If You Could See Me Now (15 page)

“Thank you, Opal.” Calendula’s cheeks turned rosy. “I’m going to a tea party after this meeting with my new best friend.”

“Oh.” Opal raised her eyebrows, impressed. “Very nice. Where is it?”

“In the back garden. She got a new tea set for her birthday yesterday,” she replied.

“Well, that’s lovely. How are things with little Maeve?”

“Well, thank you.” Calendula looked down into her lap.

The noise from the others in the room died down and all the focus was on Opal and Calendula. Opal wasn’t the type of person to ask everyone to be quiet in order to start the meeting. She always began it quietly herself, knowing that that the others would soon
finish their conversations and settle down in their own time. She always said that all people needed was time and then they could
figure most things out for themselves.

Opal was still watching Calendula
fidgeting with a ribbon on her dress.

“Is Maeve still bossing you around, Calendula?”

Calendula nodded and looked sad. “She’s still telling me what to do all the time and when she breaks things and her parents get mad, she blames it on me.”

Olivia, an old-looking best friend who was rocking in her chair while knitting, tutted loudly.

“You know why Maeve is doing that don’t you, Calendula?” Opal said softly.

Calendula nodded. “I know that me being around provides her with the opportunity to be in charge and she is mirroring the behavior of her parents. I understand why she is doing it and the importance of her doing it, but that kind of treatment day in, day out becomes a little disheartening at times.”

Everybody nodded in agreement; we had all been in her shoes at some stage. Most young children liked to boss us around, as it was their only chance to do it without getting into trouble.

“Well, you know she won’t be doing it for very much longer, Calendula,” Opal said encouragingly and when Calendula nodded, her curls bounced up and down. “Bobby.” Opal turned to face a little boy sitting on a skateboard with his cap turned backward. He had been rolling back and forth while listening to the conversation. On hearing his name, he stopped rolling.

“You must stop playing computer games with little Anthony. You know why, don’t you?”

The little boy with the face of an angel nodded and when he spoke, his voice sounded much older than his apparent six years. “Well, because Anthony is only three, he needs to play with toys that allow him to take control, that are
flexible, and that do more than one thing. Too many of the other toys will stunt his early development.”

“What kind of things do you think you should be playing with?” Opal asked.

“Well, I’m going to concentrate on playing with, well, nothing actually, so we can do role-playing, or else use boxes, cooking utensils, or empty toilet-paper rolls.”

We all laughed at the last one. Toilet-paper rolls are my absolute favorite, you can do so many things with them.

“Very good, Bobby, just try to keep it in mind when Anthony tries to get you to play on the computer again. Like Tommy does.” She trailed off, looking around. “Actually, where is Tommy?”

“Sorry I’m late,” a loud voice called from the door. Tommy charged in with his shoulders back and arms swinging, like a man
fifty years older than he. There was muck all over his face, grass stains all down his knees and shins, cuts, scabs, and mud on his elbows. He dived onto his beanbag, making a crashing noise with his mouth.

Opal laughed. “Welcome, Tommy. Busy, were you?”

“Yeah,” Tommy replied cockily. “Me and Johnno were down in the park digging up grubs.” He wiped his snotty nose across his bare arm.

“Uugh.” Calendula wrinkled her nose in disgust and moved her chair closer to Ivan.

“All right, princess.” Tommy winked over at Calendula, resting his feet on the table in front him. It had been laid out with
fizzy drinks and chocolate biscuits.

Calendula looked away from him with wide eyes and concentrated on Opal.

“So, John is the same as usual,” Opal stated with amusement.

“Yep, still sees me,” he replied, as though that were some kind of victory. “He’s got a problem with bullies at the moment, Opal, and as he’s been intimidated into secrecy, he won’t tell his parents.” He shook his head sadly. “He’s afraid they’ll criticize him or intervene, which will make it worse, and he’s also ashamed that he allowed it to happen. All the typical emotions that go with bullying.” He popped a sweet into his mouth.

“So, what are you doing about it?” Opal asked with concern.

“Unfortunately, what was happening before I came along is that John was experiencing chronic intimidation, he developed a pattern of compliance with the unfair demands of those he perceived as stronger, and he was beginning to identify with the bully and become one himself. But I wouldn’t let him push me around,” Tommy said toughly. “We’ve been working on his posture, voice, and eye contact, as you know these communicate a lot about whether you’re vulnerable. I’m teaching him to be vigilant for suspicious individuals and every day we run over a list of possible attributes.” He sat back and rested his arms behind his head. “We’re working on him developing a mature sense of justice.”

“And you’ve been digging for grubs,” Opal added with a smile.

“There’s always time for grub-digging, isn’t there, Ivan?” Tommy winked.

“Jamie-Lynn.” Opal turned to a little girl in denim dungarees and dirty runners. Her hair was cut short and she balanced her behind on a football. “How’s little Samantha getting along? I hope you’re both not still digging up her mother’s
flower garden.”

Jamie-Lynn was a tomboy and kept getting her friends into trouble, whereas Calendula mostly went to tea parties in pretty dresses and played with Barbie and My Little Pony. Jamie-Lynn opened her mouth and began blabbering away in a mystery language.

Opal raised her eyebrows. “So I see you and Samantha are still speaking your own language.”

Jamie-Lynn nodded.

“OK, but be careful. It’s not a good idea to keep speaking like that for much longer.”

“Don’t worry, I know Samantha is learning to talk in sentences and develop her memory, so I won’t keep it up,” Jamie-Lynn said, returning to normal language. Her voice saddened. “Samantha didn’t see me this morning when she woke up. But then she did again at lunchtime today.”

Everyone felt sad for Jamie-Lynn and gave her our condolences because we all knew how that felt. It was the beginning of the end.

“Olivia, how’s Mrs. Cromwell?” Opal’s voice was gentler.

Olivia stopped knitting and rocking and shook her head sadly. “Not long for her to go now. We had a great chat last night about a day trip she had with her family seventy years ago to Sandymount beach. That put her in a great mood. But as soon as she told her family this morning that she’d been talking to me about it, they all left. They think she’s talking about her great-aunt Olivia that died forty years ago and are convinced she’s going mad. Anyway, I’ll stay with her till the end. Like I said, there isn’t long for her to go and the family have only visited twice in the past month. She’s not hanging on for anyone.”

Olivia always made friends in hospitals, hospices, and homes for the elderly. She was good at that kind of thing, helping people reminisce till the early hours of the morning. Like children, the elderly had the ability to believe and hope, especially when they were really sick and weren’t going to be with us much longer. I suppose it’s times like that people take the time to really think about life, what they were here for and all its possibilities. They drop their defenses and allow themselves to open up to the new experiences of what’s happening to them and their bodies. It was the people in the in-between ages (usually like Elizabeth) that had the blinders on.

“Thanks, Olivia.” Opal smiled and then she turned to me. “So, Ivan, how’s it all going in Fuchsia Lane? What’s the big emergency? Little Luke seems to be doing OK.”

I made myself comfortable on the beanbag. “Yeah, he is OK. There are a few things we need to work on, like how he feels about his family setup, but nothing earth-shattering.”

“Good.” Opal looked pleased.

“But that’s not what the problem is.” I looked around the circle at everyone. “His
aunt,
who adopted him, is
thirty
-
four
and sometimes she can feel my
presence
.”

Everyone gasped and looked around at one another in horror. I knew they’d react like that.

“But that’s not even the half of it,” I continued, trying not to enjoy the drama too much because after all it was my problem. “Luke’s
mom,
who’s
twenty
-
two,
came into Elizabeth’s office today and
saw
me and
spoke
to me!”

Double gasp. Apart from Opal, whose eyes twinkled back at me knowingly. I felt better when I saw that, because I knew that Opal would know what to do. She always did and I wouldn’t have to feel so confused anymore.

“Where was Luke when you were in Elizabeth’s office?” Opal asked, a smile forming at the corners of her lips.

“On his granddad’s farm,” I explained. “Elizabeth wouldn’t let me out of the car to go with him because she was afraid her dad would get mad that Luke had a friend that he couldn’t see.” I was out of breath after that.

“So why didn’t you walk back to Luke when you got to the office?” Tommy asked, sprawled across the beanbag with his arms behind his head.

Opal’s eyes glinted again. What was up with her?

“Because,” I replied.

“Because why?” Calendula asked.

Not her too,
I thought.

“How far is the farm from the office?” Bobby asked.

Why were they asking all these questions? Shouldn’t the important thing be why on earth all these people were sensing me?

“It’s about a two-minute drive, but twenty minutes walking,” I explained, confused. “What’s with all the questions?”

“Ivan,” Olivia said, laughing, “don’t act the fool. You know that when you get separated from a friend, you
find them. A twenty-minute walk is nothing compared to what you did to get to that last friend of yours.” She chuckled.

“Ah, come on, everyone.” I threw my hands up helplessly. “I was trying to
figure out whether Elizabeth could see me or not. I was confused, you know. This has never happened before.”

“Don’t worry, Ivan.” Opal smiled and when she spoke her voice was like honey. “Remember, there are no rules to being a best friend. Anyone who really needs us can see us. This is rare, but it’s happened before.”

Everyone gasped again.

Opal stood up, gathered her
files together, and prepared to leave the meeting.

“Where are you going?” I asked in surprise. “You haven’t told me what to do yet.”

Opal took off her purple-tinted shades and her chocolate-brown eyes gazed at me. “This is not an emergency at all, Ivan. There is no advice that I can give you, you will just have to trust yourself that when the time comes, you’ll make the right decision.”

“What decision? About what?” I asked, feeling even more confused now.

Opal grinned at me. “When the time comes, you will know. Good luck.” And with that she left the meeting with everyone staring at me in confusion. The blank faces were enough to prevent me from asking any of them for advice.

“Sorry, Ivan, I would be just as confused as you are,” Calendula said, standing up and smoothing out the wrinkles in her summer dress. She gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I’d better go now too, or I’ll be late.”

I watched her skipping toward the door, her blond curls bouncing with every step. “Enjoy your tea party!” I called.

“Make the right decision,” I grumbled to myself, thinking about what Opal had said. “The right decision about what?” And then a chilling thought occurred to me. What if I didn’t make the right decision? Would someone get hurt?

Chapter Thirteen

Elizabeth
pushed herself
forward gently on the swinging bench in her back garden. She cradled a warm coffee cup in her hands, wrapping her slender
fingers around the limestone-colored mug. The sun was slowly setting and a slight chill was creeping out from hiding to take its place. She stared up into the sky, a perfect vision of candy-floss clouds; pink, red, and orange, like an oil painting. An amber glow rose from behind a mountain before her, like the kind of secret glow that rose from Luke’s bedcovers when he was reading with a torch. She breathed in the cooling air deeply.