Read Online Jessie's Ghosts by Penny Garnsworthy - Free Book Online Page B

end of the tube. She
brought it out slowly and then wondered where on the painting she should write
the message. As she was staring down at it, a voice came from behind, ‘Making
some finishing touches?’
    Jessie got
such a shock at hearing Nanna’s voice she almost dropped the cotton bud.
    ‘Sorry
sweetie, did I frighten you?’
    Jessie
breathed out and turned around to face Nanna. ‘No, that’s okay Nanna, I was
just … yeah, finishing it off.’
    ‘Why are the
lights turned out? I thought you must be in bed, asleep.’
    Jessie
swallowed. And then she remembered the people in the painting and that she’d
told Nanna she would show her after dark.
    ‘Look Nanna,’
she said, stepping out of the way of the painting, ‘see the people?’
    ‘Well, isn’t
that amazing,’ Nanna said, ‘They weren’t in the painting this afternoon, and
now here they are, just like you told me. That’s really something, Jessie.’
    ‘Nanna, would
it be okay if I hung this painting on the wall in the hall?’
    ‘Well, I don’t
see why not. I’ll get a hammer and a hook and we’ll put it up right now if you
like.’
    ‘Oh,’ said
Jessie.
    ‘Oh, you still
have some work to do. Well, just let me know when you’ve finished and then
we’ll hang the painting.’
    Nanna walked
out of the room and Jessie thought, now what am I going to do? What would Nanna
have said if she’d seen me writing words on the painting? How would I explain that ?
And how am I going to paint the words on it without her seeing them?
    ‘Nanna,’ she
called, and then thought, no it’s okay, if we hang the painting with the lights
on she won’t see anything. Jessie sighed with relief as Nanna came to the
bedroom door.
    ‘Yes, love.
    ‘Oh … it’s
nothing Nanna. I’ll just let you know when I’m finished.
    Jessie waited
until Nanna had gone back down the hall in search of a hammer before dipping
the cotton bud back into the tube of green luminescent paint. Slowly she
brought it out and very slowly wrote You are forgiven across the top of
the painting. There wasn’t much at the top except sky so it didn’t interfere
with anything else. Then she looked for somewhere to put the second half of her
message.
    Jessie decided
to put those words on the path leading down from the front door of the cottage.
She didn’t want to spoil any of the flowers she and Fleur had taken so much
time to paint in all those pretty colours. It really was a pity to ruin the
painting, but Jessie knew that giving her ancestors peace was far more
important. Determined, she dipped her cotton bud back into the tube of paint
and wrote Be at peace along the garden path. Jessie stood back and
looked at her writing.
    It wasn’t very
neat, and it wasn’t as clear as she would have liked. But she only had a cotton
bud to write with and she was in a hurry. She hated to think what Nanna would
say if she walked in right now.
    This would
have to do. And hopefully Harold would be able to read it.
    Jessie quickly
turned on the lights and instantly the people in the painting, and the writing,
disappeared.
    ‘Nanna,’ she called
as she lifted the painting carefully and carried it out into the hallway, ‘I’m
ready to hang the painting now.’
    Nanna came
from the kitchen holding a hammer and a picture hook.
    ‘Where would
you like to hang it, love?’
    ‘Can we put it
opposite the portrait?’ Jessie asked, looking up at Harold.
    Nanna looked
up and down the hall. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t rather hang it nearer your
room?’
    Jessie thought
fast. ‘At Fleur’s house she has paintings on both her hall walls. It looks
great.’
    ‘Oh, why not?’
Nanna replied, pressing the picture hook into the wall and gently hammering it
in until it was fixed. ‘Do you want to hang the painting yourself?’ she asked.
    Jessie lifted
the painting up and then gasped, ‘Oh no, I forgot, there’s no wire at the
back!’
    Nanna looked
at the back of the painting and said, ‘We just need some