Page 59 of Releasing 10
Sitting around in a circle on the floor, the five of us played a game of Pass the Whisper, where we had to pass the same whisper to each other and the last person to hear the whisper said it out loud. Gibsie was the last person in our game, and he never got the whisper right. Instead, he said the strangest things that made me laugh so hard my belly ached.
“Lizzie, sweetheart, your father just called me,” Sinead Biggs said, walking into the lounge when we were halfway through another round of Pass the Whisper.
Sitting on the couch, she gestured for me to come to her, which I quickly did. I liked her a lot. She had brown eyes like Claire and a gentle voice.
“Your father is running late,” she said when I sat down next to her. “I didn’t know your mother’s in the hospital, sweetheart.”
“Your mam’s in hospital?” Claire asked, looking over at us from her spot in the circle. “Is she okay?”
I shrugged. “She has cancer.”
Her eyes widened. “What’s that?”
“Caoimhe’s at home, and your father asked me to drop you home to her, but I have a better idea.” Sinead took my hand in hers and smiled. It was a nice smile. Like how my mother smiled at me. “How would you like to go trick-or-treating with us first?”
“Yay, yay, yay!” Claire squealed before I could answer. “Please come, Lizzie.” Jumping to her feet, she ran over to the couch and climbed up beside me. “It’s so much fun, and we always get a ton of sweets.”
“Okay!” I laughed, shaking from the force with which my friend was tugging on my arm. “I’ll come.”
“Yay, yay, yay,” Claire cried out happily, still pulling on my arm. “Can she stay, Mam? Can Lizzie sleep over, too?” She leaned over me to grab her mother’s shoulders. “Please, Mam, please. Hughie always gets to have friends sleep over.” Scrambling over me, Claire plopped down on her mother’s lapand started to beg. “Please, Mammy,please! Hugh gets to have Patrick and Gerard sleep over tonight. I want Lizzie.”
Nobody had ever said that about me before.
But Claire did.
She said she wantedme.
My heart thumped with excitement.
“She can stay in my room, and I’ll share my teddies with her, I promise,” Claire continued to plead. “Please, Mammy, she’s my bestest friend.”
“Well, it’s fine by me, but maybe we should ask Lizzie what she wants to do first, hmm?” Sinead laughed. “How about it, sweetheart?” She turned to smile at me. “Would you like to stay for a sleepover with this crazy ball of energy?”
“Yes!” I practically screamed, unable to hold in my excitement. “Yes, please!”
“Are you keeping lookout?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, just do it, Hughie.”
“What if someone sees us, Gibs?”
“I’ve thrown two cartons already, and nobody caught me.”
“Yeah, but you’re lucky, and I’m always caught.”
“Oh my God, just do it, you big baby.”
“Fuck you, Feely. You do it.”
“Why me? I don’t have a problem with Old Murphy.”
“Yeah, only because the fucker didn’t burst your balls.”
“Guys, stop cursing.”
