Featherlight, Peter Bunzl [best ebook reader for laptop .txt] 📗

First published in 2021 in Great Britain by

Barrington Stoke Ltd

18 Walker Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7LP

This ebook edition first published in 2021

www.barringtonstoke.co.uk

Text © 2021 Peter Bunzl

Illustration © 2021 Anneli Bray

Chapter heading illustration © 2021 Evan Hollingdale

The moral right of Peter Bunzl and Anneli Bray to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in any part in any form without the written permission of the publisher

A CIP catalogue record for this book is availablefrom the British Library upon request

ISBN: 978-1-80090-041-7

For Paula

CONTENTS

1  After Midnight

2  A Night-Time Goodbye

3  My Shooting Star

4  The Lighthouse

5  Completing the Chores

6  Around the Island

7  Lighting the Lantern

8  A Lost Bird

9  An Unexpected Arrival

10  Grandma Darling

11  Bedtime Stories

12  A Wild Storm

13  A Bright Hope

14  A Rescue

15  A Dying Light

16  A Little Brother

1

AFTER MIDNIGHT

Mum shakes me awake in the middle of the night. She is sitting on the end of my bed and her face looks worried. Outside my window, the light from the lighthouse sweeps across the bay.

“Mum,” I ask. “What’s the matter?”

“The baby’s coming early, Deryn,” Mum replies. “I have to go to the mainland and get help.”

Mum sounds scared. Panic makes my chest feel all spiky.

“I need you to fetch your father,” Mum says to me.

I scramble to my feet and put on my slippers. My hand shakes as I light the oil lamp at my bedside. A book of fairy tales I was reading before I went to sleep slips from the table. It falls to the floor with a loud crash.

Mum picks the book up and shuts it. “Hurry!” she cries.

I leave her and race out. The rooms in our cottage are dark and silent. The only sounds I can hear are the creak of the wind on the roof tiles and the wash of waves in the distance.

I push open the door that leads to the lighthouse. The stone walls inside curve around in a circle. A thick pipe sprouts from the floor to the top of the tower, taking oil from the tanks in the cellar up to the light.

I climb the spiral stairs, holding the lamp in front of me, and open the door at the top.

This is the keeper’s office. My favourite room in the lighthouse. The pipe runs right up into here. Beside the pipe is a writing desk and a curved bookcase full of books on the sea, ships, tides, flags, stars and nature. Books about the birds and animals that live on our island. They contain everything you need to know to be a lighthouse keeper.

My dad is sitting in his armchair, writing in his red logbook. His lantern, flask of tea and telescope are on the table beside him. A fire crackles in the grate of the stove by Dad’s feet. He’s been up here all night, keeping an eye on the ocean and checking on the lantern light upstairs. It’s the most important part of his job. The light from the lighthouse keeps people at sea safe.

“What is it, Deryn?” Dad asks when he sees me.

“It’s Mum,” I say. “She needs you.”

And Dad knows exactly what I mean.

“Come on,” he says, standing up and taking his coat from the back of the door.

2

A NIGHT-TIME GOODBYE

In the cottage, Dad finds Mum’s leather bag, which she has already packed in preparation for this day. Then Mum, Dad and I set out across the island towards the jetty.

It is a Sunday night in late October and there are no boats in the bay. Every few seconds, the lighthouse beam sweeps across us. Dad links his arm with Mum’s, while I walk ahead. I’m carrying Dad’s lantern so we can see our way along the path in the dark when the flashing light is facing the other way.

We are the only people who live on this island, and the lighthouse and cottage are the only buildings here. The sea around us is filled with rocks that are as sharp as swords. As sharp as your worst worries.

Those rocks are hidden beneath the waves. They can sinks ships and take your life. They have killed many people in the past, and they will cut you to shreds if you let them. That’s why the lighthouse is here, to warn of those dangers.

But Mum and Dad will be all right in our small boat. Dad is a good sailor and knows how to navigate in the dark. And tonight the sea is calm.

Soon the jetty and the boat are in view. Gentle waves lap against the stony beach and the boat’s hull. Dad steps down into the boat, and I pass him the lantern.

Mum hugs me goodbye. I put my hand on her belly, which is as round as a ball. The baby kicks beneath my palm and Mum winces.

“I will miss you,” I say.

“I won’t be gone long, Deryn,” Mum says. She’s smiling, but her eyes are full of worry.

“Why don’t you let me come along?” I blurt out. “I could look after you.”

This will be my first time alone on the island. I haven’t ever been away from my parents before, and they have never been away from me.

“I’ll be fine,” Mum tells me. She wipes a wisp of hair from my face and kisses my cheek. “We’re going to stay with Grandma, like I did when you were born. Your dad will fetch the midwife, and she and Grandma will both be there to help me during the birth.”

“What about me?” I ask. “What should I do?”

“You’ve got the most important job,” Mum says. “You must stay