Shadow Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

hurt.
    “It’s okay, honey. You’re all right, sweetheart,” his mom said. “You have to go like this. Here, watch how Mommy’s doing it. Take tiny, tiny steps, let the blade of the skate stay down on the ice, and push a little. It’ll move you ahead.”
    He tried over and over again but kept falling – although he expected it now.
    Eventually, the mother took one arm, the father the other, and the boy was able to stay upright. Sometimes the parents held him up so high that it looked as if he were flying and dancing in the air. When that happened, he squealed with joy.
    Jules tried to remember when she’d learned to skate. Her father used to be a good hockey player, so he must have taught her. But maybe her mother, Celia, was the one. She hadn’t left them until Jules was four.
    Jules didn’t have any pictures of her. Her dad had ripped them up and thrown away the pieces. He never wanted to talk about her. But as Jules got older, she wanted, needed, to have an image of her mom in her head.
    She’d ask about her only when her dad was in agood mood. “Did she look like me?”
    “Yeah. Your hair exactly. Your nose, mouth.”
    “Was she pretty?”
    “What a question. Yes, Jules.”
    “Where’d she grow up? In Toronto, like us?”
    “No. Georgetown.”
    “Is that far?”
    “Not really.”
    “What about her family, her mom and dad? Are they here?”
    “Her mom and dad lived on a farm. Don’t know where they are now. Don’t care.”
    “How’d you meet my … mom?” The last word was hard to get out.
    “At the Palais.”
    “What’s the Palais?”
    “A dance hall. Celia loved to dance.”
    “Was she a good dancer?”
    “Good enough. We both were.”
    Jules wanted to believe that her mother meant more to her father than the other girlfriends he’d had. Seeing how sore his heart was, maybe she had.
    If he stayed in a good mood, he’d usually give her a hug and tell her how much he loved her. “Enough with the questions, kiddo,” he’d say. “We don’t need anybody else hanging around us, do we? We’ve got each other. That’s all that matters.”
    One of the girls from her class called out to Jules from the other side of the rink. Jules pretended she couldn’t hear her and began walking home.
    Ai yai yai. I wonder what the temperature is? Teresa’s rink’ll be even better than it was before. And skating’ll make me warm. Anything’s better than standing around
.
    She took the long way home again, to avoid Patsy’s place, and went through the park. Kids were skating on Teresa’s rink, but Jules changed her mind about going there. She couldn’t bring herself to join them.
    Opening the back door of the house, she tried to make as much noise as she could, banging her feet against the stairs. There were no other sounds but hers.
    She sat just inside the door to get warm for a bit, then went outside again. With all the new snow, it’d be a good day to convert the backyard into a castle, with throne rooms and dungeons. She and Patsy loved to pretend they were powerful Gypsy queens, wild and free, who lived in snow castles. It would be a lot of work clearing the space, making barricades for the castle front, and gathering mounds of snow for the thrones. But it would keep her warm, and, being near the house, she’d know when her dad got back.
    When night came, she looked up at the stars and all around at the white night of snow. It looked like a painting.
    A painting that’s getting colder and colder to be inside. Have to go in
.
    It had felt like a never-ending day. But there was school tomorrow. It would take her mind off things.
    I’ll eat and watch TV. Make my fort and send my mind somewhere else. What more can I do?

CHAPTER
8
    O nce inside the back door, Jules pulled off her outdoor clothes, threw them on the stairs, and stomped over them on her way up to the kitchen.
    She wasn’t really hungry, but she heated up a can of soup, made another bologna sandwich, and carried the food to