Cloud Boy

by Marcia Williams

  P.S. Joe brought Grandpa Jimmy’s telescope back from the hospital because he was worried about it getting lost. Grandma and I wish Harry had it under his pillow.

  24TH JUNE,

  STUPID HOSPITAL RULES

  CLOUDS: More stratocumulus

  Hello Diary,

  I’ve got nothing to say to you really. It’s the weekend and we’re still not allowed to visit Harry. How stupid is that?

  Very.

  I have been decorating Artcloud ready for Harry’s return. I’ve put up bunting, filled a vase with dried flowers, put a cloth over the table and hung pictures on the wall. I’ve even hung little curtains over the spy holes. I hope Harry likes it. I think I might ask Grandma to help me make a cloud bed for Cirrus – I can’t wait to see Cirrus again.

  Grandma came up the ladder with an ice cream treat for me, but I hadn’t the heart to eat it without Harry. Grandma didn’t mind, she ate it herself! Then she sat and sewed while I drew some of my best memories onto the hexagons for her to embroider. They all include Harry – bouncing on beds, bad jokes, his farts, giggling at grown-ups, stealing sweets from his mum’s secret drawer… Whoops, I hope this quilt isn’t going to give away all our secrets!

  25TH JUNE,

  A VISIT TO HARRY!

  CLOUDS: A cloudless day

  Dear Diary,

  I went to see Harry today! He was whiter than the bed sheets, his head was just one big bandage and there were drips and tubes everywhere – it freaked me out. He didn’t talk, but when I stroked his hand he grabbed on to my finger, like little Solo. The nurse said that Harry was fine, just sleepy because of the drugs, and he would be his old self in no time. I told him about decorating Artcloud, sewing the quilt and that being bald was rubbish without him, so he’d better come home soon. I don’t know if he heard me.

  In the afternoon Grandma took to her bed and Dad, Mum, Solo and I went rollerblading! It was wicked – Dad was pushing Solo in his buggy and he was squealing with laughter. I was moving so fast that nobody had a chance to stare at me. Then we got pizzas and came home to watch a movie. Grandma fell asleep over the quilt and snored so loudly we could hardly hear a thing. I sewed one whole hexagon all by myself and wonky it is not!

  SECRET: Dad and I are sleeping in Artcloud tonight. It is only a secret because we think Harry might have wanted to be the first to spend the whole night out here. We’ve got a feast, but Dad’s fallen asleep – everyone is always falling asleep!

  I’m going to lie on my back and look up at the stars. Harry would love it. I wish he was here – he’d be able to tell me all the constellations. If Harry and the telescope were up here then it would be Artcloud perfect. Not that Dad isn’t pretty perfect, he just snores rather loudly – a bit like Grandma!

  I must remember to sew a night sky hexagon, with stars. I think I really am going to try to finish the quilt for Harry. If the Guides could make their quilt in prison, I’ve got no excuse not to.

  ------------------

  JULY

  EXAM AND BAD

  HARRY MONTH

  ------------------

  16TH JULY,

  DON’T ASK – IT’S ALL BAD

  CLOUDS: Cumulonimbus capillatus - the very worst storm cloud

  Dearest Diary,

  I know I haven’t written for ages, but here’s the thing – everything has changed. Harry has been out of hospital for two weeks and I have hardly seen him. I’ve rung our Artcloud bell a few times, but either Joe or Lilly always come out and ask me to stop. They say Harry isn’t well enough to climb trees or have visitors and they’re not sure when he will be. I thought I was his best friend and almost-twin, not a freaking visitor!

  This morning Grandma helped me make Harry’s favourite cake. It’s a chocolate toffee drizzle cake and totally delicious. We have just taken it over to Harry’s house and asked if we could read him some more Changi letters. Joe went and asked him, but apparently Harry still doesn’t feel like seeing “visitors”.

  I hate him!

  I saw Lilly in the kitchen, but she didn’t come and say hello. Her baby bump is really big now. I hate her too. They’re all trying to hide Harry away from me. What’s more, Joe took the flipping cake. I asked Grandma if we could go up to Artcloud and read the rest of her Changi letters, but she said we should wait for Harry – I can’t think why!

  I thought Grandma might go home now Harry is out of hospital, but she says she’s staying until Harry’s well enough to listen to the rest of the Rosie letters and we’ve finished the quilt. Grandma and Mum are cooking for Joe and Lilly every night, so what with that and looking after Solo, we’ve not done much to the quilt lately, but it’s growing slowly.

  Sometimes I feel really happy to be making the quilt and imagine that when it is spread over Harry all our happy memories will work like magic to make him better. Other times I just feel cross with it and Harry and want to forget them both. Grandma told me that their Girl Guides’ quilt inspired some of the women in the Changi Prison to make quilts for the men’s prison. The women who thought their husbands might be in there each made a square with their initials and a message of hope. When the war finished, some of the men said that seeing those initials on the quilt was the only thing that kept them going. So I better finish our quilt, just in case it helps Harry even a little bit.

  I think Harry will feel better when he has Cirrus with him. Surely he must be nearly old enough to leave his mum by now – Cirrus that is, not Harry!

  P.S. I will not mention my exam results – they’re rubbish. I hope Mum and Dad don’t mention them either.

  18TH JULY,

  MY STUPID MOTHER!

  CLOUDS: None – I wish there were

  School breaks up for the summer in three days and I still haven’t seen Harry since he came home. Mum keeps trying to get me to make new friends at school and hangs around the gates chatting to the other mums. How can she even think I’d ever, ever have another best friend – especially behind Harry’s back. Even if I do hate him sometimes, I hate Mum more times.

  Almost every day after school I go and hide in Artcloud. I’ve taken Edith out there for company. Occasionally someone hauls a sandwich up to me, but mostly they leave me alone. I’ve given up homework, I just draw cloud shapes and sew the quilt. It is almost as big as the Changi quilt now, but it has more pictures collaged on – mostly by Grandma. I miss her reading Rosie’s letters, but she won’t even let me see the next one until Harry is with us.

  You’ve got to get better, Harry. I don’t ever, ever, ever, ever want another best friend.

  21ST JULY,

  LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

  CLOUDS: None

  Oh Diary,

  There was a big end-of-term picnic in the park today. Mum collected me from school and drove me there. She had a picnic basket full of treats – even doughnuts. It was hot and my head itched. My tongue got lost and I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I left Mum and ran all the way home.

  Even Grandma said it was unkind of me. It was. But I just want to see my almost-twin and I don’t know why I can’t. Has he turned into a monster with only half a head? Maybe the surgeons chopped half of it off, like that poor boy who had his ear chopped off in Changi! I don’t know. Why does nobody ever tell me what’s going on? I’m not a kid any more.

  22ND JULY,

  FIRST DAY OF THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS

  CLOUDS: None

  Dear Diary,

  If Harry was well we’d be bouncing on the bed now celebrating six weeks of freedom from school. Well, I’m not bouncing but I am in bed. I’m staying here all day. Mum says that’s fine and that she expects I’m exhausted by so much emotion.

  LATER

  Joe came up to see me. I told Mum not to let him in, but she did anyway. Joe says Harry has been really weak since his operation, but that he is making really good progress. Joe then said that as long as I’m just tired and don’t have any germs, I can go and visit Harry tomorrow!

  As soon as he’d gone I was out of
bed and bouncing my finest, highest, most bouncy bounces! I wonder if I should take the quilt to show Harry? I wonder if Grandma will come and read him another letter? I wonder if we should lend him the telescope again? Oh, I hope he’s still got all his head!

  23RD JULY

  I saw Harry today

  and my tongue

  is lost

  again

  .

  26TH JULY,

  A CROSS HEDGEHOG

  Dearest Diary,

  I couldn’t write before, but I’m all right now. It was a shock when I first saw Harry. He’s just so grey and thin and very grumpy. I almost wished I hadn’t gone to see him. Is that wicked?

  He was lying on a giant beanbag downstairs and he made me lie beside him, but then he didn’t like that and told me I should play with his Lego. Then he got really cross and told me to go away.

  Lilly and Joe told me not to be upset – they said it was the medicine making Harry cross not me, so I’m trying to get used to a cross Harry. Joe and Lilly say he’ll soon be on different medicine and feeling much better. I’m just going to visit for a very short time each day until then. I think it’s better than not seeing him at all. At least his head is all there.

  27TH JULY,

  QUILT EXHIBITION CLOSES

  Today was the last day of the quilt exhibition, so Dad looked after Solo, and Mum, Grandma and I went to see the Changi Girl Guide quilt again. I didn’t want to go without Harry, but Grandma wanted me to have one last look with her.

  Now I know more about how terrible Changi was, I think it is a little patchwork miracle. There is a list of all the names of the Guides who helped to make it, and Grandma remembers every one of them. The quilt has 72 rosettes and is in a pattern called “Grandmother’s Garden”, which sounds just right. Grandma said that our quilt is in a pattern called “Angie’s Garden”. It’s not. It’s in a pattern called “The Almost-Twins’ Garden”.

  ------------------

  AUGUST

  A WONDERFUL MONTH FOR CUMULUS CLOUDS

  ------------------

  1ST AUGUST,

  HOLIDAY ROUTINE

  CLOUDS: Cumulus clouds growing and shape-shifting in the sunshine

  Dearest Diary,

  I’ve been very busy with holiday things. My hair is growing back, but my head still feels itchy. Edith is still alive. I’m keeping Artcloud clean and tidy for when Harry is well again, but I’ve stopped hiding in there. I see Harry most days, but some days he doesn’t feel like seeing me. If I’m not working on Harry’s quilt, I like to be under my bed drawing – Solo likes that too. He’s a good little scribbler!

  8TH AUGUST,

  HARRY IS BACK!

  CLOUDS: Fleets of cumulus clouds glowing in the morning sun!

  I saw Harry today and it was almost like old times. He wasn’t cross and he wasn’t too ghostly white. Lilly and Joe invited us all over for tea and then they asked if we would go away with them for a whole weekend!

  Harry is so much better, but he is going to have to go back into hospital for a little more treatment. After that he will be really, really well. Joe and Lilly want to have a bit of a holiday before the treatment and the new baby. They even want Grandma and Solo to come! They will have little puppy Cirrus with them, so we have to stay in a dog-friendly hotel.

  Which brings me to the next surprise: I am going to collect Cirrus with Harry the day after tomorrow!!! We can’t wait!

  Harry was allowed to come home with me after tea, which was ace. Apart from his hospital visits it was his first outing! We had to promise not to go up to Artcloud, but we went up to my bedroom. Luckily the quilt was hidden underneath my bed, because I’ve decided I don’t want Harry to see it until it is finished.

  We watched the clouds with Grandpa Jimmy’s telescope until Grandma joined us and asked if we wanted her to read another Rosie letter – stupid question!

  I was longing to hear more, but after one short letter Harry was asleep on my bed!

  THOUGHTS: I wonder if Harry will think I’m going crazy when he sees the pretend flowers I’ve put in Artcloud.

  We won’t ever run out of thread for our quilt and I’ve never had a boil.

  Will Cirrus eat sardines?

  Will my hair grow back curly or straight?

  Is Harry going to get really, really, for ever better?

  He has to!

  10TH AUGUST,

  THE BEST OF DAYS

  CLOUDS: Not one cloud in the sky!

  Woof and wag to you dear Diary,

  We collected puppy Cirrus today and he is so, so gorgeous! We can’t take him up into Artcloud yet because he’s too wiggly and might fall out. Harry isn’t allowed up there either because he’s also wiggly and might fall out, so we played with snuffly, buffly, cuddly Cirrus in Harry’s garden.

  Cirrus already knows his name! He goes quite bonkers and runs around and around, then he suddenly goes zonk and falls fast asleep, even if he’s in the middle of a game. He wees and poos everywhere so he has to stay outside, or in his crate in the kitchen. Harry’s mum helped us make him a cloud bed, because Grandma and I never got around to it. When Cirrus was totally exhausted, I curled up on it with him and Harry while Grandma read us another letter. The bed is ever so cosy, but the letter was gross!

  I just can’t believe that Grandma was younger than me when she helped deliver a baby. She says she can’t believe it either and wonders how she ever had children of her own after such an experience. I told Lilly then and there that I was not going to help deliver her baby! She laughed, but it’s no laughing matter.

  Tomorrow Harry and I are going to the pet shop to buy Cirrus some chews and treats. We have got quite a lot of money in our Artcloud money box. Cirrus was very sad when I had to go home. I know because he snuffled it into my ear!

  Good news: we have decided to go away next weekend! The hotel is by the sea and we will be able to swim and eat fish and chips. Harry and I get to share a room – it is going to be so much fun! I hope the beds like being bounced on. Grandma says we can take the telescope and the rest of Rosie’s letters.

  I haven’t done anything to Harry’s quilt for ages. I’ve been too busy having fun with Harry and Cirrus!

  11TH AUGUST,

  ANOTHER DAY OF CIRRUS FUN

  CLOUDS: Cumulus fractus

  Having a puppy is just the best, even if he isn’t all mine. Harry is still not allowed up into Artcloud, so when Cirrus was asleep and we had a break from playing with him, Joe helped us to set up the telescope in Harry’s bedroom so we can watch the clouds from there.

  Harry sleeps almost as much as Cirrus and only has to look at a bed to fall asleep. I’ve started working on the quilt again while he rests. In the evening, Harry and I watched Robin Hood on television together. It’s one of his favourites and he knows all the words by heart! Then Grandma read us a little, short Rosie letter, while the mums and dads planned our holiday.

  Even though it was so short, Harry was snoring by the end again. Grandma said that as time went on it got harder and harder to find paper to write letters, and in the end she ran out of paper completely. Poor Grandma.

  12TH AUGUST,

  HIDING OUT IN ARTCLOUD ON A BLACK DAY

  CLOUDS: Cumulonimbus storm clouds

  Dear Diary and only friend,

  I hate everyone except Cirrus and he’s with Harry. We are not going away to the seaside. Harry saw the doctor today and she said that Harry wasn’t well enough. Stupid, stupid, stupid boy! Why did he have to go and get sick? He’s ruined everything – we can’t even go up to Artcloud.

  Lilly telephoned to ask me over, but I’m not going ever again – I’d rather hang out with the grungy girls than a boy with a sick brain! My hair’s growing back and I’m glad, because Harry’s is all going to fall out and it serves him right. I’m going to invite Grandma up to Artcloud and then we’ll read all the Rosie letters without Harry, the rotten, hedgehog boy.

  I’m never going to finish Harry’s quilt. It was a rubbish
idea anyway.

  LATER

  Grandma came up to Artcloud, but she wouldn’t read Rosie’s letters without Harry. She said it wouldn’t be fair. Why is it always about Harry? She’s gone back down now because I told her the letters were boring and the quilt was a stupid idea. Good riddance, I say. All I can see in the clouds today are roaring monsters – I think that Raiden god is eating navels again!

  I’ve just had a look at the little bit of quilt Grandma and I have sewn together already. I think I’ll keep it for myself and never give it to Harry. I’m hiding under it right now, but it’s tiny and only covers my head.

  What’s this?

  Grandma Gertie has just sent this note up to me in the pulley!

  I suppose a party might be fun, if Harry isn’t sick and Cirrus doesn’t poo everywhere.

  P.S. I haven’t forgotten that I promised never to give up on Harry, but it’s not always easy – and lately it’s been extremely, painfully difficult.