Nymphomation(96)

‘I was an only child,’ said Daisy, setting up the pieces again.

That’s lucky.’

‘I don’t know…’

‘No, really it is. And then there was the time with the parrot.’

‘The what?’

‘Don’t laugh. I had this parrot called Whippoorwill. He was the best parrot in the world, and the only thing I had that was better than anything Alice had. Alice kept saying Whippoorwill belonged to us both, but he didn’t, he belonged to me, because my uncle had said so. It was a birthday present. Alice got a doll.’ Celia giggled. ‘A stupid baby doll! She hated it. She hated it so much she even called it Celia and would do horrible things to it, like stick pins in it.’

‘She was jealous,’ said Daisy.

‘You betcha. Anyway, one day I came home from school, Alice had been playing sick all week, and the cage was open and Whippoorwill wasn’t there!’

‘No! She’d let him out?’

‘She claimed it was an accident when she was cleaning his cage, but she never cleaned the cage, that was my job and she knew it. She said the window must have been open, which it never should have been, not when cleaning the cage, it was a rule…’

Celia’s eyes were filmy and shining, and she was unknotting the green-and-yellow feather from her hair.

‘That’s a sad story,’ said Daisy. ‘Is that Whippoorwill’s?’

Celia nodded. ‘Found it in his cage. It was all I had left. I think he left it for me, as a message. Do you think that’s possible?’

‘Of course. Is this why you ran away?’

‘One of the reasons. The final reason. It sounds daft, doesn’t it?’

‘No, I understand. You were angry.’

‘No, not angry. I wasn’t running away from Alice. I was looking for Whippoorwill. That’s what I’m still doing. He’s out there, somewhere.’ Her eyes were looking over towards the window, where night was slowly falling. ‘Now you’re really laughing at me,’ she whispered.

‘I’m not, really. It’s lovely. Oh… domino, by the way.’

‘Why do you keep saying that?’

‘It’s what you say, when you’ve won.’

‘You’ve won again?’

‘Yes, in two moves’ time. Sorry.’

‘This is stupid. I can’t beat chance, can I?’

‘It’s not about chance. It’s a skill. I could teach you.’

‘Nah, it’s just chance. Let’s not play anymore.’

‘OK.’ Daisy packed away the dominoes. ‘Maybe you should go back home, Celia. It can’t be easy…’

Celia got up and walked over to the window. ‘It was. It was easy. When I found Eddie.’ She flopped down into an armchair. ‘Is that what you’ll be doing tonight with your dad? Playing dominoes?’

‘Yes, I’d better get ready. Have you got the bones?’ Celia took one out of her pocket. ‘Been holding it most of the week.’

‘Where are the others?’

‘Others?’

‘You should have five. One for each…’

‘Threw ‘em away.’

‘What?’

‘Only need one, don’t I? I’m either gonna win, or I’m gonna lose. That’s chance isn’t it? One is enough. Always has been.’

‘Right.’

‘Here… take this.’ Celia was holding out her feather. ‘Give it to Jaz.’

‘Why?’

‘Just take it. For good luck.’

‘Thank you. I’ll give it to him. Do you know what a fractal is?’

Celia shook her head. ‘Is it a creature? Does it live in Numberland?’

‘Next lesson. OK?’

‘OK.’

Daisy left the room, leaving Celia to her window-gazing. It had started to rain, a gentle mist over the gravestones in the cemetery. What a horrible place to live, Celia thought, and then, what’s this? because something was poking into her back. She reached around and dug out a rolled-up copy of a magazine. Idly, she looked it over. Number Gumbo, it was called. What a funny name, wonder what it means? One of the pages had the corner turned down, and seemed to fall open there, as though it wanted to. Celia read a small part of the article, but it was full of the language of Numberland, and she very quickly threw the magazine to one side.

The article was entitled ‘Sealing the Maze’.

Meanwhile, Daisy had gone upstairs. She knocked quietly on one of the bedroom doors. There was no reply. Jazir had insisted he be left alone all day, but Daisy knocked a little louder. ‘Jazir…’

‘What?’ Very distant. A strange fluttering noise.