Kite Spirit by Sita Brahmachari Read Free Book Online Page A

the din of the downpour as he sprinted towards her with his umbrella. She shook her head at his offer of protection. Instead she stood
in the middle of the courtyard and held out her arms. It was a relief to be bombarded by something as simple and clean as rain.

 
Kite Song
    Kite heard the doorbell but pretended to be asleep on the day that Mr Scott called round to discuss the possibility of finishing her exams. Through her bedroom wall she could
just about make out the gist of his conversation with her mother. It seemed to be going around and around in circles until Ruby raised her voice.
    ‘Let the child be! Surely she can take exams at any time.’
    Kite recognized that tone; it meant that Ruby was not expecting any further discussion.
    ‘Of course I understand your feelings right at this moment, but you have to consider how this might affect her future,’ Mr Scott answered not unkindly. He was such a tall imposing
man that Kite had never noticed the surprisingly weak strain in his voice, especially when weighed against Ruby’s.
    ‘But she
has
a future, that’s the point. And after what’s happened to Dawn . . . We’re not putting any more pressure on her,’ Ruby continued. She was
adopting the ‘stuck record method’ that she had taught Kite to use in difficult situations. ‘Just say the same thing over again in different ways, and eventually your message will
get through,’ Ruby had instructed her.
    Seth must have passed Mr Scott in the doorway because their voices mingled together and fused with the drone of traffic from the street outside. There was silence for a while between Seth and
Ruby. They were probably going through their ritual of hugging and kissing and comforting each other. Even though one of them was always off on tour, and they weren’t even officially married,
Ruby and Seth were probably the most ‘together’ couple of anyone’s parents Kite knew.
    Kite’s mind flitted back to the day when she and Dawn had watched them snogging through a crack in the living-room door, and Dawn had laughed so hard that she’d almost wet
herself!
    ‘I don’t think I’ve ever even seen my mum and dad kiss like that!’ Dawn giggled.
    Kite continued to listen through the wall. Her parents were sitting on the sofa that backed on to her bedroom wall, the sofa from which she had overheard so many of their ‘secret’
half-whispered conversations.
    ‘What about this bereavement counsellor the doctor’s set her up with?’ Ruby asked.
    ‘She’s still refusing to go. Says she prefers to speak to Miss Choulty. I contacted the woman today about it and she says that we should keep a close eye on her, especially the not
sleeping and eating, and definitely sign on with a local doctor as a temporary patient as soon as we get there. She’s written a letter for us to take.’
    ‘I suppose it’s only for a few weeks, but she can’t carry on like this with no sleep, Seth.’
    ‘It’s OK, Rubes, I know what to look out for. If it continues, or there’s any sign of hallucinations, we’ll have to take her to hospital and they might give her
medication, but the doctor said that’s always the last resort.’
    ‘She doesn’t need pills. She needs love and support and to talk it all through.’ Ruby was crying.
    ‘It’s OK, Rubes. This counsellor, Lucy, says she’ll talk to us too, all of us if it helps, and she’ll see Kite any time when we get back for as long as she needs her
for.’
    ‘I’m thinking of cancelling my tour.’
    ‘No need for that.’ Seth sighed deeply. ‘I’ll look after her like I did when she was a baby.’
    In the silence that followed, a feeling of outrage began to rise up in Kite. So they had made a plan to take her away somewhere without even consulting her. What did they think that she would do
– follow in Dawn’s footsteps? And if she couldn’t talk to Miss Choulty, how was she going to speak to this counsellor? Never in a million years would she ever take