‘Okay, Blue, ready when you are.’ Dr Boogaloo’s voice came from all around and nowhere at the same time.
‘I’m ready,’ replied Blue.
A piano began to play somewhere in the firmament.
Blue closed her eyes and found herself tiptoeing down an empty sunlit hallway. Next, a church organ lifted her into the back of a horse-drawn wagon, where she lay staring up at the blue, unbroken sky. Glasses of water played with a pair of spoons sent her spinning on ice. A complicated jazz tune shuffled her brain like a deck of cards. A guitar solo tossed her into a field of long grass before reggae flutes lassoed her round the chest and hauled her skyward, where she rode on pink afternoon clouds.
Although she wasn’t aware of it, Blue had begun to dance. She spun round, arms outstretched, dipping and soaring, knees bending and flapping, her head and hair flying about.
When the music finally stopped, Blue was puffing.
‘What was that music?’ she asked as she tried to catch her breath.
‘Ah! That was reggae music, Blue, and a bit of dance-hall. From Jamaica, a small island in the Caribbean. So much music from such a tiny island. Most cures have a bit of Jamaican in them. Terribly therapeutic. They’re masters of musical medicine, the Jamaicans, AB-SO-LUTE MASTERS!’ Dr Boogaloo shook his head in awe.
By the time Blue and Dr Boogaloo emerged from the Reel-to-Reel room, it really was night. And the beetle-black sky was full of stars.
‘Oh my, I must have lost track of time, didn’t mean to keep you so late. Your mother will be very annoyed with me, Blue.’
Blue and Dr Boogaloo hurried back around the pond. Thin ice was beginning to form on the edge like a frozen frill of glass.
Blue felt different. Somehow the whole world looked different. Blue was sure her heart must have snapped on a pair of wings and ridden high above the clouds just the way Bessie had told her. She thought that finally she understood what the Doctor had meant when he talked about the difference between listening and feeling.
‘Oh, look! A falling star! Did you see that, Dr Boogaloo?’
‘I did, I did. Make a wish!’
Blue remembered her mother’s ultimatum. She held her breath and made a wish.
Please be today.
Please be today.
Please be today …
CHAPTER 14
Jane Bond
6.30 am.
Blue woke up.
It was a new day.
She woke excited, as she had done every morning since starting her treatment with the Boogaloos. Then it hit her – the sharp punch of reality.
No laughter.
Her wish had not come true.
Lead sinkers hung from her heart.
Blue lay there, staring at the ceiling. What was she going to do now? For the life of her, she had no idea. Blue remembered her mother’s ladies’ lunch the day before. It was rare for her mother to be out of bed before Blue left for school any day of the week, but it was especially rare if she’d been out with her girlfriends. Maybe she’d have forgotten all about her ultimatum?
Ever so quietly, Blue got up and got dressed. Extra careful not to fall over any furniture, she tiptoed downstairs and across the hall. She turned the lock on the front door as gently as if she were cracking open a safe.
‘Stop right there!’ bellowed Blue’s mother from the living room. She removed the icepacks from her cheeks so she could bellow at full force. ‘You’re not going anywhere. Time’s up. No more Ooglybooglies! You didn’t think I’d forget, did you? I can tell you’re still a first-class misery guts.’
Her mother’s appearance must have caused Blue to grimace. Her mother’s cheeks were red-raw like fresh steaks.
‘Don’t worry, it’ll die down. Ursula here’s just given me a special laser treatment to whiten and tighten up my face.’
‘Please, Mother. You’ve got to let me go. It’s working, I know it is. Listen.’
Blue opened her mouth wide and let out her best fake laugh ever.
‘AR HA HA HA HA HA HA HAR,’ she wheezed, running out of breath.
‘Oh my lord! Cover your ears, Ursula. Captain Hook would’ve walked the plank himself if he’d heard that! You could disperse a crowd faster than a tsunami! I know I was the one who took you to those bonkers Ooglybooglies in the first place, but I’m spiritually aware enough to know when I’ve made a mistake.’
‘But yesterday I was humming, Mum,’ pleaded Blue. ‘Dr Boogaloo says that’s a definite sign treatment is beginning to work. Please, Mum, I just need a bit more time.’
‘What on earth has humming got to do with laughter? I told you they’re cuckoo. Crackers. Loons. NUTS, darling!’ Blue’s mother did her best impersonation of an emu while twirling her index finger around in circles near her ear to emphasise her point. ‘As if music was ever going to make a difference. It’s just noise pollution. Anyway, I’ve cancelled your treatment already. I called the clinic yesterday and told – what’s-her-name?’
‘Bessie?’
‘That’s it, I told Bettina you’re not coming back.’
‘It’s Bessie, Mum.’
‘Yes. That’s it. Brenda. Anyway, don’t worry, your father and I have a new plan. Instead of us spending half the year overseas, we thought you could. I’ve been looking at boarding schools in Switzerland. The ones that don’t let you come home during the holidays. You could learn how to ski. People won’t notice you can’t laugh while they’re skiing, will they? You can wear a balaclava. Gawd, I am brilliant! And all that work with the poles will have been good for something. Now, it’s too early for bubbles, so if you’re done, Ursula, I’m going back to bed.’
Blue’s mother balanced the icepacks on her cheeks and headed upstairs. She yelled out to the cleaners, who were already in bathroom four.
‘Luz, wake me up at bubble-o’clock,
