Stay Well Soon by Penny Tangey Page B

Stevie.’
    Mum is feeling better, I can tell. We take our teas into the lounge room and watch The X Factor together. We are both enjoying the program. Some people are very talented at singing. Maybe one day there will be an X Factor show for drawing and I will go on that.
    In the ad break Mum says, ‘Sorry, Stevie. For getting upset, I mean.’
    â€˜That’s okay.’
    At the end of the day on Tuesday, Morgan and I wait to be picked up. Normally, Morgan gets picked up before me, but today her parents are running late. We talk about Morgan’s funeral again. She can’t decide whether she wants to have Pachelbel’s Canon or ‘Yesterday’ playing when her coffin is carried out of the service. I haven’t heard of either of them, so I am not much help.
    Mum’s car pulls up and I see that David is in the car again. Mum does a U-turn out the front of the school.
    â€˜Who’s that in the car?’ asks Morgan.
    I don’t want to explain to Morgan about visiting Rhys at the hospital. She would get too excited. ‘Just my brother’s friend, David. We’re taking him to cricket practice,’ I say.
    â€˜He’s cute,’ says Morgan.
    â€˜Whatever,’ I say. ‘See you.’ I get into the car quickly.
    â€˜Hey, Stevie,’ David says to me. Most of Rhys’s friends don’t even remember my name.
    â€˜Hey, David,’ I say.
    Lara is in the Kidz Space already when I arrive. A clown is trying to talk to her but Lara is ignoring him and looking at her iPad. I sit next to Lara and the clown tries to talk to me. I ignore him too.
    Luckily, a boy in a wheelchair arrives and the clown starts to race him around the Kidz Space. It’s not a very fair race, though, because the boy is sick and can’t go very fast. I would have thought a grown man would have better things to do.
    â€˜How did you go with the make-a-wish thing?’ asks Lara.
    â€˜Um, Mum doesn’t want to do it.’ I say. I don’t want to tell Lara about the crying. If Lara got a wish, and if she’s always in hospital, she must be really sick too. I don’t want her to be upset.
    â€˜Do you want to do a drawing?’ I ask.
    I get out my pencils and we both draw. I draw what I think Cinnamon would look like.
    â€˜We’ll just have to think of something else,’ says Lara. ‘We’ll get you a horse somehow.’
    Lara draws a picture of Finnigan.
    â€˜Do you miss him?’ I ask.
    â€˜Every day.’
    Maybe it is even harder to have had a horse, and lost it, than to have never had one at all.
    When we pull into the driveway at home, Mum says, ‘Do you want to get the mail, Stevie?’
    I jump out of the car and go to the box. There’s a parcel! I look at the back. It’s from Dad Ben.
    I run into the house.
    â€˜There’s a parcel from Dad Ben!’ I say.
    â€˜Oh, right,’ says Mum. ‘He said he was going to send a present for Rhys.’
    I am not interested in the parcel now. I put it on the kitchen table and go to my room.
    Mum comes to my door, ‘It’s addressed to all of us,’ she says. ‘Why don’t you open it?’
    The parcel is a big white envelope with bubble wrap on the inside. There is lots of sticky tape holding it together so it is quite difficult to rip open. In the end, I have to use my craft scissors.
    I tip the wrapped presents out on the bed. There are three of them.
    One of the presents has an envelope stuck on it that says Rhys , but there is another present that says Miranda and one that says Stevie .
    My present is a rectangular shape, and it rattles, so it’s not a book. I take off the paper carefully so I can use it again. It is a new set of pencils – really good pencils.
    â€˜Hey,’ says Mum. ‘Don’t be greedy – read the card.’
    I open the envelope. There is a postcard with a picture of a group of wild mustangs. The postcard