Page 56 - Secret Garden

Slapping open the door, Mary ran over to the bed. “Stop it!” she shouted. “I hate you. You’ll scream yourself to death in a minute and I wish you would!”
It was an awful thing to say but at least it stopped Colin’s noise. He rolled over to gawp at her.
“If you scream again, I’ll scream too,” Mary shouted, “and I can scream louder than you can. See how you like it!”
Colin was so startled that he swallowed a scream: like a thistle, it made him cough. He looked dreadful – white and gasping, tears streaming. “You can’t!”
“Can, too! Sulks and tantrums, tantrums and sulks,” she stormed, stamping her foot.
“But my back’s got lumps! I can feel them! I’m going to die,” he whimpered.
“Prove it,” said Mary. “Show me.”
Colin was really skinny – what else was there to say? But Doctor Mary
studied his back earnestly – up and down, down and up, just like a real doctor. “Why all the fuss? They’re not lumps! It’s just your spine. I can feel the bony bits ’cos you’re too thin. Mine used to be like that.”
Colin had spent years thinking about dying. Now Mary was saying he was not sick at all! Nonsense . . . but what if it was true? Of course, that would be good . . . but confusing. He might have to think himself out all over again! He lay on his face, tired out by the tantrum. Then he put out a hand towards Mary . . . who took it.
A sort of making-up.