Free A Girl Called Blue by Marita Conlon-Mckenna Page A

turned her attention to her own work. One set, two sets – ignoring the stiffness and pain in her fingers she worked on. Then, quickly, she let two smooth, grey beads slip into her pocket. Shewas collecting beads, saving them up for a special purpose. The nuns regularly checked the beads, counting them carefully, but there were always a few that fell on the workroom floor and disappeared between the gaps in the floorboards, or that cracked or chipped and were unusable, so Blue didn’t consider it stealing to take a few for herself.
    Sinead gave a sudden cry and, out of the corner of her eye, Blue saw the almost-full basket of beads wobble and spill out all over the bench, beads running madly in all directions. Sinead was frantically trying to catch them as they tumbled on to the floor. Sister Rita was on her feet immediately, barking the order to them all:
    ‘Help her, and be careful where you step!’
    They all stopped working and rushed over to help. Blue managed to scoop a few into her pocket as the girls crowded around Sinead, who was bent down on the floor, her skinny arms and hands scrabbling for the tiny beads. At last they had rescued as many as they could.
    Blue slipped back to her own part of the bench, a big grin on her face. She had almost enough beads now to put her plan into action.
    ‘Girls, back to your work!’ called Sister Rita. ‘Sinead, you will have to stay on to finish off the set you’re working on.’
    ‘But what about my tea?’ wailed Sinead.
    Blue looked up. She had total sympathy for the girl. The meals in Larch Hill were hardly appetising, and they were certainly not filling, but if you missed one it meant a rumbling stomach andhunger pains till the next day.
    ‘That will depend on your work being finished.’
    Sinead’s lip wobbled. Blue and the other girls stared over and gave her the thumbs-up, hoping she wouldn’t give the nun the satisfaction of crying.
    ‘Yes, Sister,’ Sinead said, ramming a bead on to the wire and twisting it firmly into place, determined not to cry over the two slices of bread or the curdled scrambled egg that passed for tea.

CHAPTER 12
The Fancy Dress Party
    Everyone in Larch Hill was bursting with excitement in anticipation of the annual summer fancy dress party arranged by the visiting committee every July. Blue loved dressing up and pretending to be somebody else. It was like being part of some strange game. Everyone planned their costume in secret. All through the previous week Blue hid scraps of material with her secret stash of beads. She collected bird feathers from the unlikeliest of places around the yard and garden, even tearing a little piece of her pillow to get the final few she needed, taking care to re-stitch it before Sister Carmel saw it.
    On the day of the fancy dress the dormitory was crazy, everyone rushing around gathering their stuff and trying to pin or sew their outfits together.
    ‘Blue, help me get this witch’s hat to stay on my head,’ begged Lil, the black-painted cardboard cone toppling over again and again, refusing to stay on her thick curls.
    ‘I’ll get some hair clips and clip it round the side,’ Blueoffered. At last it stayed on, even if it was still a bit precarious.
    ‘What are you going as, Blue?’ asked Lil. But Blue wasn’t ready to reveal her secret yet. She stared around the dormitory at all the others.
    Mary, Jess and Sarah had obviously got together on their outfits. They shrieked with laughter as they wrapped themselves in white sheets and made ghostly wailing noise, chasing each other around the room and trying to scare people. Their eyes stared out from the scissor-cuts they’d made in the sheets they’d taken from the mending cupboard. Joan and Derval were cowboys, with waistcoats and guns made from silver paper and cardboard, and two cowboy hats they’d borrowed from Derval’s brother. Joan had tied a scarf around her neck, and a big piece of rope hung from her waist like a lasso. Already she