Little Boy Blue,
come blow your horn.
The sheep's in the meadow,
the cow's in the corn.
Where is that boy
who looks after the sheep?
Under the haystack,
fast asleep.
Will you wake him?
Oh no, not I.
For if I do,
he will surely cry.
Little Boy Blue
XXVI.
When Henry sees the bells in Mr. Gold's shop, he knows he's found the perfect present for Ms. Blanchard. They're all different sizes and colors, but Henry picks an old brass one, smaller than the others, barely bigger than his fist. The sound it makes when he rings it is light and high-pitched, like music.
It's perfect.
He puts it in his backpack and the bell rings quietly all the way home, a little song that makes him smile. He finds a pretty box and wraps it up carefully. He can't wait to give it to Ms. Blanchard.
He pictures her putting it on her desk at school. She'll ring it when class starts and ends and when she wants to get their attention.
He pictures her keeping it on the kitchen counter in her apartment. She'll ring it at dinnertime as a joke but then it'll become a habit and she'll do it all the time. It'll annoy Emma at first, but then she'll get used to it.
After the curse is broken, he pictures himself buying her a bell every year for her birthday. It won't be weird, because she'll be his grandmother, not just his teacher, and what kind of grandson would he be if he forgot her birthday?
Yes, he'll buy her a bell every year, and they'll all be different sizes and different sounds. And then, at Christmas, when they're all a family again, he and Emma and David and Ms. Blanchard, they'll play songs with the bells and sing Christmas carols and drink hot chocolate. With cinnamon, of course.
He hides the present under his backpack and with its muffled chimes, he imagines Ms. Blanchard's voice singing along.
Henry is good at pretending.