Twin Tales Read online

  ‘I don’t want it any deeper!’ Connie yelled.

  ‘Oh, for goodness sake! You’re not scared of the bath now, are you? This is ridiculous, Connie. You’re not a baby.You’ve got to conquer this stupid fear or you’ll end up completely loopy – and you’ll drive us all daft as well. Aaaaah!’

  It was Dad who sounded daft, screeching like that. He’d concentrated too much on Connie and not enough on his shaving.

  Connie hunched up in her shallow bath, twisting her little plait and twiddling the blue beads for all she was worth.

  ‘What’s going on? Are you all right?’ said Mum, putting her head round the door.

  ‘No, I’m not! I’ve cut myself,’ said Dad, trying to staunch the wound with a little wad of toilet paper.

  ‘Well, hurry up out the way and let Connie clean her teeth in the basin. I’ve just noticed a ring round the date on the calendar downstairs. Connie’s got to go to the dentist for her check-up. It’s a nine o’clock appointment – so you’ll have to step on it. You can both have breakfast afterwards,’ said Mum.

  ‘What? What are you on about? I can’t take Connie to the dentist. I’ve got to go to work.’

  ‘I’m sorry, you’ll just have to be late for work for once. I can’t possibly take Connie in time.’

  ‘But you know I can’t . . .’ said Dad, looking strange.

  Mum sighed. ‘Look, I’d normally take Connie, you know that. But she simply can’t miss her appointment. Not like some people.’ Mum sounded a bit strange too.

  Dad still acted strange as he was driving Connie to the dentist. His hands were all shaky as he clutched the wheel of the car, as if he was very cold – and yet he had little beads of sweat on his forehead. His face twitched every now and then, and the little wad of toilet paper stuck to his shaving cut twitched too.

  ‘Dad, are you all right?’ said Connie.

  ‘Yes, of course I am,’ said Dad. But his voice was all high and wavery – almost as if he was scared.

  ‘You’ve still got toilet paper stuck to your face, Dad,’ said Connie, as they drew up outside the dental surgery.

  Dad swatted it away from his chin. He switched off the ignition. He gave Connie a very weird wild smile.

  ‘Off you go then, Connie. I’ll just wait for you in the car,’ he said.

  Connie stared at Dad. ‘But you have to come in too, Dad. You have to sign all the forms and stuff.’

  ‘Oh dear. Right.’

  He seemed to have great difficulty getting out of the car. He wavered all over the place going up the pathway to the surgery door.

  ‘I think you might have really hurt yourself shaving. Maybe you’vegot tetanus or something, from the cut?’

  ‘Don’t be silly, Connie,’ Dad murmured, and then he staggered into the surgery.

  Connie followed him and looked round in astonishment. It seemed to have changed a great deal since she was last there six months ago. The waiting-room was terribly cold and all the pictures were missing from the walls. All the magazines and toys had been cleared away. There were just horrible leaflets with pictures of people with bleeding mouths and crumbling teeth.

  Connie was great friends with the pretty young receptionist – but she didn’t seem to be around today. There was a fierce frowny woman in her place in a crackly white uniform, wearing a mask and rubber gloves.

  She pointed straight at Dad.

  ‘Aha! You’re the man who’s missed all his appointments!’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Dad said – and then a terrible, achingly loud drilling sound started up in the next room. It was so ear-splitting that the wall vibrated and Connie was jiggled up and down. Dad threw himself to the floor, his hands over his mouth, and whimpered. Then the drill suddenly stopped and they heard footsteps outside.

  Someone burst into the waiting- room, a huge terrifying white figure in cap and gown. He was holding huge steel pointed instruments in either hand and was chuckling manically behind his white mask.

  Dad took one look at him and shrieked.

  But Connie smiled. ‘What’s up, Dad? You’re not scared of the dentist, are you? This is ridiculous. You’re not a baby. You’ve got to conquer this stupid fear or you’ll end up completely loopy! There’s nothing at all to be scared of.’

  ‘Of course there’s nothing to be scared of, Connie,’ said the dentist – and he shrank back to his usual jolly self. His terrifying steel instruments vanished, happy music played in the prettily decorated waiting-room, and the young receptionist waved at Connie.

  ‘Hi there, Connie. Are you here for your six-monthly examination?’ She looked at Dad, who was standing up sheepishly. ‘Goodness! You’ve brought your dad with you today. It’s a very long time since we’ve seen you. Would you like an appointment too?’

  ‘I suppose so,’ Dad said. ‘I tell you what. I’ll have my teeth examined if Connie stands beside me and holds my hand tight!’

  8. Mermaid Magic

  ‘Connie, your hair’s getting to look like a little floor mop!’ said Mum, ruffling Connie’s unruly hair. ‘I must wash it for you tonight.’

  ‘Oh no, Mum!’ said Connie, shaking her head vigorously.

  Mum looked really worried. ‘Oh, Connie – this being fussed about water is getting right out of hand. You’ve got to have your hair washed, darling.’

  ‘I’m not scared, Mum,’ said Connie. ‘I just don’t want to lose my little plait with the blue glass beads.’

  ‘Oh, the one Nurse Meade did for you. Yes, it does look cute. Well, I’ll have a go at plaiting your hair after I’ve washed it, though I don’t know how Nurse Meade twiddles those little beads into place.’

  ‘They twiddle in a very special way, Mum,’ said Connie. ‘Let me keep my hair like this a bit longer, please!’

  Mum got as far as fetching the shampoo – but then Charles spat out his dummy and started crying hard. By the time both twins were fast asleep Mum flopped into her armchair and watched the television, too tired to start shampooing. Connie skipped off to bed that night with her plait still in place, the blue beads gently jingling.

  She fingered her plait fondly as she cuddled down to sleep – and when she started dreaming she chinked the two blue beads together so that they sparked bright blue in the dark of Connie’s bedroom.

  The blue seeped into Connie’s dreams. She found herself floundering in a vast pool of water. It was dragging her down, right underneath, and she was choking and struggling – but then someone caught hold of her round her waist and lifted her up and out of the water, her head bursting free into sudden sunlight. She wasn’t in a pool at all, she was at a strange new seaside, with the blue waves sparkling in the sunlight.

  Connie rose up out of the waves, through the waves, on to the waves, skimming along their surface as if she were riding a surfboard. The hands were still around her waist, holding her gently but firmly, steering her along, swooping her up on the crest of each wave, foam dancing about her ankles.

  It was someone who looked surprisingly familiar, black beaded plaits flying in the breeze, all the glass beads as sparkling blue as the sea itself. This someone wasn’t wearing a blue uniform. She wasn’t wearing any sort of dress at all, and from her waist downwards she was all shimmering tail, flickering gracefully as they leapt in and out of the water.

  ‘You’re a mermaid!’ said Connie.

  She looked down at her own legs again, wondering if she’d turned into a mermaid too. No, her two legs were still there, sometimes leaping right out of the water with neat pointed toes, other times kicking purposefully through the waves.

  ‘I’m swimming!’ said Connie.

  The mermaid laughed, and a whole school of dolphins with smiley faces whistled and squeaked in a friendly way at Connie. They all skimmed the surface of the sea together and then dived downwards, disappearing.

  ‘Oh, come back, little dolphins!’ cried Connie. ‘Where have you gone?’

  She tried to peer through the water beneath her. She saw strange flowers and coral roc