When You Wish upon a Rat (12 page)

Rodney told her. “You'll have three chances to create your perfect life. If for some reason you don't like where you've ended up, you can return from each wish at the end of one day. If you choose to stay longer than one day, you'll stay in your new life forever.”

Rodney was lying on his back with his front paws behind his head and his eyes half closed. “So … what do you say?”

The sun was still shining and the breeze was still making the leaves tremble, but Ruth felt as if she'd been catapulted into a different universe altogether. She'd just given the last of the biscuits and cheese to Rodney and watched as he ate them, stunned by how much he was able to put away. His belly was now huge and round.

“How will I … return?” She could hardly get the words out, she was that excited. Rodney had just offered her the most improbable but exciting deal of her life, but her cautious nature
told her that there could well be a catch. She needed more time to think.

“Nothing to it.” Rodney snapped his fingers. “But I'll tell you all about
that
later. First up, you've got to decide if you want to make use of this special offer.”

“I think so,” Ruth said slowly, “but I'm not
completely
sure.”

“By all means have a think about it,” Rodney said dreamily, as though half asleep.

They were quiet for a while. But Ruth could tell the rat wasn't asleep by the way his eyelids flickered.

“Could you go through it one more time?” Ruth asked, thinking she might have missed something important.

“Okay.” Rodney yawned and sat up and tried not to look bored. Ruth noticed that he'd been in a distinctly better mood since the food. “You describe your perfect life and I'll do my very best to get it happening for you. My powers are limited, so I can't promise everything, but I can manage quite a lot.”

“And I get three tries to get it right?”

“Correct.” Rodney held up three claws. “Three bites at the cherry.”

“And I can come back if I want to?”

“Yes. Before the end of the first day you may return to your present life through a red door, which will be provided.”

“And will it be easy to find?”

“Very easy … Just make sure you know where it is as soon as you arrive.”

“Do I need a key?”

“No keys.” Rodney yawned again. “Easy to open and easy to close. If you decide
not
to stay, then you must walk back through that door by six o'clock. If you don't do that, then you will have elected to stay in your new life.”

“Forever?” Ruth whispered.

“Forever.” Rodney was getting impatient. “Now, we've been through all this already, Ruth. There are no tricks. No double-dealing. It's really very easy, and, if I may say so, you'd be mad not to take the opportunity. Not everyone gets this kind of chance to change their lot in life.”

“Have other people done it?”

“So many that you couldn't count!” the rat chuckled.

“Do most of them stay?”

“I don't keep statistics!” he said shortly. “Look, I haven't got all day.”

“Did my aunt ever … do this?”

Rodney shook his head impatiently. “I was able to help her in other ways.”

“Such as?”

“Hmmm.” Rodney gave a sly grin. “Let us just say there was a gentleman involved.”

“Oh.” Ruth sighed and tried to remember if her aunt had ever had a boyfriend.

“Was my aunt … in love with someone?”

“I don't have time to go over old news, Ruth.” Rodney was tapping one paw on the ground. “Do you want to take up the offer or not?”

“When I come back …” She knew she was annoying him, but it couldn't be helped. She had to be clear about it all. “You'll be here?”

“
If
you come back after the first wish and after the second wish, I'll certainly be here to organize the next. But if you come back from the third one—in other words, if you choose to
squander
all your chances—then I shall bow out.”

“Okay,” Ruth said in a quiet voice.

There was a sudden movement from over near the tree and Ruth remembered Howard. She stood up and peered at him, but he was only turning over onto his side. How could she have forgotten him? She was amazed at herself.

“But what about Howard?”

The rat stared at the prone figure. “What about him?”

“Well, I can't just leave him!”

“Why not? He has to be the most unimpressive specimen I've seen in a long time. Where did you pick him up?”

“Rodney!” she said. “He's my friend from school!”

“He's your
friend!
” Rodney sighed sarcastically. “Well, we've all got
friends from school,
haven't we? That doesn't mean we consider them when we're making life-and-death decisions!”

Ruth gave him a hard look. “Well, I came here with him,” she said. “In fact, it was his idea to come. He said you'd turn up, actually.” She thought that might engender a little sympathy for Howard, but she was mistaken.

“Does it mean you have to go home with him?” The rat sniffed.

“Maybe not,” she said. “But how will he get home?”

“He's got two legs, hasn't he?” The rat sighed as though it was all too boring. “Okay. I'll work something out. I'll make sure he gets home safely.”

“Well …”

“You want to go ahead?”

“Okay. Let's do it.”

Rodney sat up straight, suddenly very alert. “Have you thought about what family you'd like?”

“I've thought about nothing else for
ages.
”

“Good!” The rat gave her a flashy smile. “So, what
would
you like?”

“For a start, I want my parents to pay some attention to
me
for a change. I don't want it to be all about my brothers
all
the time. And I want my parents to be
normal!
”

“Normal, huh?” Rodney was nodding carefully, as though committing all this to memory. “Can you be a little more specific about that?”

“I don't want new schemes or bizarre hobbies. I want parents who are happy to work in normal jobs and watch television at night and eat ordinary food … that they cook. I've had enough crappy take-out food to last me a lifetime. I want a house that isn't falling down. In fact, I'd like a really nice house where there is no chance of the tap falling off in your hand when you try to turn it, and where I can have a proper room with nice things in it.” She was getting excited just thinking about it.

“So.” Rodney hopped down from the rock and began walking back and forth on the grass, frowning hard, his paws clasped behind his back. “You want to be the center of attention. You want a flash house, and you want your parents to be
normal?
”

“Yes.”

“It might be difficult getting the
normal
part right.”

“Really?” Ruth was surprised. “I thought that would be the
easy
part.”

“
Normal
is very close to
boring
on the scale I work with.” Rodney scratched his head. “But we can try.”

Ruth had a sudden flash from the previous week of her mother standing in the middle of the street with her arms held out.
Come on, Ruthie,
Mrs. Craze had called,
come and welcome
the rain!
Ruth had seen at least three neighbors peering through their windows watching her.

“Boring is absolutely fine with me!” she said grimly.

“Okay, is that everything?” he asked.

Ruth closed her eyes and tried to think.

“I'd like some friends again,” she said in a small voice. “I mean
girl
friends. Howard is good, but he's … sort of not who I want to hang out with all the time.”

“Fair enough,” Rodney said thoughtfully. “I'll do my best.”

She was sitting cross-legged on the ground under the bridge. The rat was standing on a nearby log looking down at her.

“Yes.” Ruth tried not to sound nervous. “I'm ready.”

“Okay. Let's go!” Rodney closed his eyes. “Remember—up some steps and through a red door and you'll be there.”

Ruth nodded and closed her eyes.

Rodney began a high-pitched hum, which changed after a minute into a low, thundery one.

Ruth began to feel slightly faint. The humming went on and on with nothing at all happening. She snuck a quick glance at the rat from under her lashes. Was he serious? Rodney was now raising both tiny arms and circling his paws. He suddenly let out a high-pitched squeak and brought them down.

A rush of air hit Ruth's eardrums. This was followed by a mighty roar that got louder and louder. Then it stopped abruptly.

All was quiet; the color and light began to shimmer and dim and then faded away into heavy blackness.

Even though her eyes were open, Ruth could see nothing. The blackness felt almost syrupy, as though she might be sitting in a pool of molasses.
Was she blind?

Ever so gradually, light began to leak in, almost imperceptibly. Ruth blinked hard a few times, trying to make it happen more quickly, but it remained a slow trickle. Until at last she could see!

She was in a gloomy hallway, standing at the bottom of a long flight of old wooden stairs. There were no banisters and the stairs looked rickety and unsafe, but at the very top, only just visible, was a shiny red door.

Ruth looked around. There was no way out of this damp, horrible place except upward. Too late to back out now. She was going to have to take the risk.
One step at a time,
she told herself,
and don't look back.

Up she went, the stairs swaying and rocking beneath her. She thought she might fall at any moment.
Don't look down.

At last she reached the top. Even though she was on quite a flat little landing, she still didn't dare to look down, but reached for the brass handle of the red door, praying with all her might that it would open and let her through. When it did just that, she breathed a sigh of relief.

• • •

It was summertime, bright and warm and wonderful with a clear blue sky above.
What a relief!
Ruth looked around. She was standing on the edge of a big heart-shaped pool. The red door she had just come through was nowhere to be seen.

The water in the pool was sparkling in the brilliant sunlight. She looked down and saw with real pleasure that she was wearing a bright red bathing suit—the exact same red bathing suit, in fact, that she'd wanted last Christmas and didn't get!

So where was she? And why did it feel so familiar? Had she been here before?

When she finally figured it out, she had to laugh with amazement. She was in … her very own backyard, only everything was totally different. With all the scraggy bushes and piles of old timber and disused furniture gone, it was actually really big. No more rotting posts holding up the veranda. No peeling weatherboards. No football cleats and bikes and discarded backpacks lying about, either.