Free Catcall by Linda Newbery Page A

extra-sensory perception since Jennie had been born. I followed, but Jennie was lying peacefully in her crib, clenching and unclenching her fists the way she did sometimes, and Jamie was curled up on the sofa, still with his Leo mask on, looking at my wildlife magazine. I looked at Mum. Had she thought Jamie might hurt Jennie?
    ‘Tea in ten minutes, boys,’ Mum said.
    She’d already forgotten that Jamie only answered to
Leo.

    W e were eating apple pie when I heard the rumble and clatter of Mike’s van on the driveway. He was late, because he’d been trying to finish a job in Cricklewood. I thought Jamie would have to take off his mask to eat–Mum hadn’t tried to make him, but had watched to see what he’d do. What he did, he pushed it up for each mouthful, then pulled it back quickly while he chewed and swallowed, hiding himself. He wouldn’t look at me or Mum, or join in the conversation.
    What if he really had been taken over by something, some spirit of Leo or Lion that had turned him into a different person? What if the eyes behind the mask weren’t Jamie’s, but the glaring amber eyes of a lion? I tried to concentrate on eating my pie and making things seem normal. This was just stupid. If I got frightened of my own brother, what use would I be?
    Mike came in, all dusty and cement-spattered in his overalls. Instead of giving us all a hug as usual, he stared at Jamie, surprised by the mask. Jamie stared back through the eye-slits. There was an odd stillness about him. A lion waiting to spring, I thought. There really was a stranger at our table. But Mike recovered quickly.
    ‘Wow, Jamie!’ he said. ‘That’s stupendous! Did you make it? You’ll scare Splodge–he’ll think there’s an intruder in the house!’
    ‘He’s Leo,’ I told Mike. ‘You have to call him Leo.’
    Mike looked astonished. He always goes upstairs to change out of his work clothes as soon as he’s home from work, but today was different.
    ‘Come and sit down,’ Mum told him. ‘We’re having tea–Josh, me and Leo. Say hello to Mike, Leo.’
    ‘I’m Leo. You can’t tell me what to do,’ said Jamie in his Leo voice.
    Very slowly, holding out his hands to the table to steady himself, Mike sat down. ‘Hello, Leo,’ he said.
    Jamie nodded his head sternly.
    ‘Have you come to live with us?’ Mike gave a quick glance at Mum to check he was doing it right.
    ‘I might stay for a bit,’ Jamie said. ‘I live wherever I want. I’m Leo.’
    ‘Well, we’re very pleased to have you here,’ Mike said. He looked at the plates on the table. ‘Have you had something nice to eat? What do you like, I wonder? Pilchards? Minced rabbit?’
    ‘I’ve eaten, thank you,’ Jamie said.
    ‘You mustn’t joke with Leo,’ I whispered to Mike. ‘He’s a lion, a proud lion, not an ordinary cat.’
    Mike nodded, then continued to Jamie: ‘How did you manage to eat your tea with the mask on?’
    Jamie showed no sign of having heard. I thought: while he’s Leo, it isn’t a mask–it’s
him
. That’s why he won’t answer.
    ‘He pushed the mask up to put food in his mouth,’ Mum explained. ‘And down again while he chewed.’
    ‘I eat what I like,’ Jamie said. ‘And I like baked beans.’ It was almost his normal voice.
    ‘Good, so do I.’ Mike darted another look at Mum. ‘Have you left me any?’ I could see that they both felt the way I had at school–fidgety with excitement, sure that we’d almost got Jamie back.
    We hadn’t. Only Jamie-as-Leo.
    When it was Jamie’s bedtime, I went upstairs to fetch my Book of Cats. With difficulty, Mum persuaded him to take off the Leo face. ‘You can wear it again tomorrow, if you want.’
    Reluctantly, Jamie lifted off the mask and put it on the low table between our two beds.
    ‘Have you cleaned your teeth?’
    No answer.
    ‘Would you like a story?’
    No answer.
    Without the mask, Jamie was shut back into silence.

14
    L OO -B RUSH

    W e’d all been so busy with Jamie that I