,’ said Rochelle. ‘I felt so bad because I’ve always made out you were braindead anyway—’
‘Rochelle!’ said Martine.
‘Yeah, but I vowed I’d look after you and nurse you and do everything for you if you really were braindead,’ said Rochelle.
‘I’m glad I’m not,’ I said.
I tried to wriggle up on my pillows to look at everyone properly but my legs wouldn’t budge. ‘I can’t move!’ I said. I suddenly panicked. ‘Can’t I walk? Will I have to have a wheelchair?’
‘No, darling, you’re not paralysed – feel,’ said Mum. ‘Wiggle your toes! That’s my girl. You can’t move your legs because they’re strung up in plaster, see?’
Mum slid her arm behind my head and helped me peer at my new weird white legs, my pink toes sticking out of each end.
‘They feel so heavy,’ I said.
‘Still, think how hard you’ll be able to stamp on Rochelle if she gets on your nerves,’ said Jude.
‘How long have I got to keep the plaster on?’
‘We’re not quite sure yet, darling. Both your legs are quite badly broken. But you’ll mend, sweetheart, and you’ll be running around all over the place before long, you’ll see. I’m going to stay with you while you’re in hospital, with little Sundance. I’m going to have a mattress in a side ward – it’s all arranged. I’m getting used to camping on blooming mattresses! But by the time you come home, Dixie, we’re going to have your own bed all sorted, and we’ll paint up your bedroom and make it as pretty as a picture. You’ll help me, won’t you, guys?’
‘Of course we will,’ said Bruce.
‘If I can manage it,’ said my dad.
‘And I’m going to come visiting, Dixie. I’m going to be able to feed you little treats and help you drink out of a straw now,’ said Bruce.
‘Is your back better now, Uncle Bruce?’
‘Yes, little ’un, it’s on the mend now.’
‘So are you going back to your own house now?’
‘Well, I’m dashing backwards and forwards in the van. I’ll have to see to the shop some of the time, but I’ll come every weekend and I’ll bring you lots more flowers. The nurses thought you were a little film star with all my lilies.’
‘I’ll come and see you too, little Dixie,’ said my dad. ‘But maybe not every weekend. I could bring my other daughters too. Would you like to meet your sisters?’
‘I think she’s got more than enough sisters as it is,’ said Mum.
‘How come you’re here, Martine?’ I asked.
‘I came the minute I heard about you, Dixie – don’t be daft,’ said Martine.
‘Is Tony here too?’
‘No. We’ve had a row, him and me – and his mum. I got sick of them saying stuff, badmouthing us Diamonds. Bogging cheek! I’m not going back to Bletchworth. I’m staying with you lot.’
‘My Ryan’s here,’ said Rochelle proudly. ‘He’s outside because hospitals give him the heebie-jeebies, but I could call him if you like. He wants to say hello.’
‘No more visitors, please!’ said a big friendly nurse, bustling up beside my bed. She put a thermometer in my mouth. ‘Hello, my lovely. So you’ve woken up, have you! I think you might get a bit over-excited with all this crowd round your bed. How about just the immediate family staying?’
‘We’re all immediate family,’ said Mum. ‘I’m her mum.’
‘I’m her dad.’
‘I’m her uncle.’
‘Her favourite uncle,’ said Jude. ‘And I’m her sister.’
‘I’m her big sister,’ said Martine.
‘Well, I’m her sister too,’ said Rochelle.
‘Goodness, what a lot of sisters,’ said the nurse. She looked at Sundance’s blue sleeping suit and shawl. She winked at Mum. ‘I bet you were glad when you had their little baby brother!’
Mum took a deep breath. ‘Not a bit of it,’ she said. ‘Girls are just as good as boys. Better. And the little one isn’t a boy at all. I just fancied dressing her in blue because I got a bit bored with all that pink.’
‘Mum?’ said Jude.
‘Oh God, now Mum’s gone nuts,’ said Rochelle.
‘Mum, Sundance is a boy,’ said Martine.
‘Well, I think my little babe’s nappy needs changing, so have a quick peep and see if I’m right,’ said Mum.
Poor Sundance had everyone peering at her little pink bottom.
‘Why did you pretend she was a boy, then?’ said Jude.
‘I told you, she’s gone loopy,’ Rochelle hissed. ‘And Sundance is an even weirder name for a girl.’
‘Shut up, Rochelle,’ said Martine. ‘Mum, you said all along you were having a boy. It was all in the stars about your boy.’
‘Maybe it’s Sundance’s dad who’s the boy,’ Bruce muttered.
‘You’re a much cannier bloke than you look, Bruce,’ said Mum. ‘I hadn’t thought of that! Maybe I have got psychic powers after all.’
‘I don’t get it, Mum,’ said Jude.
‘I don’t get it either, do you, mate?’ said my dad to Bruce.
‘Sue’s a woman who’s full of surprises,’ said Bruce.
‘If that’s a nice way of saying I’m off my trolley then I’d have to agree with you,’ said Mum. ‘I did go a bit loopy, Rochelle. I couldn’t even tell you, Martine. I suppose I didn’t dare, because I knew you wouldn’t keep it quiet like our Dixie.’
‘Dixie knew?’ said Martine and Jude and Rochelle.
I spat out the thermometer triumphantly. ‘I knew right from the start, didn’t I, Mum?’ I said. ‘Mum isn’t bonkers. She just pretended a bit, that’s all. Because she wanted Sundance to be a boy so much.’
‘That’s right, my darling. I just wanted to stay in my own private little dream world. But I couldn’t. All you girls needed me. It’s a drama every day in our blooming household – Rochelle getting a boyfriend, Jude getting into fights, our Martine getting pregnant. Then little Dixie damn near died and I was shocked back into my senses. About bogging time and all!’
‘Well, Mum, maybe my baby will be a boy. Your first grandson, eh?’ said Martine.
‘We’ll love it whether it’s a boy or a girl,’ said Mum. ‘But let’s hope it’s another girl. Then we’ll all be Diamond girls together.’
1. In her introduct
ion to The Diamond Girls, Jacqueline Wilson explains that she was inspired to write this story when a politician said that The Illustrated Mum was one of the worst books she had ever come across, because the two girls in that story had different fathers. What do you think of this politician’s attitude, and of Jacqueline’s reaction to that comment?
2. When the Diamonds first arrive at their new home, a neighbour calls them a ‘Problem family’. What do you think she means by this, and is there any truth behind that term? Do you think Jacqueline portrays the Diamonds in a positive light, despite the problems they face?
3. How does your own family compare to Dixie’s? What do you think the advantages and disadvantages of having such a big family are?
4. There are four Diamond sisters: Martine, Jude, Rochelle and Dixie. Think about their personalities (and have a look at the character profiles on the next page!) – they are all very different! Which sister are you most like? Which of them would you most like to spend the day with, and why?
5. The girls’ mother, Sue, is interested in astrology and believes the new baby will be a boy because of a star chart she consulted. What do you think about astrology? Is there ever any truth in it, in your opinion?
6. Do you think Sue is a good mother to her daughters?
7. Mary’s mother is very different to Sue, and has a very different relationship with her daughter. To the outside world, which of them do you think would be considered the better parent? Why do you think this is?
8. Mary is a very frightened, timid little creature – although she does begin to have fun with Dixie! Try to imagine what she would be like if she had been brought up a Diamond girl. How different would her life and her personality have been?
9. Why do you think Sue was so determined to have a son? Why is she so determined to keep pretending Sundance is a boy?
10. What do you think the future will hold for the Diamonds? The story finishes with a serious accident, but is it a happy ending?
You’ve finished reading The Diamond Girls – now test yourself on how much of the story you remember!
1. At the start of the book, the family lives on the Bletchworth Estate. Name the new estate they move to.
Diamond Girls Page 19