A Short Short

Billy hated the rush and dash of Saturday shopping. It ruined his joy at not having to go to school.  They'd blat into a shop and out again, blat into another and out again. He never had time to look and think. Every time he saw something interesting he was yanked off in the opposite direction.

In Farmer's he'd seen a robot in the TV department and a man had said that he'd demonstrate it for him. Billy wasn't sure exactly what 'demonstrate' meant. Before he could find out though, his mother had bellowed at him to hurry up and come on. Billy tried to pretend that it wasn't his mother calling, but just as the man started to fire up the robot, his older brother Sedrick stormed over. Billy tried to tell Sedrick about the robot but Sedrick hissed at him, "Just hurry up. You'll be in for it, if you make us late for the movies. It starts in ten minutes. Come on, Boy."  He grabbed Billy's arm and pulled him away.

Billy wasn't going to the movies because he didn't like the dark, and the older kids said that he'd be a nuisance. Sedrick and his sisters never called him Billy, they just called him Boy because he was the youngest by six years. He didn't mind not going to the movies, he didn't even mind being called Boy, but he did mind not being able to see the robot. Sedrick let go of him when they got out of the shop and started weaving through the crowds. Billy had to almost run to keep up with him. He kept his eyes on the red stars on the back of Sedrick's black jacket until he got to the corner of the mall; where, right in front of him, Billy saw the most extraordinary sight. 

He stopped and stared.

It was a lady standing on a post but she wasn't an ordinary lady. She was all white like a statue, but not like a real statue, like his hand had looked when he dipped it in his brother's Plaster of Paris, except that the lady had it all over her clothes, her face, hands, head and even her shoes. She was wearing the most amazing hat; it spiralled up around her head as if it was made out of sleeping white snakes. She wasn't wearing ordinary clothes like a jacket, trousers or a skirt; her clothes flowed nonstop from her shoulders to her shoes. Billy studied her, craning his neck back so he could see all of her. He tried to see if she was breathing and if her eyes were white or blue.

"Billy. Come on." It was his mother. Billy stepped back to avoid being grabbed and yanked again, but his mother put her arm around his shoulders and ruffled his hair. "Come along. I was worried when Sedrick turned up without you." Billy tried to be as still as the lady, but his mother pulled him away.

"But Mum, it's alive."

"If we don't get the shopping done, we won't be able to go to McDonalds."

His Mum had promised that they would have lunch at McDonalds while the others went to the movies. He'd thought it was a great idea at the time, but now he wanted to know, he needed to know, if the lady was alive, or not.

At McDonalds he asked his mother if he could take his Big Mac and eat it outside. His mother sighed, then said, "If you like, but don't go past the end of the Mall. I'll come and get you when I've had my coffee, and don't talk to strangers. Here," she stuffed a couple of serviettes into his pocket, "don't get burger sauce all over your clothes."

Billy dashed down the mall, afraid the lady might have gone, but she was still there, just the same. He stopped really close to her and said, "Hullo?"

She didn't answer. She didn't move. She didn't do anything at all.  Billy frowned, maybe she wasn't alive. He stepped back for a better view and collided with something.

"Watch it Sonny."

Billy froze. He'd collided with a stranger. The man set him gently back on his feet and smiled at him. Billy wasn't sure what to do. He was supposed to apologise if he was a nuisance and he wasn't supposed to talk to strangers. He thought for a little while then said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to, honest."

The man fished out an enormous handkerchief and wiped sauce off Billy's jacket. "There you are, no harm done."  The man smiled again, so Billy smiled back. The man was also wearing a funny hat, quite different from the lady's, his was colourful with a bobbing pom pom on the top. Billy pointed at the lady. "It's a lady isn't it?"

The man looked at the lady. Just as Billy thought he was going to burst with waiting, the man said, "You might just be right, you know," he grinned and added, "and you might be wrong."  Billy frowned as he realised that the man didn't know. He would have to work it out for himself.  He let the man put him up against the shop window so he wouldn't be in anyone else's way and munched on his burger as he continued to stare at the lady.

Lots of people went past, but no matter how hard he stared, Billy couldn't be sure. He had to find out, so when he had finished his burger he checked left, then right, then left again and stepped forward.

He looked into the lady's eyes. They were blue. "Please tell me if you're alive."

She didn't answer but he was sure that she was looking at him.

Just as he was about to give up and go back to McDonalds he saw something.  Was it?

Could it have been?

Yes - there it was again.

She winked.