Life Swap

Stone Cold Nowhere

"Stand still, Olivia...this will only take a minute, and it is freezing outside...I don't want you catching a cold on top of everything else!" Caroline said, as our train stopped in Victoria Station and all the rest of the passengers streamed out, heading for the next stage of their journeys. She was busy buttoning up my pale pink coat over the pink and white sailor dress, which she had taken off when we got inside the warm carriage at Redhill, but I was just so desperate to get moving, I could not stop fidgeting whilst she fussed. "Sweetheart...do please calm down...you will wear yourself out before we even get to the museum at this rate?"

"I just want to get there," I moaned as Charles buttoned up Chloe.

"Do we all get a wish, Mummy?" Grace asked, innocently, standing beside me.

"Oh, yes...as many as you like, dear...but they won't all come true," Caroline grinned, as I rolled my eyes. I was a bag of nerves, which was why I just wanted to get to the museum and touch the Dream Stone. "But I think we will let Olivia go first...because she is so excited, I am rather afraid she might explode, otherwise!"

"Come on, Mummy...stop fussing over the poor child...she is desperate to get to a museum for heaven's sake!" Charles laughed, before chivying us all out onto the platform. "Olivia, if you try to turn the eagerness down a notch or two to mollify your poor mother, I will run to a taxi, which will get us there in next to no time, even if Mummy does fuss!"

"If you want your children to freeze!" Caroline grumbled, punching his arm, but we were off at long last, and although there were some agonising traffic snarl ups, it was quicker. I dragged on Caroline's hand the whole way in, trying to make her hurry, but then, finally, we joined the mercifully short queue at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Dream Stone. "Where were you on the steps when those awful boys attacked it, Olivia?"

"Right at the top, Mummy."

"That's really high?" Grace said, in apparent awe. "Did you fall down?"

"I'm not really sure...everything was shaking because the boys were jumping up and down a lot, but then everything went black...and then Mrs Cooper was waking me up, down here on the floor?" I replied, as she took my hand, clearly shocked by what had happened to me, and how high the platform was. I had to admit that looking at it from that point of view, I had been quite a long way off the ground when the rampage began, and if I had fallen back down the steps, I was lucky not to have broken my neck, before remembering something. "There was an old man near us...he walked with a stick...I hope he didn't get hurt?"

"Well, there will be no bouncing today," Charles said decisively as he climbed onto the first step. "And I don't think anyone was badly hurt, sweetheart. Now, remember...Olivia's report tells you what to do...think really righteous thoughts and only wish for nice things...such as Arsenal winning the Champion's League?"

"Daddy!" I protested, and he swooped me up in his strong arms, laughing with me.

"Okay...how about the FA Cup? Go on...you go first...get these demons out of your head or whatever is making you so obsessed with this huge lump of rock...and then we can go and have some proper fun!"

So, I went first, shaking with nerves but trying not to let anyone see. There were a few people in front of me still, but I was getting my wish straight in my head, and took no notice. And then I was there, staring at the heart of the Stone, a smooth circle that was probably as much the result of thousands of people laying their hands on it over the years as mother nature. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, not even looking back at Charles, who I knew was right behind me, and laid Olivia's tiny hands on the cold, hard surface. And I let the Dream Stone read my mind, going over my wish, explaining the situation, and asking to go back to my old life. I felt a cold shiver run up my arms and then real heat beneath my palms, as my head started to swirl and ache, and then it was over just as soon as it had begun. There had been something there inside my head, for just a moment, but then it was gone. Charles took my hand, and moved me aside, as Grace and Chloe giggled deliciously, making their wishes together, and then Caroline the skeptic, joined in. I stood there watching her close her eyes, as my pulse returned slowly to normal, breathing deeply.