“Poor lad,” says Betty. “You’re all wore out.”
They carry him up to bed and put on his pyjamas and lay him down in Paul’s bed, below Paul’s photo.
Betty and Bert sit on the bed.
Bert tells the tale of “The Little Mermaid”.
Angelino sighs with happiness as he listens.
When the tale is done, Betty switches out the light.
“Night-night, son,” they both whisper.
“Night-night,” whispers Angelino. “Nighty-night.”
That night they all sleep long and deep and dreamless sleeps.
The next morning, still in her dressing-gown, Betty goes in to wake Angelino.
“Come on, sleepyhead,” she whispers.
He smiles at her through the morning light.
She lifts him up. She puts her arms around him. He’s grown, yet again, and everything’s different.
Betty looks down, over his shoulder. Angelino’s wings are left behind. They lie there on the bed where he’s been sleeping.
“Angelino!” she gasps. “Bert, come and see!”
Angelino giggles.
This all happened several years ago. Bert and Betty kept the wings, of course. They wrapped them in soft white paper and kept them in a nice clean wooden box. Sometimes they take the wings from the box, just to touch them gently and to look at them fondly, to remind themselves of how their Angelino used to be, before he turned into an ordinary little lovely boy.
Also by David Almond
A Song for Ella Grey
The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon
The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas
Clay
Counting Stars
The Fire-Eaters
Half a Creature from the Sea: A Life in Stories
Harry Miller’s Run
Heaven Eyes
Kit’s Wilderness
Mouse Bird Snake Wolf
My Dad’s a Birdman
My Name Is Mina
Secret Heart
Skellig
Slog’s Dad
The Tightrope Walkers
The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used
fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information
and material of any other kind contained herein are included for
entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for
accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.
First published 2017 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
Text © 2017 David Almond (UK) Ltd
Illustrations © 2017 Alex T. Smith
and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
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.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-7528-2 (ePub)
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