The Tightrope Walkers (34 page)

We lifted her again and wandered on. We told her of the gentle silent wandering tramp, Jack Law, and we took her to his rock. A candle burned in there today. We slithered in, for there was room for two bodies and a tiny one. We gasped. Everything had changed. The sky was freshly painted blue, but there was no Heaven in it, no God, no angels. There was the sun, a flight of silhouetted birds. There were two trees with a cord between, two smiling dancing figures balancing on the cord with a baby held between them. Lower down were many figures, individuals and little groups, all human, wandering beside buildings, or through patches of bright green. There were boats on a river and on a distant sea that blended with the sky. And there was Jack himself, in mid-stride, heading upwards, bowed forward with his little rucksack on his back.

We sighed. The baby cooed.

We moved out of the rock as Jack came to us.

We lifted the baby into his arms. He smiled. He raised her high and gasped at the beauty of her in the light.

He brought her close to his scarred and gentle face.

He sang his high, wordless note.

“E-U,” he said to her.

And then he became still and held his breath and shaped his lips.

“Good,” he said. “G-good.”

“Goo,” replied Elaine. “Goo-goo.”

He smiled and sighed.

“Goo,” cried the bairn. “Goo-goo.”

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LSO BY
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AVID
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LMOND

Hardcover ISBN 978-0-7636-6309-4

Paperback ISBN 978-0-7636-7662-9

Also available as an e-book and in audio

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2014 by David Almond

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

First U.S. electronic edition 2015

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2014944915
ISBN 978-0-7636-7310-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7636-7704-6 (electronic)

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