Read Online Alyzon Whitestarr by Isobelle Carmody - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Isobelle Carmody
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looked at him blankly for a second, as if he wondered who Da was, then he laughed and hugged him, wishing him luck.
That was when it hit me that I had been a fool to imagine Jesse was lazy. He looked lazy, because he did things slowly and seemed so absentminded. But there was something going on inside him, inside his mind. That was what I had felt when I brushed against him that first night home from the hospital. And whatever was going on with him had reached the point where it needed to come out, but Jesse wasn’t letting it. Ifocused all of my senses on him and let myself really take in the green, wild smell of his essential self. I could feel how poetic and intricate the shapes of his thoughts were, as well as how urgent they had become.
“You should write them down,” I said, without thinking.
My words fell into silence, and they all turned to look at me.
“Huh?” Jesse said.
“I … I said you ought to write down some of the things you think about.”
“Jesse? Think?” cried Mirandah, who had just walked in the door. Everyone laughed.
Not Jesse. He just went back to shredding lettuce. But I had the feeling he was mulling over what I had said, because the green-grass smell got stronger, like a freshly mown lawn.
Mirandah frowned at me. “You know something? I am beginning to understand why you’re getting a reputation as a weirdo.” She was painting her nails gold to match her toenails and her dress and the current color of her hair. Gold, she said, was an evolved form of yellow.
“Seriously,” she went on. “Sylvia Yarrow told everyone at the pool that Alyzon has been taken over by an alien.”
“There’s a deeply intelligent theory,” Da said, getting a bottle of water out of the fridge.
“Well, you must admit she’s been different since she came back from the hospital,” Mirandah said.
I had always thought Mirandah bossy and abrasive, but these days I realized she was kind of blind about how peoplereacted to the things she said. And that made me pity her, like some sort of lame puppy you suspect is never going to be able to walk properly.
“Mirandah—” Da began.
I cut in. “It’s OK. She’s right about me being different. Knowing I was asleep for a whole month makes me feel like I’m seeing things properly for the first time, and maybe that makes me act differently.”
“How do you mean, you’re seeing things differently?” Da asked, but the phone rang. It was Serenity saying she’d missed the bus and asking for a ride from the public library. Da looked at his watch and said he had just enough time to get her and bring her back. He pulled on his coat, kissed Mum, and hurried out.
“How come Serenity went to the library tonight of all nights?” Mirandah complained to Mum.
But Mum was gone, back into the vivid clouds of her imagination.
It was nine when Jesse drove Mirandah and me to the venue. Serenity had announced that she was not going when Da dropped her home from the library. Da told her it was up to her, but I smelled a seashell sort of odor from him that I felt certain was hurt.
I could have strangled Serenity whose only reason had been that it would be too loud. The old Serenity wouldn’t have let that stop her from seeing Da. That was one of the things I disliked most about how she had changed. It was as if we didn’t matter to her at all anymore. Not even Da, whom she had once adored as I did.
Fortunately, the night was too full of promise for me to brood for long. And Mirandah was talking nonstop about some argument she was having with the long-suffering Ricki, which had resulted in him deciding not to meet us at the gig.
The Dome was a huge concert hall made of steel and plastic. Its front was plastered with posters for Urban Dingo. Millions of neon lights were strategically positioned to cast a ghastly orange and purple glow over the throng of peoplelined up at the gate, making it look like a sort of end-of-the-world scenario. If anyone had doubted
That was when it hit me that I had been a fool to imagine Jesse was lazy. He looked lazy, because he did things slowly and seemed so absentminded. But there was something going on inside him, inside his mind. That was what I had felt when I brushed against him that first night home from the hospital. And whatever was going on with him had reached the point where it needed to come out, but Jesse wasn’t letting it. Ifocused all of my senses on him and let myself really take in the green, wild smell of his essential self. I could feel how poetic and intricate the shapes of his thoughts were, as well as how urgent they had become.
“You should write them down,” I said, without thinking.
My words fell into silence, and they all turned to look at me.
“Huh?” Jesse said.
“I … I said you ought to write down some of the things you think about.”
“Jesse? Think?” cried Mirandah, who had just walked in the door. Everyone laughed.
Not Jesse. He just went back to shredding lettuce. But I had the feeling he was mulling over what I had said, because the green-grass smell got stronger, like a freshly mown lawn.
Mirandah frowned at me. “You know something? I am beginning to understand why you’re getting a reputation as a weirdo.” She was painting her nails gold to match her toenails and her dress and the current color of her hair. Gold, she said, was an evolved form of yellow.
“Seriously,” she went on. “Sylvia Yarrow told everyone at the pool that Alyzon has been taken over by an alien.”
“There’s a deeply intelligent theory,” Da said, getting a bottle of water out of the fridge.
“Well, you must admit she’s been different since she came back from the hospital,” Mirandah said.
I had always thought Mirandah bossy and abrasive, but these days I realized she was kind of blind about how peoplereacted to the things she said. And that made me pity her, like some sort of lame puppy you suspect is never going to be able to walk properly.
“Mirandah—” Da began.
I cut in. “It’s OK. She’s right about me being different. Knowing I was asleep for a whole month makes me feel like I’m seeing things properly for the first time, and maybe that makes me act differently.”
“How do you mean, you’re seeing things differently?” Da asked, but the phone rang. It was Serenity saying she’d missed the bus and asking for a ride from the public library. Da looked at his watch and said he had just enough time to get her and bring her back. He pulled on his coat, kissed Mum, and hurried out.
“How come Serenity went to the library tonight of all nights?” Mirandah complained to Mum.
But Mum was gone, back into the vivid clouds of her imagination.
It was nine when Jesse drove Mirandah and me to the venue. Serenity had announced that she was not going when Da dropped her home from the library. Da told her it was up to her, but I smelled a seashell sort of odor from him that I felt certain was hurt.
I could have strangled Serenity whose only reason had been that it would be too loud. The old Serenity wouldn’t have let that stop her from seeing Da. That was one of the things I disliked most about how she had changed. It was as if we didn’t matter to her at all anymore. Not even Da, whom she had once adored as I did.
Fortunately, the night was too full of promise for me to brood for long. And Mirandah was talking nonstop about some argument she was having with the long-suffering Ricki, which had resulted in him deciding not to meet us at the gig.
The Dome was a huge concert hall made of steel and plastic. Its front was plastered with posters for Urban Dingo. Millions of neon lights were strategically positioned to cast a ghastly orange and purple glow over the throng of peoplelined up at the gate, making it look like a sort of end-of-the-world scenario. If anyone had doubted
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