MORNING – IN ARTCLOUD
Well, Harry is the reason I’m on cloud nine: he has been allowed home and I’ve been allowed a day off school – hooray! He has got pills to stop his head aching and other pills to stop him being sick. He seems really cheerful. He says that doctors have pills for everything!
Anyway, Harry should be cheery because his mum and dad say that he can have a puppy after he’s had an operation to make his head better! I’m really pleased that he’s having an operation because Grandma says that surgeons only operate if they think it will help someone recover. I am jealous he’s going to get a puppy though – Mum would never let me have one. Actually, I can’t believe it because Harry’s mum doesn’t even like dogs and she’s about to have a baby. She must have gone soppy in the head. Are you reading this over my shoulder, Harry Christmas?
Hi Angie’s Diary,
Yes, I blinkin’ am! It’s true, I am getting a puppy and Mum has never thought much of dogs, but she says it’s to bribe me to get better. I want Angie to share the puppy with me, just in case the operation doesn’t work – which it will. Angie and I can choose and name the puppy together. The vet knows of a litter of mutts and we are going to go and pick ours soon! How crepuscular is that? They were only born last week so we can’t bring it home, just pick the cutest of the litter – snuffle, yap, lick!
Over and out, Harry
Well, all I can say is that you can’t be ill if you’ve got a dog to look after.
I won’t be, Angie. After my operation I’m giving up headaches, vomiting, blood tests and hospitals! My word is my bond.
Yours, Harry Christmas
AFTERNOON
Mum made Harry’s favourite cake and I decorated it. Grandma Gertie and I took it out to Artcloud and hauled it up! Then we rang the bell twice. I knew Harry would be pleased to have cake, along with another Rosie letter – and he was!
Grandma has put all the letters in order now. She says they don’t tell the whole story of her time in Changi Prison, but more than enough. She asked Harry if he’d like to read a letter to us, but we like it when Grandma reads them, because they sound proper old-fashioned and we can close our eyes and imagine.
This is such a sad letter, poor little Grandma. If I’d been her, I’d have put those Japanese guards in the cauldrons and boiled them up instead of the buggy rice. Grandma must have had enough to worry about in Changi without worrying about Rosie too. She says she thought of Rosie every day right to the end, but she never did work out a way to post her letters. The Red Cross used to deliver some letters for people in the prison, but Grandma was too scared to ask them to deliver letters to a kitten!
Harry was curled up and asleep by the end of the letter. Grandma covered him with a blanket and then she and I lay on our backs and looked for kittens in the clouds. We decided to add Kitten Rosie to the quilt. Grandma and I have almost worked out the quilt design and Grandma says we can add the rest as we go along. Mum has cut scraps from lots of my old clothes that she was saving in case Lilly has a baby girl, but they’ll look much better in our quilt. We’re going to start sewing this evening!
18TH JUNE,
HARRY STEALS MY DIARY!
HARRY REPORTING ON CLOUDS AND LIFE:
A CIRRUS CLOUD DAY!
If Angie hasn’t already told you, cirrus means a curly lock of hair in Latin, and cirrus clouds are usually very like wisps of hair. They are quite high and “point” to fair weather. I feel fair weather MUST be on the way because … we chose my puppy today! Angie thinks he’s her puppy – but she’s so wrong! He’s as cute as a cloud but a lot smaller. You write the rest, Angie, I’m not big on words just puppies and clouds.
Oh my dizzy Diary,
I am writing this after the most awesome morning. Like Harry said, we went to choose his/my puppy. The litter was only ten days old, but they were the cutest things you’ve ever seen. We chose the smallest boy puppy. He is the colour of a fox and has a pink, speckled nose and one white paw. He now has a blue ribbon around his neck so that everyone knows he’s Harry’s – and a little bit mine! We chose blue because Kitten Rosie had a blue ribbon on when Grandma was given her. He will definitely be featuring on our quilt!
We are inviting Grandma up to Artcloud to help choose a name for him. We are each going to put three names in a hat and then pick one out. Harry has the final say though – or so he thinks!
LATER
Harry had to have a rest and so did Grandma. Grandma has had a dicky heart for years on account of the terrible conditions and lack of food in Changi Prison. While they rested Dad and I started to paint the outside of Artcloud. It is wild. The house is red with a dark blue roof and then the walkway is blue and white, like a floating cloud in the tree!
By teatime I was sick of painting so I rang the Artcloud bell for Harry and Grandma. A few minutes later Harry’s nose appeared at the top of his ladder and Grandma’s at the top of ours – result! We put the puppy names into the sweet owl and shook them up, then we left them to stew while Gertie read us the next Rosie letter.
SECRET: Sometimes I wish Grandma wouldn’t read any more letters because they are just too sad. But I know how special they are, and how much they mean to her and Harry.
It was exciting to read about the very start of the quilt. That last bit about the knickers sent me and Harry into fits of giggles because of my secret nickname! It is hard to believe that anyone would lock a little girl up in a prison. I wouldn’t mind not having to clean my teeth though!
After Grandma had read the letter we decided our puppy names were well enough stewed. Harry put his hand in, stirred them around, ate a sweet or two, stirred them around again and then picked. Out came one from Grandma – Knickers! We all got the giggles again. Sometimes I think Grandma Gertie is younger than us, not a million years older! Harry picked again and out came my favourite, Cirrus – and Harry said YES. So he is now officially Puppy Cirrus!
After that Grandma fell asleep and Harry asked me to do something so scary I can’t even write it down – at least not yet. I just don’t know if I dare do it, but Harry got cross when I said that. He looked through the telescope and wouldn’t talk any more, the silent, stubborn hedgehog.
I’ve got to shut my eyes to think about this. The thing is, Harry has to go into hospital tomorrow to prepare for his operation. They have to do lots of tests before they operate, because operating on your head is a tricky business. I know it’s not nice for him, but I still don’t know if he should’ve asked me to do such a difficult thing. I just couldn’t say yes straight out, not even to my almost-twin.
I’m only going to think about Harry being better, because as soon as he is we are going to visit Cirrus again! If he’s talking to me by then – Harry I mean, not Cirrus.
I think I might do that thing Harry asked. He said if it was the other way round he’d do it for me – except I wouldn’t let him. I’ve got to sleep on it. Good night.
19TH JUNE,
I HATE HARRY – YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!
CLOUDS: Don’t even mention clouds!
Dear Diary,
This is a really big secret: if I wasn’t so worried that Harry might die I would really, really hate him at the moment! I woke up this morning to wild shouts and screams. Harry has only flicking well climbed onto the roof of Artcloud and is refusing to come down! What an idiot – he could get one of his headaches, turn dizzy and fall. Isn’t it enough that he’s ill without risking death by falling?
I ran into the garden to give him what for! I double hate Harry now. When I went outside he dropped a note wrapped around a stone down to me.
This is it:
It’s not right, it’s blackmail. I’ve a good mind to cut down the ladders so Harry can’t ever get up to Artcloud again.
I will do what he asked, but I don’t want to.
LATER
This has been one dumb day! Harry finally climbed down and has gone back to hospital. I am at school with my backpack full of “things” for Harry. My
stomach is a mass of footballing butterflies and I can’t even think about school work. Grandma promised to collect me after school and take me to visit Harry, but I hope she forgets. I don’t even care about not having a doughnut with sprinkles, which is definitely my preferred after-school snack, permitted only by Grandma.
MUCH LATER – FROM UNDER MY BED
This is not good, none of this is good and now everyone is shouting and crying, which makes it even worse! As if I didn’t know that what I did was wrong, but I’ve got to stand by Harry no matter what. I want to cry, but I won’t because I’ve got to write this.
The stupid doctor told Harry that they would have to shave off his hair before the operation and he was really scared by that – don’t ask me why. Anyway, he asked me to do it for him. He said it’d be like when we were little and used to play hairdressers – I don’t think so!
Well, as you know, I decided I’d have to stick by Harry and do it. So I took Dad’s razor, shaving foam and some scissors to school, hidden in the bottom of my backpack. When we got to the hospital Grandma and Lilly went for a coffee, and me and Harry locked ourselves in the bathroom. First I snipped off all his hair, which was quite fun really. The floor shimmered gold and he looked more like a hedgehog than ever. Then I covered his head in Dad’s shaving foam, which was also fun, and shaved the stubble off, which was scary and horrid! I did nick him with the razor a few times and he ended up with a few bloody patches, but not too many.
We flushed all Harry’s hair down the loo, which was pretty pointless since the nurses weren’t about to stick it back on! Harry said I was the best friend anyone could have and if he died I could have Cirrus. Which was just stupid, because I didn’t shave his flicking head just so he could die!
The rest is a blur and not a very happy one. When Lilly saw what I’d done to Harry’s head she wouldn’t stop screaming and crying. Grandma had to ring Harry’s dad and ask him to come and look after her. We never got to read the next Rosie letter because Grandma had to take me home double quick.
Grandma’s gone to bed now and no one else is talking to me, except Solo who smiled at me and did a double burp. He’s not a bad little brother, I suppose.
EVEN LATER
I couldn’t sleep so I have been sitting up in bed tacking some of the cotton onto hexagons for the quilt. It’s ever so soothing and it helps you think. I may tell you what I’ve been thinking in the morning – or I may not.
20TH JUNE,
ALMOST-TWINS STICK TOGETHER
CLOUDS: Contrails but no clouds
EARLY MORNING – ARTCLOUD
I’m not upset any more. I’ve had a think and that think says I did right. Harry is my very best friend and almost-twin – sometimes you’ve just got to do things, no matter what. So I’ve shaved my own hair off in sympathy. I don’t half look a freak, but what’s right for Harry is right for his almost-twin! Nobody thought to take the shaving stuff out of my backpack yesterday, so I came up to Artcloud before anyone was awake and just did it. It looks a bit of a mess, because you need a friend to get at the back bits, but… Well actually, I just look a total oddball.
I’m stuck in Artcloud now, because I’m too scared to show myself. But I’m not going to cry about it, even though I feel like it, because Harry should not go through this alone.
LATER
Dad came to fetch me down from Artcloud. He did a double and triple blink when he saw me. Then he hugged me tight and said I was outstandingly brave and a very good friend – but he had better go and warn Mum, Gertie and Solo or the shock might be too much for them.
Dad was gone for a very long time, but finally he came back and dragged me down and into the house. When I went into the kitchen I could tell Mum had been crying, but everyone cheered. Even Harry’s dad was there and gave me his second ever hug!
I’m not to go into school today, but I’m going to see Harry. His operation is tomorrow and everyone thinks that it will do him good to see his bald twin. Mum shaved off the strands of hair at the back and I tried on different hats for the journey – a woolly one looks best, even though it’s too hot for June!
Mum is going to stay with Solo so Grandma is taking me. We are going to make a day of it and take the telescope and the Rosie letters. Joe says we will have to wait outside if Harry’s with the doctor, but that we can hang out in the hospital all day. Grandma has bagged up all our patchwork quilt bits and we are going to take it with us. Even if Harry doesn’t want to join in, Grandma and I intend to distract ourselves with sewing when Harry is having tests or seeing the doctors.
STLL LATER – HOSPITAL
OK Diary,
I know I look weird but I don’t care any more. When Harry saw me he rolled out of bed with laughter and he hasn’t laughed like that since we read about Grandma’s knickers! The nurse came in and burst out laughing too – she said that I was better than any medicine. Harry’s asleep now and so is Gertie, but I’m happy because we have had a wicked morning.
After Harry and I had compared bald heads, Grandma told us that in Changi there was no need to shave heads because there was so little food your hair just fell out. Lilly went home to get some clean things and rest her baby bump. When we were alone, Grandma gave Harry the telescope so that he could watch the clouds from his bed. He was as chuffed as anything and begged her to read one more letter. She said she’d have to think about it, but she was only teasing because in the end she read two letters in a row! All the time Grandma was reading, Harry was clutching on to the telescope and my hand – it felt like when we were little.
Harry and I both gave Grandma a hug when she’d finished – her eyes were ever so watery. She said she was tired.
Dear Angie’s Diary,
I just want to say that I’ve got two of the best mates ever and that Angie looks a worse freak than me with no hair! If I wasn’t wearing a hospital robe with no back I’d bounce up and down on my bed in honour of my bald friend!
Over and out, Harry
LATER – AT HOME IN BED
We left the hospital early because Harry had to go for more tests. I didn’t want to leave, because I don’t know when I’ll see him again.
Before we left, Grandma told us that when things got bad at Changi she and Jimmy used to lie on their backs and imagine floating over the walls on a cloud. She told Harry that for the next few days he would be floating on a cloud. Then his head would start getting better and the cloud would land him gently back on his bed. I think it made us both feel a bit happier.
Tomorrow Dad is taking me to see Cirrus. I’m going to take a photo for Harry, and give Cirrus one of Harry’s old sweaters so he’ll know Harry’s stinky old smell when he next sees him. Dogs are big on smells!
21ST JUNE,
OPERATION DAY
CLOUDS: Nimbostratus - Harry’s least favourite. Grey, gloomy and pouring rain.
Dearest Diary,
It is late and I don’t really feel like writing. We haven’t heard about the operation and may not have any news until tomorrow. I sent thought messages all through the day. Usually I send thoughts on the clouds, but nimbostratus is too static to carry messages so I had to make do with telepathy.
I was allowed one more day off school to go and see Cirrus and buy a new hat to cover my bald head. It’s weird being hairless because everyone thinks you must be really ill. They either stare at you or shoot sympathetic glances at your mum. If they do that to Harry I’ll punch them – baldies would rather not be noticed is what I reckon. It was hard choosing a hat but I settled on a baseball cap.
I don’t regret shaving my head, but I wish I hadn’t had to.
After hat shopping we went to see Cirrus and took some more pictures for Harry. He is so adorable and very clever. He recognised me at once and wagged his little stumpy tail when I picked him up. I don’t think he cared that I’ve got no hair! Dogs are good at not judging you by your looks.
Grandma and I did some more on the patchwork quilt. She helped me sew a cloud hexagon for Harr
y. I think he’ll like it. Grandma says we can sew all his favourite clouds, but that would mean every cloud in the sky, and just sewing one was hard enough! Maybe if I sew all the clouds that Harry has taught me into the quilt it will help Harry get better? I don’t know.
Today freaked me out – everyone was super nice, but that’s meaningless unless Harry gets better. What if his operation doesn’t work? What if, what if, what if?
22ND JUNE,
BACK TO SCHOOL
CLOUDS: Stratocumulus cumulogenitus
Dearest Diary,
I went back to school today. I hate, hate, hate it without Harry. We had class assembly and old Lemonpops told everyone about Harry and why I had no hair. Nobody teased me, and the grungy girls said I could hang out with them until Harry is back in school.
At lunchtime Mum came to see me. I felt sick when I saw her. I couldn’t think why she would come unless something terrible had happened. It turned out to be really good news, but I still wanted to cry – relief is mega weird. The surgery went well and Harry is in intensive care. He may be there for a few days. We can’t visit him until he’s back in his room.
Even though he’s safe for now, I can’t help feeling that a gap is cracking open. Nothing feels really secure any more – it all seems slippery.
At home I collaged a whole quilt square with Harry’s favourite sweets, because if I was allowed to visit him that’s what I’d take him. Grandma is tacking fabric onto hexagons and squares as though there is no tomorrow. She told me that making the quilt in Changi stopped her and her friends from dwelling on the bad things all the time. It doesn’t stop me. Well, maybe just a little.
Cloud Boy Page 3