Free Head Spinners by Thalia Kalkipsakis Page B

roots.
    â€˜Wow!’ I said. ‘How did you do that?’
    Splash jumped proudly and landed back in the bucket.
    I picked up the stick and peered at it. Tiny, bright-green leaves had formed on the ends of the twigs.
    This was amazing! Splash didn’t just know how to re-form herself; she could bring other things back to life. I’d pulled the stick off an apple tree at my cousin’s farm last year. It had been chewed and chucked around ever since then.
    Now here it was in my hands, alive again.
    Splash turned in the bucket and jumped like a dolphin, trying to see out, I guessed.
    When she saw Monty’s old collar hooked on the end of my bed, she stopped jumping and swished in the water again. It looked as if she was working up to something.
    With another jump and a clever flick of her tail, Splash sprinkled water over the collar.
    I watched with one hand over my mouth, almost too amazed to breathe.
    For a moment, I thought the collar had disappeared. I peered close, trying to see what was going on.
    The collar had disappeared. At the end of my bed stood something dark-brown and tiny. It looked up at me and said, ‘Mooooer.’

    â€˜A cow!’ I yelled. ‘A cow!’
    A teensy weensy tiny little cow stood in front of me! I wanted to kiss the fish and hug the cow. It was all so amazing. Splash was bringing life to things that were already dead!
    She jumped proudly and landed back in the bucket.
    I knelt beside my bed and peered at the cow. ‘You’re so small!’ I whispered. It sniffed the quilt and tried to nibble. Then it looked up at me and blinked.
    When I turned to Splash, she was low in the water, curled around the side of the bucket. She looked as if she was resting.
    The cow was wandering around my bed. I didn’t want it to fall off, so I arranged some pillows along the edge. Then I found my old farm set at the back of my wardrobe and set up the fence under my bed. If Connor came snooping in here, or worse, Mum . . .
    As I worked, I thought about the things that Splash had done. New leaves and roots on an apple-tree branch were amazing. But a real live cow? Monty’s collar had turned into a cow.
    I leaned back on my heels, thinking and watching the cow.
    The collar had been made of leather, and leather came from cows . . . It wasn’t just any cow in front of me, it must have been the same cow that had been used to make Monty’s collar. The same, except smaller.
    Years ago, a normal-sized version of that cow had been wandering through a paddock, just like this tiny one in front of me.
    It was a strange feeling.
    I didn’t feel sad about the cow, or angry at the people who had killed it. But I did feel weird, as we had been connected to the cow all this time and didn’t know it – like a neighbour who you live next to for years and never find out their name.
    I herded the cow into a box with my hand, and released it under my bed. Then I found a plastic lid and filled it with water from the bathroom for the cow to drink. Perfect.
    Now that the cow was safe, I looked around my room as though seeing it with new eyes. What other things could Splash bring back to life? I had feathers in my quilt, sheepskin boots – there were so many things. But I didn’t have time for that yet.
    Splash needed worms. The stick needed soil. And the cow needed grass. I had jobs to do.
    Morning sun was shining through the window in the kitchen when I walked in.
    â€˜Jamie?’ Mum looked up from beside the coffee maker.
    Connor was standing at the bench, yawning and pouring rice bubbles into a bowl.
    â€˜Morning!’ I called, and kept going. There wasn’t much point talking to Mum these days. I was tired of her watching me with worried eyes.
    In the backyard I found the ice-cream container Connor used to collect worms and filled it with fresh soil. Through the kitchen window, I could see Mum watching me work. I ignored her as I pulled