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Authors: Samantha Tonge
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her lips. ‘I can tell it going to do me good to have you here. Everyone else treats me like a dandelion seed head that could be destroyed by just one puff of air. I am so glad you visit our island again. Always… you gave me… joy. Even the times when your cheeky face meant you and Niko had been bad.’ Her lips twitched and I knew she was laughing inside.
Now that we were silent, chatter and music trickled up from the party below. I brushed strands of hair from her face, and hummed her favourite sleeping cuckoo song. The lines on her forehead smoothed out and her breathing became more even. Having neatened the bedclothes, I kissed her forehead, the scent of her grape-like perfume becoming stronger as I leant forward. After tip-toeing out of the room, I closed the squeaky wooden door behind me and my face crumpled for a moment. I hardly noticed someone come out of the kitchenette.
‘Pippa? What you do up here? All okay?’
I looked up to see Niko wrapping a plaster around his finger. He shrugged. ‘I was a little enthusiastic with the cheese knife.’
Heart pounding now, I followed him back into the kitchen and stared as he put away the first aid box. I struggled to control a balloon of anger inside my chest that was threatening to burst but oops – Epic Failure.
‘You should have written or phone-called,’ I hissed.
Brow furrowed, Niko closed the cupboard and turned around. ‘Huh?’
‘Grandma. She’s so… Things must have been… Why didn’t you tell me? Do all those years of friendship with my family count for nothing? I mean, I know I’ve lost touch a bit, but Mum and Dad still–’
‘Whoa, wait a minute – Henrik was here in January. He must have said something.’
‘Yes, well, Henrik was only here briefly and probably didn’t even see her and–’
‘Look, Pippa, she wasn’t diagnosed until after your parents left last summer and it… is hard thing to write in a Christmas card. And what would you have done? Left your busy London life? We haven’t seen you for nine years.’
I opened my mouth.
‘Pippa – that’s no criticism… We’re all busy. Lives change. You and me, we stopped writing to each other a long time ago. And I’m not much interested in the internet – that Facebook thing – when I could be outside in the sun.’ He lifted his hands in the air. ‘Sorry, okay. Perhaps I should have thought – made sure. Although…’ He screwed up his forehead. ‘Wait a minute… Mama mentioned it in a card to your mum for her birthday in March, no?’
I swallowed and thought hard for a second. March – when I’d been cramming for exams at work. I held my basket tighter. Thinking back now I recalled a telephone call – Mum saying something about Sophia being worried about Grandma. But… okay, I admit it, sometimes my mind wandered when on the phone. This year I’d been so wrapped up in my new job, my career, it was hard to switch off.
How could I have not been shaken out of my thoughts though, at the mention of the Big C? Had I really become so absorbed in stuff that – in comparison to this – didn’t really matter, like projected profits, sales targets and staff expenditure?
Niko came towards me but I backed away.
‘Okay.’ My voice wobbled. ‘Maybe I got it wrong. It’s just… I hate seeing her like this. Sorry.’ I sniffed, dying to ask if his family needed help paying Grandma’s health bills.
‘No need for sorry,’ he said and gave a small smile. ‘Although… If you want to make it up to me, just listen for two minutes to something I want to say about Henrik.’
I gasped. ‘You don’t know when to give up, do you?’ After plonking the basket on the table, I swung around and headed for the stairs. Quickly I went down into the restaurant, cheerful voices blurred, due to loud music. Henrik, laughing with Georgios, caught my eye and winked. Sophia and old Mrs Dellis ate baklavas oozing with honey. Leila sat on the floor, next to a pile of Nintendos
Now that we were silent, chatter and music trickled up from the party below. I brushed strands of hair from her face, and hummed her favourite sleeping cuckoo song. The lines on her forehead smoothed out and her breathing became more even. Having neatened the bedclothes, I kissed her forehead, the scent of her grape-like perfume becoming stronger as I leant forward. After tip-toeing out of the room, I closed the squeaky wooden door behind me and my face crumpled for a moment. I hardly noticed someone come out of the kitchenette.
‘Pippa? What you do up here? All okay?’
I looked up to see Niko wrapping a plaster around his finger. He shrugged. ‘I was a little enthusiastic with the cheese knife.’
Heart pounding now, I followed him back into the kitchen and stared as he put away the first aid box. I struggled to control a balloon of anger inside my chest that was threatening to burst but oops – Epic Failure.
‘You should have written or phone-called,’ I hissed.
Brow furrowed, Niko closed the cupboard and turned around. ‘Huh?’
‘Grandma. She’s so… Things must have been… Why didn’t you tell me? Do all those years of friendship with my family count for nothing? I mean, I know I’ve lost touch a bit, but Mum and Dad still–’
‘Whoa, wait a minute – Henrik was here in January. He must have said something.’
‘Yes, well, Henrik was only here briefly and probably didn’t even see her and–’
‘Look, Pippa, she wasn’t diagnosed until after your parents left last summer and it… is hard thing to write in a Christmas card. And what would you have done? Left your busy London life? We haven’t seen you for nine years.’
I opened my mouth.
‘Pippa – that’s no criticism… We’re all busy. Lives change. You and me, we stopped writing to each other a long time ago. And I’m not much interested in the internet – that Facebook thing – when I could be outside in the sun.’ He lifted his hands in the air. ‘Sorry, okay. Perhaps I should have thought – made sure. Although…’ He screwed up his forehead. ‘Wait a minute… Mama mentioned it in a card to your mum for her birthday in March, no?’
I swallowed and thought hard for a second. March – when I’d been cramming for exams at work. I held my basket tighter. Thinking back now I recalled a telephone call – Mum saying something about Sophia being worried about Grandma. But… okay, I admit it, sometimes my mind wandered when on the phone. This year I’d been so wrapped up in my new job, my career, it was hard to switch off.
How could I have not been shaken out of my thoughts though, at the mention of the Big C? Had I really become so absorbed in stuff that – in comparison to this – didn’t really matter, like projected profits, sales targets and staff expenditure?
Niko came towards me but I backed away.
‘Okay.’ My voice wobbled. ‘Maybe I got it wrong. It’s just… I hate seeing her like this. Sorry.’ I sniffed, dying to ask if his family needed help paying Grandma’s health bills.
‘No need for sorry,’ he said and gave a small smile. ‘Although… If you want to make it up to me, just listen for two minutes to something I want to say about Henrik.’
I gasped. ‘You don’t know when to give up, do you?’ After plonking the basket on the table, I swung around and headed for the stairs. Quickly I went down into the restaurant, cheerful voices blurred, due to loud music. Henrik, laughing with Georgios, caught my eye and winked. Sophia and old Mrs Dellis ate baklavas oozing with honey. Leila sat on the floor, next to a pile of Nintendos
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