Lullaby Girl Read Online Free PDF

side, but I’m the only one in the room.
    #
    Tuesday is my day for havin’ Mrs Laird talk at me. She’s the brain doctor, Rhona said, an’ ev’ryone has to see her once a week. I don’t like tellin’ her stuff, cos I know iss not really private, in the end. Rhona always finds out what me an’ Mrs Laird said, an’ she tries to sneak it in when we’re talkin’. Askin’ questions all sly like, an’ waitin’ to see what I’ll do. But I can’t get out of seein’ Mrs Laird. Iss like a law or somethin’. Even when I don’t talk, she writes down loads of stuff. Today iss worse than usual, cos all she asks about is a man with sandy hair. I don’t know where she got that from, cos I never told anyone the dream man has hair that colour. Iss funny. It feels like a trick. I say I don’t know what she means. Then she gets cross an’ brings out photos of my face all mushed up. Iss not the first time I’ve seen those. Rhona said the police took ’em.
    ‘This is what you looked like when you came here,’ Mrs Laird says. ‘Don’t you want to catch the person who did that?’
    I look at the photos. They don’t really look like me. Mrs Laird says some stuff about progress , an’ not being afraid . Then she packs the pictures up an’ lets me go.
    I’m sad after the session, an’ I want to go for a walk, but when I go to Rhona’s office she’s busy with a diff’rent girl. I scowl over her shoulder at the girl on the sofa. Iss the curly-haired one who had the party. Her eyes are all pink today. I scowl.
    ‘Go by yourself, dear,’ Rhona says. ‘Some fresh air will be good for you.’
    ‘No. You come with me.’
    ‘I’m with Jess now. We can go for a walk tomorrow.’
    ‘Not tomorrow. Now.’
    Rhona sighs. ‘No can do, hon.’
    ‘Why can’t I have a cake?’
    Rhona looks surprised. ‘What?’
    ‘I want special cake. Like her. Cake an’ candles.’
    ‘You mean … for your birthday?’
    ‘ My cake an’ candles.’
    Rhona’s face goes straight. She dumps her papers an’ comes right to the door. Looks in my face, very close. Like she’s cross.
    ‘Kathy, what date is your birthday?’
    ‘Let’s go outside.’
    ‘Listen, hon. This is important. Do you know what date your birthday is?’
    ‘Will I get cake?’
    ‘Yes, dear. You’ll have all the birthday cake you want. Just tell me when the right day is.’
    I look at Rhona. This is too annoyin’. I jus’ wanted to go for a walk. But nothin’s goin’ to happen till I answer. I try to think. When is my birthday? The only birthday I remember is Jess’s.
    ‘Nine … teenth,’ I say.
    ‘The nineteenth?! Of what? Which month?’
    I look past Rhona, to the calendar on her wall.
    ‘April,’ I say.
    ‘So … it was your birthday two weeks ago?’
    ‘No … uh …’
    Rhona looks at her calendar too. She frowns. Looks back at me.
    ‘We’re into May now, Kathy. I just didn’t turn the page yet.’
    ‘I said May,’ I say, an’ look away from her eyes.
    ‘Is your birthday in April or May?’
    ‘May.’
    ‘The nineteenth of May?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Seriously? Are you sure?’
    ‘Yes.’
    My face is all hot now, but I don’t think Rhona sees. She takes me in her office an’ tells Jess to go. But that’s as far as my luck holds. Instead of gettin’ her anorak, Rhona picks up the telephone. She sits at her desk an’ talks an’ talks an’ talks, an’ writes on some paper, an’ talks some more. Iss boring. Sometimes Rhona dials numbers into the telephone. Sometimes it rings an’ she picks it up. I jiggle my feet against the desk, an’ that makes a glass ball thing fall off a stack of paper. I jump as it thuds to the floor.
    ‘No!’ shrieks Rhona. She drops to the ground an’ comes back up with the ball in her arms. Iss purple, with pretty dark swirls inside it. ‘Please don’t play with this,’ says Rhona. ‘It’s very dear to me.’
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘A gift from my mother. It’s called a Caithness