Read Online The Hidden Boy by Jon Berkeley - Free Book Online

with the Theo in her dream. She wondered if he would know what she was talking about.
    â€œI don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Theo. “First you were asking if I was in a giant jar, which is a stupid question, I think you’ll agree. Then when I looked you were gone. Now you’re back.”
    Bea let this sink in for a moment. “You can see me?” she said.
    There was a pause. Bea could picture Theo’s face, his nose wrinkled with incredulity. “You’ve gotten really weird since we came on holiday. Of course I can see you. I don’t need glasses, you know.”
    â€œCan he see us?” said Phoebe. Her voice sounded loud, and brought with it a rush of noise. Bea flapped her hand at her urgently, then poked her finger in her free ear.
    â€œWhat am I doing?” she said to Theo.
    Theo sighed patiently. “You’re sitting on the branch beside me. You’ve got your finger stuck in your ear. You’re listening to a jam jar through a thingie. Are you going to ask me why next?”
    â€œWhy?” repeated Bea.
    â€œI haven’t a clue,” said Theo. “Did you bring Nails?”
    â€œNails is fine,” said Bea. She had not tried to put the meerkat back in the backpack. From the corner of her eye she could see him foraging for beetles in the long grass. Now that he had won his freedom in a daring escape he seemed content to stay close.
    â€œYou keep saying that,” said Theo, “but where is he? I caught a big green thing for him, but it keeps trying to climb out of my pocket.”
    â€œNever mind that,” said Bea.
    â€œI do mind. What if it’s got a stinger?”
    â€œTheo, listen to me. I know this will sound strange, but…” She tried to think of a way to phrase what she had to say that would not alarm him. “You can see me, but I can only hear you. I’m not actually sitting on a branch; I’m sitting on a rock.”
    â€œNo, you’re not,” said Theo. “The rock would fall out of the tree. Then you’d fall out of the tree. Then you’d cry, and I’d get the blame.”
    â€œNo, it wouldn’t fall, because…Look, just describe to me where you are. Pretend I’m blind.”
    â€œOkay,” said Theo after a moment. “There’s trees. Lots of them.”
    â€œWhat kind of trees?”
    â€œSkinny thin ones, mostly. They wave about a lot.”
    Bea looked into the forest through which they had just walked. The trees were old and sturdy there. Even the thinnest ones had trunks far thicker than a man’s torso. “What else can you see?” she asked.
    â€œJust a bunch of leaves. And the Tree People.”
    â€œWhat Tree People?”
    â€œThe ones who live here. They have tons of pets. They’ve got about a million cats, and a couple of lizards, and a big parrot called Trigger….”
    â€œAre they there now?” asked Bea.
    â€œOf course,” said Theo.
    â€œAsk them where you are.”
    Theo’s voice became muffled, as though he were talking away from the phone.
    â€œWe’re Here.”
    â€œWhere’s here?” asked Bea. They were both talking now with that sort of exaggerated politeness people use when their patience has stretched to its limit.
    â€œJust…Here,” said Theo. “I think that’s actually the name of it.”
    â€œLet me talk to them,” said Bea.
    â€œI’m not stopping you,” said Theo.
    â€œBut I can’t hear them,” said Bea in exasperation.
    â€œThat’s because they don’t talk with voices.”
    Bea searched for a question that might produce ananswer that was of use to her. Her ear was numb from being pressed so hard against the flat end of the horn, and the strain of hearing his distant voice was making her dizzy. “What else can you see?” she said.
    â€œI can see you and that stupid jar,” said Theo.