Soulmaker

  Chapter 5

  Elanora thought she might be sick as she paced the far corner of the oval waiting for Ashden to appear. That morning he had pressed a note into her hand telling her to meet him at recess. She was relieved to read on the oval rather than under the fig, but her stomach was now a nervous knot as the minutes passed and he hadn’t appeared. She glanced over at the narrow path leading to her hideout. That morning she had set her toys into the rusty holes and wondered now whether to show Ashden or not. Would even he think she was too immature? Was she, in fact, too immature? For a gawky boy in love with teddies? Hardly!

  Her thoughts were interrupted by Ashden’s approach. He was gazing at a toy monkey in his hand as he walked.

  “Oh hi! I’m glad you came. You’re so late I thought maybe you’d left school again. I mean...Well, I wish we had more time before the bell because I’ve got so many questions.”

  Ashden cut her off with a harsh look. Elanora closed her mouth and narrowed her eyes. He coughed to clear his throat but when he spoke his voice still caught.

  “Now I know this is going to seem weird, but I’m just going to do it.” He bent over his bag to open the top flap, snatching glances at her. “If you want Oscar shoving my face in the dirt then go ahead, tell everyone all about it.”

  “I’d never do that! Don’t think I’m like them. You don’t even know me,” she retorted.

  “Likewise,” he said, pulling from his bag seven soft toys and placing them on the ground. He sat beside them, gesturing for Elanora to do the same.

  “Oh they’re so cute!” she fawned.

  “Mmm,” he stared at her, unimpressed. “Tell me which ones really stand out to you. Tell me if any of them seem…almost real.”

  Without hesitation, Elanora picked up the monkey, three teddies and a purple cat and gave them a hug. Ashden held his breath. Then Elanora looked backwards and forwards between the five she had chosen and the other two still lying on the grass. With confidence she gathered up the penguin with the red scarf and the skinny bear as well.

  “Oh they’re so adorable. I love them. So real, all of them.”

  Ashden exhaled loudly. “You know what? You can keep them,” he said, taking back the monkey, the teddies and the purple cat but leaving her the lifeless penguin and skinny bear. “See you round,” he said dismissively and left as quickly as he had come.

  The heat from her cheeks steamed the tears in Elanora’s eyes.

  What a jerk! And I bothered to feel sorry for him? There really is something wrong with him and it isn’t anything to do with toys!

  She ran to her hideout. A dozen bright faces watched her return from their peepholes and once inside Elanora pulled them in, feet first. Taking a few fat leaves, she crammed them into the spy holes to shut out the playground. “There!” she fumed and sat back on the ground hugging the new arrivals under the filtering light, pouring her disappointment into them. They absorbed her hurt and responded with a faint hum.

  Back in class, the bell came as a shock to Elanora and she was late leaving the front gates. That afternoon Ashden was just another stupid boy and she was back to being a nobody to anybody. Her only consolation was the toys that she was looking forward to introducing to her collection at home. She didn’t see Ashden at his letterbox as she dragged her feet homeward. Or see him furrow his brow when he saw her and wrestle with some tangled thought.

  “Hey!” he called.

  It wasn’t that Elanora ignored him. She was realistic enough to know by now that no one called out for her attention. She continued into her street where weeds crawled up the council strip to her house which loomed half renovated above the driveway. The Laceys had once been in the money but now were out of it and the unfinished mansion was now an insulting reminder of their position.

  Her giant ridgeback, Cooper, greeted her with his ears turned out like bat wings and a smile on his grey flecked muzzle. She kissed his head as he trembled on arthritic legs. The neighbour’s dog, Scrufkin, jumped his fence and danced at her feet. She scrubbed his mop of fur and threw a nearby stick. Ginger sidled up to her legs, weaving and nudging. Three more cats joined in but wandered back to the sun after their brief salutation.

  Ashden leaned against her gate taken by the affectionate crowd. “Are they all yours?”

  The animals turned their heads his way and Elanora reluctantly followed suit, recognising the breaking voice. Her lips stayed pursed for as long as they could, but the way Ashden was looking into the animals’ faces with what seemed to be tears in his eyes, softened her. “Well, Cooper is...” she said, “and the cats. But this one just turned up a few weeks ago. He seems to like it here so I guess he’s going to stay.”

  Ashden finally took his gaze off the animals. “Look, I just wanted to say sorry about walking off on you like that. I shouldn’t have shown you all those toys. It didn’t mean anything. I think you’re a really sweet kid and I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

  “A sweet kid? You’re only a couple of years older than me, you know,” she said, adding and you still carry toys around like you’re four, so you can cut the sweet kid stuff! in her head as she rubbed Cooper’s chest.

  Ashden’s face lost its colour. There was a prolonged silence.

  Elanora snuck him a sideways glance. “It’s OK. Let’s forget it. Thanks for the toys. And for coming over.”

  Ashden nodded, his gaze crossing back to the animals. Something ticked away behind his eyes and Elanora saw his concentration.

  “You like pets as well?” she asked.

  “Some I do,” he answered.

  “I’ve got a goat out the back if you want to see it.” She led the way up the front steps not waiting for an answer. A Siamese cat skittled behind the terracotta pots as she reached the landing. Its hackles raised and its eyes flashed at her before disappearing into the shadows. Elanora stared after it. “I’ll make friends with that one yet,” she said.

  The sign above the front door read, “Lacey and Lacey Business Services and Accounting”. Ashden glanced at it before following Elanora inside. “Lacey,” he whispered to himself.

  Dotted along the hallway was frame after frame of family portraits dated by their hairstyles and fashions. Mother, father and two smiling brunette daughters growing old before his eyes. “Where are you in all these?” he asked hoping his eyesight wasn’t failing him completely.

  Elanora brushed by, “Oh they’d had enough of all that sort of stuff by the time I came along. There’s a sixteen year gap between me and my next sister.”

  “Sixteen years? Wow, that’s a real age difference. Do you get on with them?”

  Elanora shrugged and hung onto the door handle at the end of the hall. She held up her finger and mouthed “Wait there”. She knocked quietly before opening the door a fraction.

  “Hello Mum?”

  “Who’s that?” queried a stern voice buried deep behind computers and office furniture.

  “It’s me, Elanora. I’ve brought a friend over to see Nilly.”

  “Oh, yes. All right, Elanora, but don’t make a noise and close the door behind you. We’re in the middle of finishing a very important job.”

  “Elanora...that’s weird,” he muttered.

  Elanora’s face flushed, “They’ve got a lot of work on, you know,” she said, easing the door shut.

  “Oh, no I didn’t mean that. Hey, don’t worry about them, Elanora,” he said, nodding towards the closed door.

  She smiled a little. “My sisters were off at boarding school when I was born. I’ve never really lived with them,” she said hoping to explain the absence of a family bond.

  “Will you be boarding for any of high school?” Ashden asked.

  Elanora stopped and about faced, “No, I won’t be one of those lucky ones,” she answered. “Too expensive.”

  “So when did you guys move to Scrubstone?”

  Elanora looked at him, eyebrow raised. “Since always. I may be a couple of years below you but I’ve been at the same
school as you since kindergarten.”

  Ashden wiped his hand over his cheeks and down. “Sorry, yeah that’s right. I do remember.”

  Elanora sighed, “Sure.”

  She led him past the kitchen on their way to her room. In passing he noticed the fridge door clear except for a large school photograph of a red head in plaits sticky taped in the centre with a texta label “Love Elanora” underneath in large enough print even for his eyes to read.

  Inside her room, Elanora emptied her bag, carefully positioning the tattered penguin and skinny bear in pride of place on her bedspread. Ashden hovered in the doorway. He glanced around the walls ribbed with toy stuffed shelves. “Whoa,” he breathed, entering in a trance. He circled slowly on the spot, open mouthed and glassy eyed.

  Oh, I know, there are a lot of them. Too many, I guess, but I can never seem to give them up.” Immature!

  “They’re...”

  “Yeah, everywhere. I’m due for a clean-up. But...Are you all right?”

  Ashden didn’t reply. He was transfixed now by the two new arrivals on her bed. The penguin and the skinny bear. The glow from his eyes almost singed the air.

  “Ashden?”

  His eyes gleamed into hers. “Who are you?”

  “What do you mean?” she shrugged nervously, looking away. “I suppose you could say I’m a toy collector. I know I’ve got too many. I should stop but I can never resist. So...what’s the matter?”

  “We’ve got to talk! My place. Let’s go!”

  “What about the goat?”

  “Come on,” he said, dragging her out by the hand.