I’ll go and see him tonight, thought Mary, and with a feeling of happy satisfaction, she slid under the steaming water.

10

Cousins

Mary was creeping cautiously along the corridor toward Colin’s room that night when she heard someone coming. She hid in a doorway and listened. Colin’s bedroom door opened.

“No, please, Mrs. Medlock!” she heard him beg. “I don’t like it. It tastes horrible. It makes my stomach burn.”

“I know you don’t like it, Colin,” said Mrs. Medlock, “but your father says you must have it. It’s going to make you well.”

Mary heard Colin sob. “It won’t. Nothing will. Please . . .”

“Colin, it’s either the medicine or the brace,” said Mrs. Medlock firmly. “Now come along. Be good and it will soon be over.”

Colin screamed and Mary swallowed, feeling her own insides twist. Although she had heard the cries before, it was different now she knew that it was Colin making them. Her hands balled into fists. She wanted to run in and shout at Mrs. Medlock, to grab the medicine from her and throw it away so Colin never had to take it again. Why did he need medicine anyway? He was pale and thin, but he didn’t look dreadfully ill.

After a few minutes, Mary heard Mrs. Medlock leaving. “I shall come back later, when you’ve calmed down,” she said, shutting the door with a shake of her head.

Mary pressed herself into the shadows. She could only imagine how much trouble she’d be in if she was found. She waited a few more minutes and then crept along the corridor and opened Colin’s door.

He jumped. There were tears on his face. He wiped them with his hand and turned away from her. She could tell he was trying to compose himself, that he didn’t want her to see him crying.

“Sometimes I need to be medicated.” He spoke in a stiff, stilted voice as if he felt the need to explain. “My father says it’s for my own benefit. I never see him. He’s much too busy, but it’s what the doctors told him.” He took a breath and turned to look at her. “I thought you wouldn’t visit again.”

“I decided I wanted to,” Mary said.

Her eyes fell on something on the far side of the room—a wheelchair! She hadn’t noticed it the day before. She went over and sat down in it. “Is this your chair? Can’t you walk? Is that why you have it?”

“That is not your business. Don’t touch it!” Colin said crankily.

“It moves well,” said Mary, swinging from side to side in it. “Do you want me to help you into it, then we can go and explore together? I could push you!”