Read Hello God for Free Online Page A

her story to all the kids in the ward, one chapter at a time.
    I looked at the kids in the other beds. They were about our age or a bit younger. Steph introduced me as her best friend, Kate. Everyone said hello except for the girl who was lying very still on her bed.
    We talked. Stephanie’s mum and dad arrived with books for her. They leaned over Stephanie and kissed her on each cheek. Stephanie’s mum looked tired and a little worried, but she had a big smile for Steph.
    Then I told Steph I’d better go and that I’d be back after school tomorrow. As soon as she was better, I said, we’d go to the tree house again.
    Steph seemed cheery. ‘We sure will,’ she said. I’d feed the parrots and she’d write. We’d play games and spy on the school and the people at the beach. She’d be home in no time.
    You know something, God. You haven’t sent me any signs. I keep looking at the sky, waiting for a double rainbow, but it doesn’t come. If you are busy on some other planet, I hope you get this thought and come back soon.
    You’re needed.
    As the weather grew colder, the bears slept a lot in their cave. Sharmi snuggled up to the small cat who was cold and shivering.

Hello God,
    Today Nan moved in with us. We are building her a granny flat, her very own, in our back garden.
    She’s sleeping in the baby’s bedroom, so I hope the baby doesn’t arrive early because if he does (I just know it’s a boy) Nan will have to sleep in my room.
    I have a lot on my mind and it’s annoying having Nan wandering around the house asking me where she put her left shoe and things like that.
    Yes, God, I know, we have to be kind to old people with bad memories, but I’m busy right now.
    Mum’s tum is really big. I decided it was time to introduce myself to the baby. So I patted Mum’s baby bump and said, ‘Hey, I’m your big sister, and don’t forget it. Don’t mess up my bedroom when you learn to walk, and don’t do poos when I’m looking after you.’
    Dad made a pretend microphone out of rolled paper and said to Mum’s tum, ‘Father calling baby. Father calling baby. Come in, baby.’
    Then he waited a while and said, ‘What’s that you say? You’re running out of space in there. Hold on, baby. Soon it will be time for you to turn your ship around and make your way to the home base. Landing crew are prepared and waiting. Over and out.’
    All this talk about the baby, God, you might wonder whether I sometimes forget about Steph. I don’t.
    I visit every day after school and on the weekend. Today Matt and Adam came with me. Matt’s never been to a kids’ hospital before. He’s always been healthy and everyone he knows has been healthy. He was nervous and asked me what he should say to Steph.

    I told him to just be himself and say what he’d say to her if she was well.
    He bought her a bunch of heart-shaped pink balloons. How cool. How romantic. I wondered if some day someone would send me a bunch of heart-shaped balloons. I carried a container full of Anzac biscuits, which Mum and I had made for Steph and all the children in the ward.
    When we got to the ward, Steph was reading her story to a group of children. A few other kids had come into the ward and were sitting on theends of beds in their pyjamas, listening. Her voice was soft but clear.
    It was a magical moment. The small cat looked out of the cave at Sharmi sliding on the ice. She forgot that she was just a little cat and that she was so cold. She joined Sharmi, skating and dancing on the ice, while snowflakes covered their fur.
    The little cat wasn’t meant to live in the wilds of Canada. She was meant to sit by a warm fire on someone’s lap, or curl up in a ball on a sundeck.
    ‘When the Spring comes, the ice will melt. There’ll be buttercups and daisies in fields that are now covered with snow. You’ll get strong, and we’ll play hide-and-seek again,’ her bear cub friend, Sharmi, told her.
    The children sighed and made their way back to