Meanwhile, at home, Lucy stroked the dragonfly’s wing. The stone was cool, and so smooth, she liked the feel of it. Esther said it was topaz. When the sun came out, Lucy held it up to the light where it twinkled in every shade of green, it was beautiful.
There was a knock outside, and Mum opened the door for someone. Lucy heard Chrissy’s voice. She quickly pocketed the pendant and sat up on her bed. Chrissy went into her room.
“Hi! I came over for a bit,” she smiled at Lucy, but the smile soon disappeared from her face.
“What are you doing?” she asked Lucy.
“Nothing”.
Lucy blinked.
“I bet you were playing with the dragonfly pendant.”
Lucy looked anxiously Chrissy. Her hand slipped involuntarily into her pocket and she clutched the pendant that was in there.
“Can I have a look?”
Lucy gave Chrissy a distrustful glare and didn’t budge.
“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to it. I just want to look at it” Chrissy insisted.
Lucy slowly took the necklace from her pocket and handed it to Chrissy.” “Suddenly, Mum appeared at the door with a shopping basket in her hand.
“I’m off to the store. Chrissy, can you look after Lucy while I am gone?”
“Of course,” Chrissy nodded.
“Thank you” said Mum with a smile, and she left.
The necklace was still in Chrissy’s hand. Although Lucy was a little afraid of Chrissy, she mustered her courage and spoke up.
“Can I have it back, please?” she asked, fearfully, looking at Chrissy and then at the necklace.
“Sure, here you are,” laughed Chrissy. „I see you were very anxious about it”.
“I promised Esther that I would look after it”.
Chrissy slipped the chain into her hand. Following that, she was very nice to Lucy all afternoon. They hung out, watched a film, Chrissy even played with her and made her some cocoa. Lucy was having a great time, and was proud to have her sister’s friend getting on so well with her. Previously, she had never spoken much to her, nor did she really care much for her.
Mum came back from the store and cooked dinner. After dinner, Chrissy said goodbye and went home.” “Lucy went back to her room happily, but suddenly she reached for her pocket in fright. She had not thought about Esther’s necklace for hours. The pocket felt empty. She reached in and there was no chain. She got very scared. She looked around the room in horror.
She ran to her desk it wasn’t there. She ran to her bed, jumped on it, felt around, threw off the pillow and the blanket, looked under it, all to no avail. She searched the floor, the bookshelves, the carpet, her chest of drawers the necklace was nowhere to be found.
Lucy burst into tears. Where was the dragonfly? She hadn’t taken it out of her pocket except to show it to Chrissy, but then she put it back. It must have fallen out somewhere. But then it should be here. Maybe it’s in the kitchen. Or in the living room? They were there for a while. Perhaps in the bathroom? Lucy ran frantically from one room to another.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Mum asked “what are you looking for?”
“Esther’s necklace. It was in my pocket.”
“Then it must be here. We will find it, don’t worry! I’ll help you.”” “But they never found the necklace, despite the two of them looking for it all night. The house was turned upside down.
The next day Chrissy came over again. She found Lucy sitting on her bed, in ruins. She looked very tired.
“What’s wrong?” She asked.
“The dragonfly necklace is gone.”
Chrissy put her hand to her mouth in surprise.
“Gone? But how?”
“I don’t know,” Lucy stared sadly at the bedsheet. “I had it in my pocket. Mum and I searched the whole house, but it’s nowhere to be found.”
“Well, that’s terrible. You won’t tell Esther you lost it, will you?”
Lucy raised her head in fright. She hadn’t even thought of that! What if she didn’t find the necklace by the time Esther got home? What would her sister say? Lucy imagined the painful, disappointed look on Esther’s face, and tears welled up in her eyes.
“You can’t say you’ve lost it,” Chrissy repeated, “let’s come up with a plan.”
Lucy gave Chrissy a puzzled look.
“Tell her your best friend asked to borrow it for her birthday”.
Lucy shook her head.
“Then say you took it to school, but the teacher took it away”.
Lucy shook her head again.” “Chrissy wondered for a while what else Lucy could say.
“Say you gave it to your Mum, and she lost it”.
“No!” Cried Lucy, out of her mind, “no, no, no!” and shook her head violently.
“Fine, you think of something then”. Chrissy said angrily, then left the girl.
Lucy buried her head in her pillow and sobbed bitterly. Mum came in, sat down on the bed next to her and stroked her back.
“It’s going to be okay, sweetie, Esther will understand. And we might even find it in the meantime. It’s bound to turn up when we least expect it”.
Lucy was inconsolable. Esther was very fond of the dragonfly pendant. She always wore it around her neck. It was her lucky charm. And she left it to her, Lucy, not to Mum, the adult. She entrusted her with it because she thought she could trust her completely.
Esther was expected to arrive back the following morning. Mum said the bus would arrive at ten o’clock, and they were supposed to go and fetch her by car. Lucy dreaded the next day. What would she tell Esther?