Chapter 17 A Tantrum But Mary didn't see Colin the next day.
Instead, she worked in the garden until sunset.
She was very tired and went to bed soon after supper.
She decided to see her cousin the following afternoon.
In the middle of the night, dreadful noises awoke her.
She heard doors slamming and someone crying and screaming horribly.
Colin, she said, he's having hysterics.
Just listening made her feel sick and shivery.
She pressed her hands to her ears, but the noise was too loud.
She wanted to have a tantrum herself, to frighten Colin as much as he was frightening everyone else.
Mary hurried to Colin's room.
The closer she got, the louder were his screams.
She slapped open his door and ran to his bed.
You stop, she shouted.
I hate you.
Everybody does.
You'll scream yourself to death in a few minutes, and I wish you would.
She went on.
Her words were just the shock Colin needed.
He was lying on his stomach, jumping around like a caught fish.
His face was red and swollen as he gasped and choked, but Mary didn't care.
"'If you scream again, I'll scream louder than you!' she shouted.
"'I can't stop!' he wept.
"'I felt a lump on my back!'
Then he turned over and sobbed some more, but he didn't scream.
No, you didn't, Mary said fiercely.
If you felt something, it was imaginary, hysterical lump.
Let me look.
She called to the nurse.
Come show me his back, this minute.
The nurse, Mrs. Medlock, and Martha all huddled in the doorway.
The nurse seemed afraid to touch Colin, but he gasped in fear.
She Show her.
Then she'll see.
The nurse gently pulled down Colin's nightshirt to expose his spine.
Colin was pitifully thin, and his ribs showed.
Mary examined his back with her most solemn expression.
There's not a single lump, she proclaimed at last. nothing but backbone.
You can feel it because you're so thin, but there's not a lump as big as a pin.
If you ever say it again, I'll just laugh.
No one had spoken to him this way before and the adults didn't know about his secret fear, and he had never known other children who might have told him the truth.
Now Mary was so angry and cross that he almost believed her.
The nurse said, I didn't know he thought he had a lump.
His back is weak from disuse, but there's no lump.
There isn't?
Colin asked with a sob.
None at all, sir, the nurse replied.
Do you think I could live to grow up?
For a change, Mary heard him speak like a real boy, not a Raja.
The nurse told him what the London doctor had said.
You probably will, if you do as you're told.
Control your temper and get plenty of fresh air.
Colin felt worn out and became gentler.
Mary, too, was not angry anymore.
He put out his hand for her to take.
I'd like to go out with you, Colin said.
I won't hate fresh air if we can find... He stopped himself.
He'd almost said the secret garden.
Then he said, I'd like to go out if Dickon would push my chair.
I'd like to meet Dickon and his animals.
The nurse brought the children cups of tea, and Mrs. Medlock and Martha slipped away.
The nurse told Colin that he needed to sleep, but that Mary could stay for another half hour.
When the nurse had gone, Colin squeezed Mary's hand.
I almost told them about the secret garden, he said anxiously.
But I stopped myself.
Have you found a way in yet?
Mary looked into his red, swollen eyes.
Yes, she said softly.
I think I have.
If you go to sleep, I'll tell you everything tomorrow.
Won't you tell me what you imagine it looks like?
Colin begged.
This was better than picture books.
You can pretend you've seen it.
Colin's eyes were already heavy, so Mary talked him to sleep.
She told him how the rose vines might climb over the walls and hang from tree branches and how daffodils and snowdrops might be growing underground.
She told him how the birds might build their nests there, where it was safe and quiet.
Colin very happily fell asleep.
