The Red Room Read Online Free

echoing inside, like
the beat of a drum." I paused. They were silent
now, their mouths open. "But nobody came, and more
and more big black birds screeched around them,
until there was a dark cloud of birds in the sky.
Black birds and flashes of lightning, and
rumbles of thunder, and the branches of trees swaying
in the wind. So Megan pushed hard on the door
and it swung open, with a squeaky creak. Amy
took the oil lamp from the entrance, and together the two
little girls went into the ruined house. They held
hands and stared around.
"There was a passageway, with water running
down the walls. They followed it until they
came to a room. It was painted all blue, with a
cold blue fountain bubbling in the middle and a high
blue ceiling, and they could hear the sound of waves
crashing on the shore. It was a room of water, of
oceans and faraway places, and it made them
feel that they were further from home than they had ever
been before. So they walked a bit further and came
to another room. It was a green room, with ferns
and trees in pots, and it reminded them of the parks
they liked playing in and made them feel more
homesick than they had ever felt before. So they
walked a bit further and came to a third room.
The door was shut. It was painted red. For some
reason they felt very scared of this room, before they
even opened the door."
"Why?" asked Megan. She reached out a hand
and I clasped it in my own.
"Behind the red door lay the red room. They
knew that inside this room was everything they were most
afraid of. Different things for Megan than for
Amy. What are you most scared of, Megan?"
"Dunno."
"What about being high up?"
"Yeah. And falling off a boat and dying. And
being dark. And tigers. And crocodiles."
"That's what was inside the red room for
Megan. And Amy?"
"Amy hates spiders," said Megan
gleefully. "She screams."
"Yeah, and poison snakes. Fireworks
exploding in my hair."
"OK. So what did Megan and 27
Amy do now?"
"Run away."
"No, they didn't. They wanted to see
inside. They wanted to see those tigers and boats
and crocodiles--was
"And poison snakes--was
"And poison snakes. So they pushed open the
door and they went into the red room, and they looked
around and it was red everywhere. It was red on the ceiling
and red on the walls and red on the floor."
"But what was in it?" asked Megan. "Where was
the crocodiles?"
I paused, nonplussed. What actually was in
the room? I hadn't thought of this bit of the story.
I toyed with the idea of a real live tiger that would
eat them both.
"There was a little stuffed tiger," I said. "And a
stuffed crocodile."
"And a stuffed snake."
"Yes, and a little toy boat and there was lovely
food to eat and a big lovely soft bed. And
Megan and Amy's parents. And they tucked them
up in the bed and gave them a big kiss and they
fell asleep."
"With a night-light."
"With a night-light."
"I want another story," Megan said.
I leaned down and kissed two grumpy
foreheads. "Next time," I said, backing out of the
room.
"Tailed off a bit at the end, I thought."
I started and looked round. Seb was smiling at
me. "Where did you get it from? The Bruno
Bettelheim collection of bedtime stories?"
He said it with a grin, but I answered him
seriously. "It was a dream I had in
hospital."
"But I don't suppose there were toys and a
warm bed in your red room."
"No."
"What was there?"
"I don't know," I said. I was lying. I
felt my stomach lurch at the memory of it.
----
Later, I refused the offer of a lift home
from my drunken friend who believed God was the Big
Bang, and walked the mile from Poppy and
Seb's to my flat in Clerkenwell. The cool,
damp wind blew in my face, and my scar tingled
faintly. The half-moon floated between 29
thin clouds, above the orange street-lamps. I
felt happy and sad and a little bit drunk. I'd
made my speech--about friendship helping me through,
all of the trite, true phrases about valuing