When You Wish upon a Rat (16 page)

She smiled in astonishment. Everything was just as she'd left it. Even Howard was still asleep near the tree. It was as though no time had passed at all. But where was Rodney? Boy, didn't he get it wrong! Well, they both did, actually.

There was no sign of the rat. No sign of him at all.

“I wonder if all normal families are like that,” Ruth said aloud as she sat down on a rock to wait for him. A noise behind her made her turn around. Howard was sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness.” He grinned across at Ruth.

She smiled back.

Howard stood up and stretched. He wandered over and took a swig from his juice box.

Ruth watched him, wondering how to go about telling him what had happened while he'd been asleep.

“I like this place,” he mumbled, looking around. “I'm going to come back here.”

“Yeah,” Ruth agreed. “It's cool.”

“I think I'll go up the river a bit,” he said suddenly. “You want to come?”

But Ruth was thinking of Rodney. She still had two wishes left to get it right.

“I'll stay here.”

He gave her a hard look. “How come?”

“I'm waiting for … something.”

“Rodney?”

Ruth nodded and laughed at herself. It had probably all been some kind of dream, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Rodney would be back. Howard took a roll of fishing line out of his pocket.

“I'm going to see if I can catch a fish.”

“You haven't got a hook.”

Howard dug around in the other pocket and pulled out a rusty, bent nail.

“You'll need bait,” Ruth said awkwardly. She really didn't want him to go, in case something happened to her.

“I'll dig up some worms.”

Ruth must have looked skeptical because he added proudly, “I've done it before.”

“Really?”

“When I lived with my mum, we used to go fishing all the time.”

“Fishing?” Ruth stared at him. “With your mum?”

“Yep,” Howard said with a smile. “She was really good at it.”

Ruth watched him walking toward the bridge, feeling a little bereft. Maybe she should forget all about Rodney's promises and go with him.

But as soon as Howard had disappeared under the bridge, she heard the telltale scratching followed by a couple of polite coughs that told her Rodney was nearby. She turned, and there he was, standing on a rock some distance away, scratching his armpit and eyeing her carefully.

“Hello,” Ruth said.

“I thought that
friend
of yours would never leave!” He sniffed.

“Where were you hiding?” she asked.

“Never mind.” Rodney sighed, and then looked at her slyly from under his lashes before jumping down off the rock and
leaning back against it. “Well, now,” he said. “The last placement didn't quite work out, I take it?”

“It was terrible,” Ruth said in a quiet voice.

“You said you wanted a normal family,” he countered defensively.

“I know,” Ruth agreed.

“I did my best!”

“I didn't realize my brothers were going to be
erased.
”

“You wanted to be rid of them! What was I supposed to do?”

“Just because they drive me nuts doesn't mean I wanted anything
bad
to happen to them,” Ruth tried to explain.

“Nothing
bad
did happen to them!” Rodney huffed. “I don't
do
gruesome.”

“But it
was
gruesome!” Ruth grimaced, remembering her dream of Marcus and Paul in the shed.

“I don't always get everything right,” the rat said angrily, “but I certainly do not actually
hurt
people.”

“Well, what happened to them, then?”

“There was no pain involved. No fear, no distress. They were simply put
on hold.
”

“
On hold.
” Ruth frowned. “That doesn't sound like much fun.”

“I wasn't aware that your brothers'
fun quotient
was part of my mission statement!”

“Okay.” Ruth looked away glumly. “And what about the red door? You said it would be easy to find!”

“You're here, aren't you?“ Rodney muttered, shrugging her off. “So … do you want to have another try?” he asked, kicking the ground and looking bored. “Or not?”

“I'm not sure.” Ruth sighed. “It got pretty hairy back there.”

“Well, I haven't got all day,” the rat snapped. “Do you want to or don't you?”

Ruth got up and walked to the edge of the river, trying to think.
Would she dare do it again? No. It would be too crazy!
But a little voice at the back of her mind was saying,
Have another go! You don't want to go home, do you?
If she gave it another try, it didn't have to be a disaster like last time. She knew more now. She would give Rodney clearer instructions. First off, she had to find the red door; and second, she had to make sure not to get so overwhelmed at the beginning, like last time. She had to keep her head clear and bide her time for a while before she made any judgments.

“I don't want anything at all to happen to my family this time,” she called to Rodney. “They're absolutely out of bounds.”

“Done.”

“So you won't touch them?”

“Absolutely not.”

“And they'll definitely stay the same, just … without me?”

“Easy.” The rat flicked one paw at her. “They won't feature in the operation at all.”

“Okay. Then I
will
have another try.”

Rodney looked animated for the first time since she'd arrived back. He scrambled onto the rock.

“So, Ruth, what kind of family do you want this time?”

She took a deep breath and tried very hard to keep a clear head. “I don't want
any
family this time,” she said quietly.

Rodney raised one eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I want to be alone in the world.” Ruth knew this sounded dramatic, but she'd thought it through.

“But
why
?” Rodney was incredulous.

“I've come to the conclusion that family life just doesn't suit me. It's too messy and loud, and you have to put up with other people's silly schemes, bad habits, and horrible ideas, and no one ever listens to you.”

“Remember, there are some things I can't do,” Rodney cut in suddenly. “I can't change your age, for instance.”

“Okay.”

“You're only eleven, so you're going to need a guardian.”

“Okay, but … I want an ordered, quiet life. No family.”

“Interesting.” Rodney gave her a wry grin before turning his back. He hopped down from the rock and began to pace up and down with his paws clasped behind his back. “Just give me a few minutes. I'll have to have a hard think about this one.”

Ruth was kneeling in the middle of a row of other girls and it was terribly cold. She was starving too, but somehow being cold and hungry wasn't in the forefront of her mind. Surrounding her on all sides was the wonderful swelling and rumbling of organ music. She looked down at herself and with a pleasant jolt of surprise realized that she was in a school uniform.
Uniform.
She had always secretly longed to wear a uniform and now she was.
Good old Rodney!

It was a navy serge tunic and blazer with a stiff white collar, a striped tie, and, what's more—she felt her head gingerly—a hat! (A rather hard felt hat with a badge on it.) She couldn't see her shoes, but they felt stiff and heavy. She had a moment of panic. What if they gave her blisters? She had never worn shoes that felt like this before.

Her stomach suddenly growled. She looked left and then right. There were about six girls on either side of her and a huge
sea of them in front, all in neat rows, all dressed in the same uniform. She didn't dare turn to look behind because the whole mood was so formal and serious. Ruth felt a pang of excitement. She had no idea where she was or what exactly was happening, but it all felt very special. The girls next to her had their eyes closed and their hands clasped in front of them.

Ruth looked up. The gray stone walls went up forever on either side, with windows right at the top letting in the weak sunlight. But most of the light came from the rounded, domelike space up front. Huge candles were dotted around on what looked like a stage, and above this was an enormous multi-colored stained-glass window. The big window was surrounded by a number of smaller ones. Each contained scenes of people draped in what looked like heavy scarves. There were women holding babies and huddling around looking mournful, and there were men in robes catching fish. At the top of the big window a man with a gray beard was sitting on a throne holding some kind of globe in one hand.
Was that God? Was He holding the world?
Ruth was fascinated.
What did it all mean?

Heavy shafts of red and green and gold light poured down, giving the whole space a wonderful eerie glow.
Wow! It must be some kind of church.
It was like a different world altogether. She'd had no idea that they could be this big!

Auntie Faye used to go to church sometimes. If only she were here to answer a few questions. Then again, she went to an
ordinary little wooden church, which, from the outside at least, did not look in any way like this one.

The girls around her were rising to their feet, so Ruth followed suit. Then they were singing, hundreds of sweet voices joining together in the most amazing harmony.

“
Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices.
”

Ruth wished she knew the words so she could join in. She was gradually losing herself in the music anyway. All those voices were filling the huge space with sound so rich and wonderful that it felt almost unreal.
Imagine this every day instead of crass male voices and burping and farting and arguing!
Not to mention that tuneless whistling her father did almost unconsciously. He told her that it helped him think!

“
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices.
”

Ruth had forgotten how cold and hungry she was. The music was lifting her up, making her feel as if she weren't a body at all! She had the strong feeling that she was only a breath away from levitating. Never had music affected her like this. Part of her was already floating up to mingle with all that sound and light.

The singing continued and she craned forward. She could see an old man up front and guessed he must be the priest. He was dressed in thick, colorful robes with ornate decorations on the sides and he was singing too as he walked around in front of a big stone table on the raised platform. He was shaking some
kind of gold cup on a chain. Smoke was coming out of it, and Ruth got a whiff of something musty and sweet. She couldn't make out his face, but she thought he must be very old because he was moving so slowly. Occasionally, he raised the beautiful clanking, smoking thing up high and bowed deeply. Each time he passed the shining gold cross on the middle of the table he bobbed right down on one knee, as if he were curtseying.

Ruth dared to look sideways down past the row of girls, first to the left and then to the right. She saw that the walls were lined with individual polished wooden seats and that in each one there was a woman dressed in a strange black-and-white costume with only her face visible.
Nuns! They must be nuns.
Before this she had only ever seen one or two nuns out in the street, and they had looked normal enough—in plain dresses, sometimes with funny little headscarves.
These
were like the nuns in the
Madeline
books. They were covered in long, voluminous black dresses and they had heavy beads and large crosses around their middles. Some of them were quite young. The stiff white stuff around their faces pointed out at odd angles like wings. She had never seen even one nun dressed like this before, much less so many together.