in disgust, as though it was a dead mouse.
Marianne went on screaming and sobbing.
“Didn’t I tell you? Girls! Nuisances, weeping, whooping, all fucking snots and tears.”
With these words he turned and headed for the lake.
Chapter 15
THE RAIN HAD RETURNED and the lake was deserted. Squatting with a stick in his hand Rob was drawing lines in the sand. The stick broke and he hurled it over his shoulder into the lake. He was looking for another stick when the broken one flew back and landed at his feet. He picked it up. It wasn’t a boomerang, was it? Looking suspiciously around him, Rob threw it over his shoulder once again. There was nobody in sight and he went on drawing his strange lines. He was closing a circle when a pebble landed and marked its centre.
“Victor, stop it!” Rob warned without turning his head. “I know you are hiding behind the bushes, you stupid bum! You need more bashing and I am going to do it!”
In reply a torrent of black pebbles landed at the circle. Some of them hitting Rob.
“Come on Victor!” Rob snarled. “Show yourself, you’re mother will beat you up if she catches you playing with me.... Vic-to-or!”
Rob spun round with the intention of surprising Victor and giving him the promised bashing, but what he saw made his mouth drop.
Before him stood a small, ugly creature with funny legs and fins for arms. Its eyes were sad and oh shit, mismatched. There was a swelling underneath them which could have been a nose or anything for that matter.
His jaw dropping Rob felt fear. It was a strange feeling because he was the one inducing it in other boys’ hearts. Now he knew what dread and fear were.
He took a step back, staring at this bonsai monster.
“Who are you and what do you want?”
As if to hear him better the creature wobbled toward him with a friendly smile.
“What do you want?” Rob fought the urge to flee.
There was no answer. The hideous creature approached the circle and bending slightly, began to add new drawings by destroying Rob’s with its fin.
“Don’t do this!” the initial moment of fright behind him, Rob was now furious, ready to fight. At second thought he tried again: “Who are you?”
Clumsily, the pathetic creature picked up a black pebble.
“Me.” The voice was surprisingly singsong and tender.
Rob laughed. Now he was feeling neither astonishment nor fear.
“Stop spoiling my drawings!” Recovering his courage, completely in command, Rob hurried over to the funny-looking creature and exclaimed: “You’re the ugliest thing I’ve ever met! You have a name?”
The small thing nodded shyly.
“Kissy.” The voice sounded even milder.
“A boy or a girl?”
“A girl.” Kissy blushed and added. “I can become more beautiful.”
She covered her face with her fins and began to swell up until she nearly burst. By doing this she became uglier if it was possible to be uglier.
“All right, all right there’s no more need of doing it! I’m Rob. I don’t like girls but you are a funny one, so don’t be afraid no matter what you hear people talking about me!”
Kissy returned to her initial shape looking at him in adoration with her big mismatched eyes.
“Let’s try this game with the stick again.” He bent to pick up the broken stick.
When he looked around there was no one.
Rob rubbed his eyes.
“Kissy, Kissy!” he called out for a while but there was no trace of his new acquaintance.
“Kissy,” he repeated to himself as he returned home.
Chapter 16
“LALA!”
HE WAS EAGER to tell her about his strange meeting. But Lala was busy running around with Tettie on her shoulders, both screaming in laughter as Fatzy Dembo was chasing them accompanied by Byron lured by the promise of a leftover bone.
“Lala!” Rob tried to draw her attention and grabbed her by the arm. That caused her dropping Tettie who hitting the floor wailed in pain.
“Lala, do you remember the black pebble?” Pressed Rob but Fatzy Dembo gave him a good shovel and Byron was behind him just in time so Rob could trip and follow Tettie on the floor.
He was not in a fighting mood so he slowly got up and helped Lala scooping Tettie in her arms. Fatzy Dembo triumphant with his victory over Rob took Byron out to continue the chasing game.
Gloomily Rob went to the sink and began to wash his socks. He inserted a bar of soap into one of the socks, then hung it around the tap, letting the water run through the sock. When the soap was completely gone down the drain that meant the sock was washed. Soon it was time for the second one.
Chapter 17
THE LAKE WAS CHANGING colour. Rob noticed that its waters were turning greener. All his senses were screaming at him that something unusual was going on.
Kissy waited for him with presents: a little frog and a dead fish.
“Where did you find that fish?” Rob frowned in disgust.
“It’s a gift from the lake.” Kissy gave him a disarming smile. “For you.”
“But it’s dead!”
“What’s the difference?” Kissy asked innocently.
“It worries me! And the lake’s turning green!”
“It’s so beautiful!” insisted Kissy, admiring the dead fish. “And the lake becomes more and more beautiful. What have you brought?” she peered pointing at the Teddy Bear that Rob had snitched from Tettie, the only one allowed to play with it, and was now hiding behind his back.
“You can hold him. Teddy Bear, please meet Miss Kissy.”
“And who’s Teddy Bear?” Kissy stretched out her fins and embraced the shabby soft toy.
“Once he used to be a mother.”
“What’s mother? A game or what?” There was a look of genuine interest on Kissy’s face.
Rob seized the toy and wrung it out.
“How could you be so ignorant, so stupid?” He raged angrily. “Don’t you have a mother to teach you manners?
