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There was a loud angry female voice from somewhere unseen “BRENDAN! WHAT THE BUGGERY ARE YOU DOING YOU PENIS?!”
Brendan froze with a look of dread and guilt on his face “I broke a promise.” he whispered and then he coughed. It was a long wet, hacking, whole body shuddering, lung lacerating coughed that made him double in pain clutching at his chest. He looked up at Jane and his eyes were bloodshot and face was a sickly green/grey colour; she had seen that colour before as child, in a hospital, when her grandfather… she wiped that image out of her mind and went to move towards Brendan. He saw her move and he straighten up and he was normal again, or as normal as he ever got.
“I must away!” Brendan shouted heroically as he swung the vacuum cleaner between his legs and yelled “High Ho Hoover, away!” and using the vacuum like a hobby horse he ‘galloped’ off toward the huge wardrobe and some how managed to get down the side of it and disappeared.
Wurgurrawoh looked down at Gertrude “The cough?” the question sounded cold and hard and it hung in air until Gertrude said quietly.
“I did say things were getting worse.” Gertrude looked down at her front paws.
“What’s wrong with him?” Jane asked feeling the tears building up in her eyes.
Gertrude turned her head towards Jane but couldn’t bring herself to look at her. “They’re dying.”
Jane blinked as the tears gathered in her eyes lashes. Jane could feel she was about sob great sorrowful tears of misery but a female voice form behind her made her manage to sniff them back before it was too late.
“Oi you, Jane.”
Jane slowly turned around and stared at the woman who she had never seen before, Jane was mostly staring at what the woman was wearing and carrying in her arms.
Brenda looked at Jane waiting for her to say something, which Jane didn’t.
“Where I am?” Brenda asked Jane eventually.
“Ummm…” answered Jane very unsatisfactorily in Brenda’s opinion.
“You just saw me didn’t you?”
“Sorry?”
“I was here just now; where did I go?”
“I…?”
“Oh no! You like me don’t you!? What did I do?”
“I’m sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about.”
Brenda huffed at Jane and went to stand in front of Gertrude’s high chair and Jane was still staring at what Brenda was wearing and carrying.
Brenda was as tall and slim as Brendan but she was more curvy and shapely. She also had chestnut coloured hair only hers was a shade or two lighter than Brendan’s; her hair was also longer then his but right now it was tied up on the top of her head in one of those very trending ‘messy buns’. Her face wasn’t long like Brendan’s it was more oval shaped but she did have the high cheek bones, they were more delicacy graceful than Brendan’s sharp ones. And her eyes were just as dazzling. Her irises had thin circles of bright gold round them next to the pupils, the gold slowly faded to a light hazel colour and towards the outer edges of her irises they turned to a dark but brilliant green. Brenda was wearing a black t-shirt that was a too big for her and it had a square picture printed on the front; the picture was the cover of the Adam and the Ants album ‘Kings of the Wild Frontier’ she was also wearing trousers, of a sort. Brenda’s trousers took Jane a little while to work out, but what Brenda was carrying was a big clue that helped. The trousers were big, baggy and made from an almost furry brown fabric and they were held up by a pair of big black braces that went over Brenda’s shoulders; the legs of the trousers ended with big dark brown plastic fake hoofs that covered her shoes. Brenda was carrying in her arms, with a little difficulty, a big brown, slightly furry, head of a pantomime horse.
Jane watched as Brenda struggled to put the pantomime horse head under her left arm, bent forwards and point her right forefinger at Gertrude’s nose.
“Where I am?” said Brenda to the cat sternly, she then softened and scratching Gertrude behind her right ear and said in a baby voice “Who’s a little cutie-wooty then?” Gertrude went weak kneed and silly again until Brenda stopped doing it and stood up straight because she was dropping the head of a pantomime horse and had to grab it with both hands. “Come on Gert’ where did I go?”
Gertrude nodded towards the huge wardrobe saying “He went that way.”
Brenda turned and looked at the wardrobe “Little sod.” She then turned back to the cat really sharply and angary asked “What did I do? What?”
Gertrude didn’t react to the sudden movement but simply said “He did a rather fine interpretation of Queen’s I want to Break Free.”
“NO!” Brenda tuned round raised the pantomime horse’s head high above her head with both hands and threw hard and angrily down on the carpet “He promise!” she shouted “He Promised I could watch!” she calmed down a little and turning back to Gertrude she said in a disappointed voice “He’s been working on that for months, he promised. Was it any good?”
“It was wonderful!” said Jane without thinking.
Brenda looked at Jane with such a disappointed look on her face that Jane felt really sorry for her. Brenda then tutted and said “Typical. I miss it.”
“I’m sure he will do it again, just for you.” Wurgurrawoh said encouragingly .Brenda snapped round to look at him, she clearly hadn’t noticed that he was there.
“Oh my darling!” Brenda squealed rushing towards him with her arms outstretched. Jane thought they were about to hug and kiss and she was not at all sure she’d like to watch that. But instead Brenda stop in front of Wurgurrawoh and stroked both side of his face with her hands and looked lovingly into his eyes, Jane didn’t like much either. Then Brenda slapped Wurgurrawoh hard across the face with her right hand really hard, Jane did quite like that. “Where have you been? Nineteen eighty nine! Nineteen bloody eighty nine was the last time you came here, some damned friend you are!”
“I’m sorry Brenda..” said Wurgurrawoh reaching out with his right hand and touching her softly on the top of her left arm “But you did ask me not to came back, remember?”
Brenda froze with a look of dread and guilt on her face “I did say that.” And she began to cough. Her cough wasn’t as bad as Brendan’s and she didn’t turn the green/grey colour but she still look very ill and Jane was getting upsetting as she watched.
Wurgurrawoh now had a hand on each of the tops of Brenda’s arms and he looked thoroughly worried: Brenda looked him in eyes, she had gone very pale “This time might be the last.” she whispered.
“No Brenda, it won’t be.” Wurgurrawoh was so worried he now sounded annoyed.
“My fault.” Brenda said this so quietly Jane barely heard her but she did really hear Wurgurrawoh’s reply; his voice was deep and heavy on the bass and full of authority.
“It was not your fault Hasdiel!”
The penny that had been patiently waiting for Jane to finally catch on saw its moment, and dropped. Jane covered her mouth with a hand in shock.
Brenda straightened up and she was normal again but she said “Hasdiel doesn’t live here anymore.” She step backwards out of Wurgurrawoh’s hands turned and ran to the pantomime horse’s head, picked it up and ran towards the huge wardrobe shouting “Brendan where are you?” and disappeared just as Brendan had.
Wurgurrawoh sighed “Damn.” as he looked over to Jane. Jane was wide eyed and teary eyed; slowly she took her hand away from her open month.
“They are both Hasdiel?” Jane was in a weird kind of shock more because she hadn’t worked it out sooner, all the clues were there (they were, weren’t they? I bet you knew, didn’t you? Come on Jane keep up!)
“Yes.” Wurgurrawoh answered with a crack in his voice. Can demons cry? Jane thought to herself but she said
“And that’s not normal for angels?”
“No. Most definitely not.”
“How did it happen?”
“Oh…” said Gertrude “I forgot. I was going to explain that to you.”
And I bet you thought I had forgotten about that too, right?
Chapter Twenty
Mount Vesuvius And The Broken Wings