Page 32 of A Flash of Neon
Neon looks up at me and grins. “Hey! We’ve been trying to work out what this one eats. Turns out she loves carrots, so I guess she’s not totally unlike a horse.”
Bella is sitting in the corner, her chin resting on her paws, obviously miffed that the attention has been pulled away from her. I kneel down to stroke her between the ears before going towards the unicorn. She turns her head to look at me and gives a soft whinny. It’s the first sound I’ve heard her make. It’s light and musical, almost like bell chimes.
“She looks happy,” I say, gently touching the unicorn’s mane. The fine silvery strands glimmer in the glow of the fairy lights above us.
“Isn’t she the most beautiful thing ever? Except Bella, obviously,” Tilly adds, with a guilty look over at her dog. “We’ve been trying to come up with a name for her. Do you have any suggestions?”
I was thinking about that too, but nothing comes to mind. Tilly takes out her phone and searches for ideas – there are a surprising amount of articles dedicated to suggestions for unicorn names. We try out a few from one list: Celestia, Calypso, Luna… The unicorn doesn’t react to any of them but, when she hears Tilly read out Aurora, she throws back her head and makes that light, tinkling sound again.
“I guess Aurora it is,” Neon says cheerfully as Tilly laughs and pats Aurora’s back. “Was everything OK at yours last night? Joel didn’t tell your moms about her, did he?”
Aurora finishes one carrot and looks up expectantly. I reach for another from the bag, and she takes a big, happy bite. Bella gives a snort of disgust and slips out of the barn to go and sulk.
“No, no. You don’t need to worry about that,” I say. “But I do have bad news. My mums have to close down the shop.”
“No!” Tilly slaps her hands to her cheeks. “I love Every Book & Cranny!”
Neon jumps to his feet. “We have to save it!” he shouts, exactly like I knew he would.
“I don’t think there is any saving it,” I say sadly. “Mum says they’re in a lot of debt. She sounds pretty sure that this is the end of the road.”
“So much stuff here has closed down,” Tilly says, nodding. “And it must be so hard for bookshops to keep going when they’re up against those huge online stores that can sell things much cheaper.”
“Come on! There has to be something we can do.” Neon starts to pace, tapping his bottom lip thoughtfully. “We need to get the word out about the place, right? Get more customers in?”
“We could bring Aurora to visit.” Tilly grins and loops her arms round the unicorn’s long neck to give her a hug. “Might be a bit of a tight squeeze, but that would definitely attract attention.”
Neon claps his hands together. “What about an event? That would bring people to the shop!”
“They do host events sometimes – Mutti’s had book launches there before, and some other local authors have too.”
They’ve also tried to do reading groups and things, but since the pandemic only a few people have showed up. Mum’s last attempt was a slam poetry evening, but so few people came that it didn’t even cover the cost of keeping the shop open late.
“But they didn’t haveusto promote it! We can tell everyone at school, get them all to come. How about an open-mic night?” Neon spins round to point at me. “We could sing together! You said you wanted to try again. This could be our chance.”
My stomach instantly fills with anxiety at the thought of performing – or, worse, trying and failing to perform – in front of people for a second time. “The place is a bit small for that, isn’t it?”
“We’ll move some stuff around. Maybe we could borrow some chairs from school, for people who need them, and others could stand. And we could bake some cakes to sell!”
Deep down, I know that if the event was a success it would be a one-off. There’s no way we’d be able to raise enough money to actually save the shop. But Neon seems so excited by his idea and so keen to help, and that’s hard to say no to. He bounces on the balls of his feet, willing me to agree, and eventually I throw my hands up and laugh.
“It’s worth a go, I guess.”
“Awesome.” Neon punches the air. “We need to do it soon. How about Friday?”
Tilly shakes her head. “Halloween is on Friday. Loads of people will be out trick-or-treating, and we don’t want to clash with the school disco. Let’s do Saturday instead.”
We start throwing out names of people we know who might want to perform. Neon’s a definite yes, of course, and I might join him if I can muster up the courage by then. Tilly’s friend Jamie wants to be a stand-up comedian, which shocks me as she seems really shy.
“Um, I could have a go at performance poetry.” Tilly’s cheeks go bright red. “I mean, my poems are really bad, but I could give it a try.”
I didn’t know she wrote poetry. I’m about to say so but I hold myself back. Tilly has changed since we were best friends in primary school, and that’s OK. I’m not the same person I was back then, either.
“Bet they’re not,” I say. “I’d really like to hear them.”
“Me too!” Neon sticks one hand out. After a beat, Tilly and I place ours on top of his. “We can do this, I just know it. We’re going to save Every Book & Cranny.”
Neon and I decide to make posters about our bookshop rescue event at lunchtime the next day. Tilly is at Dungeons and Dragons Club with Jamie and Elsie, but she said she’ll come to the shop with us after school to deliver the posters before she and Neon get the bus back to the farm. When the bell rings, the two of us head to the library and sit by one of the computers. Neon looks up a free design platform and opens a blank page.
