Page 2 of The Two Halves of My Heart

For the next hour, we raced about, catching each other, releasing and swapping who got to race around. The smell of the sweet grass and the warmth of the sun completed the perfect afternoon. Neither Maddison nor Oliver shouted at each other like the first time I’d watched them. They still wore the smiles they had on the first day, but they swapped the yelling with sniggers of laughter and warnings of ‘run faster’, or ‘you’re it’.

All too soon, Oliver announced our time was up, and we walked back home. Mum was waiting on the drive for us. “Right then, you two. Want to take us back to yours?”

They both turned around and started walking, almost running to lead the way. We crossed the green and headed to the far end of the lane. We were just out of view from our house, and then we crossed over the small bridge and followed the road around the corner. We passed a small farm which had a stable and horses in a side paddock. My heart lurched at the thought of learning to ride, and I turned to look at Mum.

“We’ll see, sweety.” Her smile was soft, and I knew she was thinking the idea through.

“This is us.” Maddison raced the last few metres up a small gravel driveway to an old cottage. Oliver stayed and walked with Mum and me.

“Mum! Grace’s mum is here to see you,” Maddison called through the house as we waited in the porch. I wanted to race in after him, but I knew it wasn’t polite, so I stayed put and resisted the urge to put my hand in Mums.

“Oh, hi. Come in. Come in.” A woman with a warm smile welcomed us. She was a little bit older than my mum. Her hair was curly at the ends and the colour of straw. “You must be Grace.” She looked at me.

I nodded, and then she looked at my mum.

“I’m Charlie, Grace’s mum. I hope you don’t mind, but we’re new to the area, and it looks like Grace has made some new friends.”

“Not at all. I’m Vivien. It’s great that the boys have found a new friend.” Vivien invited us in.

Their house was much bigger than ours. As we walked in, the back opened up into a huge kitchen with a table to fit the whole family. They had wide glass doors leading out into their garden.

“Do you want to go and find Maddison? Your mum and I can talk?” Vivien encouraged me to go off, but I looked at Oliver. His lip quirked up at the edge, and he took my hand and pulled me through to the side room and up the stairs.

“He’ll be in his room. He always is.”

“Okay,” I said nervously. Oliver hadn’t let go of my hand, and I didn’t know if I liked him holding it or not. It was small, like mine, and clammy, but it made me feel like he wanted to be my friend.

“This is my room.” We’d stopped on the landing, and he’d pointed at a door, but we didn’t go in. “Maddison?”

“In here,” Maddison answered, and Oliver led me into the door opposite his. Maddison was sitting at his desk, frantically pressing buttons on a computer game console. He looked very serious, his eyes frowning at the screen.

“You can play that later. We can play with Grace now.” Oliver tried to get his brother’s attention, but Maddison didn’t seem interested.

A little of the excitement deflated from my chest realising that Maddison didn’t want to play now we were back at his house.

“Fine. Be like that. Come on, Grace.” Oliver pulled me out of Maddison’s room and over to his.

I lingered in the doorway, not sure about entering. The inside stifled the easy freedom that had come from playing outside.

“Want to see my dragons?”

“Dragons?” He’d captured my interest the very instant he uttered that word.

“Well, not real ones. I have these.” He opened a drawer next to his bed and pulled out several small figures—all different. Some small, some big. Their wings were all distinctive shapes, with colours painted on them in patterns. I loved them.

Oliver spent the next half hour explaining the different names and abilities of all of his dragons. I was in awe, of both the dragons and him. He told me he was two years older than Maddison, and that when I started school on Monday, I’d be in the same class as Maddison. They both went to the local primary school, too.

Vivien popped her head around the door a while later. I wasn’t keen to stop playing, but I guessed my mum was ready to go.

“See you at school?” I asked, hopeful that seeing Oliver would make my first day a little more stable.

“Sure.”

We went downstairs, and even Maddison came to say goodbye.

“The boys walk back from school. I’m sure they’d be happy to walk with Grace?” Vivien offered before we left.

“Oh, thank you. Maybe next year. Grace is a little young at the moment.”

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