Read Squishy Taylor in Zero Gravity for Free Online

was so horrible last night. But it’s too late.
    Spacewoman holds my arm under the water, saying things like, ‘What were you thinking ? Good grief! How did you even get up here?’
    Jessie turns the workbench lamp around and brings it a bit closer, until it’s at the end of its cable.
    ‘Good thinking,’ says Spacewoman. ‘Thanks.’
    I sit there, watching the water trickle over my burned, sore arm and run down the drain.
    The door finally opens. I was hoping Vee would realise I needed Dad, but she didn’t. It’s Alice, with Vee right behind her. Alice looks sleepy, horrified, embarrassed and anxious all at the same time. I wait for her to shout at me.
    She doesn’t.
    She runs over, kneels down, and gently takes my elbow, trying to see the burn in the lamplight. ‘Oh, Squishy – jeepers! What have you kids been doing ?’
    She turns to Spacewoman. ‘I’m so sorry about all this. You must be shocked. They’re not usually like this.’ She pauses. ‘Well, actually they are, but they’re good kids really. Oh, what am I even saying ?’
    Alice turns back to me, and pulls me onto her lap. She’s really careful not to tug my arm out from the running water. ‘Squishy, does it hurt?’ She leans her face in next to mine to look down at the burn. Her arms hold me tight.
    Her cheek feels soft and friendly. It’s not like Mum. And it’s not like Dad. It’s Alice. But it’s Alice in a new, comfortable way that makes me feel safe. I lean back into her and cry a little bit more.
    Someone else steps out onto the roof.
    ‘Is everyone OK up here?’
    It’s Pyjama Man.
    ‘Hey, Rasheed,’ Spacewoman says.
    ‘Hey!’ Pyjama Man grins. ‘Nice to see you at home, rather than at work.’ He looks around at all of us. ‘I just had my second strange doorbell ring this evening –’
    Vee smiles sideways at Jessie and whispers, ‘Lucky I still remembered his apartment number, otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten back in.’
    Pyjama Man is still talking. ‘– and I got worried about what was going on up here.’ He looks down at my arm under the tap. ‘A burn? Not too terrible, I see. And you’ve got the best nurse in the burns ward looking after you too.’ He winks at Spacewoman and I turn in Alice’s lap and stare.
    ‘You’re a nurse? Not a spacewoman?’ I ask.
    Spacewoman glances over at her space-helmet and then smiles at me. ‘Yes, I am a nurse. And in fact, it’s almost time for me to go to work. Maybe we should go to the hospital together?’ She glances at Alice, who nods.
    ‘Cool!’ says Vee, looking interestedly at my arm. ‘You’re so injured, you have to go to hospital.’
    But Jessie isn’t paying attention to Vee, or my arm. She’s staring at Spacewoman like she’s just realised something. ‘You work night shift !’ she says.
    Spacewoman nods.
    Jessie grins. ‘So you leave for work now, and you get home at …?’
    ‘Five-thirty in the morning,’ says Spacewoman.
    ‘Oh,’ I say. I get it. I lean back into Alice. No wonder we never saw Spacewoman go through the front door. ‘You only go out when it’s dark!’
    Spacewoman nods, as though she doesn’t understand why we’re so interested, and then turns to tidy away her tools.
    Alice and Pyjama Man start talking about how long it takes to walk to the hospital (not long) and Vee starts begging to come too. I watch the water run over my arm, thinking hard. How can she be a nurse if she’s building a rocket?

Spacewoman meets us on the street in nurse-pyjamas . Vee and Jessie are here too because they begged, and because Alice and I didn’t have time to walk them home.
    ‘Do you think she’s really a nurse?’ I whisper to Vee as we set off walking under the streetlights to the hospital. Vee shrugs. Alice holds softly to my hand, keeping me close.
    I’m about to ask what nurses have to do with rockets, but Alice cuts over me. ‘Now,’ she says, ‘I think you three have some explaining to do.’
    So, as we walk, Jessie tells the