Oh Dear Silvia by Dawn French Read Free Book Online

in.
    And out.
    And in.
    ‘Good. Come! Come! This is so definitely helping you, Silv, whether you are aware of it or not. Try to relax and allow yourself to feel totally safe. Because you are safe Sis. You’re with me, and just as I promised Mummy, I will look after you. I will always keep you surrounded by the highest divine light. You just need to welcome in the world Silv. I know you’ve always resisted this stuff in the past darling, and I’m still smartingfrom being referred to as an “insane witch” but when the angels arrive, they will help you to purge yourself of all your toxic anger and bitterness which constantly cloud your experience of the light. You will be cleansed and vitalized, just you wait.
    ‘I invoke you, o angels of light, approach! Come, angels all. Come, Gabriel, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo … Sandalwood … Um … Shamu … Israel … Zak … and … Po. Come close and shower this wretched invalid with your healing vibrations, envelop her in your protective love, and let her body glimmer with light and health. Allow us to feel your presence. Please. Come on angels, please … soon, please, if you don’t mind … because visiting time is almost over … please?! I’m sorry to have to make you work to an earthly schedule, all you hallowed ones, but I’m afraid we are a tad bound by tempus fugit. Sorry about that, but if you could convene soon , that would be super …?’
    Jo allows a unique minute of silence to happen. She is looking for any sign of a supernatural presence. A feather, perhaps, or a breeze, or, she dares to wish, a vision? What she wouldn’t give to witness a heavenly host. It would be double great, she thought, if the slightly disapproving nurses were blinded by the divine light through the window. That’d teach them she wasn’t entirely wacko. Admittedly, as a child Jo had had her wacko moments. She once cut off all her hair and attempted to stick it on to a bald doll with a flour-and-water glue. She kept a pebble from a Cornish beach as a pet until she was well into her teens, and she refused to wear anything that wasn’t purpleuntil she left primary school, causing endless problems with uniform. Eventually, the Head gave in when little Jo claimed she would go on a hunger strike if she was forced to give up her royal purple – a colour she claimed kept her alive. All of these eccentricities were par for the course inside the tight unit of four that comprised her family. They soaked it up and accepted her as just ‘JoJo’, the one who’s a bit odd and a bit irritating. That’s who she happily is.
    Here, now, in this room, she listens. She looks. But silence and stillness are no friends of Jo’s. She is intensely uncomfortable in their company. She only has five more minutes, so she has to take matters into her own hands.
    ‘Right, well, shame you couldn’t make it in time, Michael and all the others, but I think I know what you’d do if you were here, so Silv, I’m just going to invoke the spirits of them through me to do the healing myself. So, here goes …’
    She stands up impatiently and walks to the head of the bed, gesturing like a rookie polytechnic lecturer in a science seminar about planets.
    ‘So, I quickly say the angel prayer: “Angels help to guide me, with abundance to provide me …” Yes, yes, I feel it now, I utilize Archangel Michael’s sacred vacuum to suck up your low and broken energies, through your crown chakra, hoovering up all psychic debris. Be receptive, Silv, you might feel a bit of psychic pulling … surrender Silvia, give yourself over tothe supreme lord, and let go of all that does not serve your highest purpose … Submit! Submit! Oh, bugger …’
    Winnie is tapping on the window, pointing angrily at the candles and indicating her watch. Jo is out of time. She has to stop. She slams her hand down hard on the bedside table.
    ‘For God’s sake! I was just getting warmed up. Damn it to hell!’
    She flounces about,