Read Online A Simple Case of Angels by Caroline Adderson - Free Book Online Page B

wheels off. On and on she slept, and none of the things that usually excited her — brooms or race cars or even the smell of pizza dough rising in the oven — had any effect.
    Nicola lay partly on the pillow with June Bug, watching her dog’s quiet panting. June Bug seemed to be dashing from dream to dream, her white legs twitching. Now and then soft little barks and whimpers escaped her.
    â€œI think she’s sick,” Nicola told her mother. “I think we should take her to the vet.”
    Mina examined June Bug. She stroked her velvety ears.
    â€œShe’s never slept so long before,” Nicola said.
    Mina nodded. “It’s so peaceful around here.”
    â€œWhat if she dies?” Nicola asked. “What if she dies and goes to hell?”
    â€œThere isn’t any hell,” Mina said.
    â€œAre you sure?” Nicola asked.
    â€œActually, no. But what a funny thing to say. Why hell?”
    â€œBecause she’s done so many bad things!”
    â€œShe’s not going to die. She’s going to sleep off whatever bug she has. While she’s at it, we’re going to have a lovely New Year’s Eve with no one fighting about the dog.”
    Mina was right. The Breams ate do-it-yourself pizza with all the toppings set out. Nicola did herself a cheese and dog pepperoni pizza and left a piece for June Bug, in case she woke up.
    She did not.
    After pizza, they played rummy. In the middle of the game, Terence snuck away and turned back all the clocks so they could have midnight at ten o’clock, for Jackson’s sake.
    As the false midnight neared, they put away the cards and set a bowl of cold water in the center of the table. Each of them took a candle. Terence lit his, then touched the flame to Mina’s wick. She passed the flame to Jared. It traveled all the way around the table until the five candles glowed.
    They took turns tipping them over the bowl so the melting wax dribbled into the cold water and hardened into blobs. By these wax blobs, the Breams predicted what the New Year would bring for each of them.
    Jackson’s wax blob was flat and round.
    Mina said, “Money, Jackson!”
    â€œPancakes,” he insisted.
    Jared’s was a heart. He pumped his fist. “Yes!”
    For Terence, a new car. For Mina, less stress at work. Her blob was sort of wedge-shaped, like a piece of cake.
    Nicola’s little blob had two wing-like bits sticking out.
    â€œA dove? For peace?” Mina suggested.
    â€œA bird is going to poop on you!” Jackson roared.
    At ten o’clock, the Breams counted down the seconds and, cheering, drank a New Year’s toast with sparkling apple juice. Except for Jared, who stayed up to play Inferno 2, they all went to bed.
    Nicola tossed and turned, still worrying about June Bug. While she was worrying, she remembered something.
    Two summers ago, the Breams drove to Nova ­Scotia to visit Grammy and Grampy. It was a long, long drive. Nicola took Gravol every morning, crushed and stirred into her yoghurt, or she’d get carsick. The Gravol yoghurt made her sleepy.
    Almost as sleepy as June Bug today after she licked out the bowls of beige pudding stuff at Shady Oaks.
    And Nicola remembered something else. All the pills lined up on the counter at the nursing station. On a bottle of bright blue pills, an orange sticker was fixed.
    Warning: May Cause Drowsiness.
    It was almost midnight. Nicola got out of bed, dragged her duvet to the kitchen and curled up on the floor with her dog.
    â€œJune Bug?” she whispered. “Was there medicine crushed up in that stuff you ate? Wake up. Please.”
    June Bug dozed on, looking quite contented, which reassured Nicola.
    At any moment the fireworks and pot-banging would start. Nicola went and stood at the living-room window, waiting. The tradition on their street was to welcome the New Year by stepping out on the porch at the exact stroke of midnight with pots