What shall I do? asked Coraline.
When do you go back to school? asked her mother.
Next week, said Coraline.
Hmph, said her mother. I suppose I shall have to get you new school clothes. Remind me, dear, or else Iʼll forget, and she went back to typing things on the computer screen.
What shall I do? repeated Coraline.
Draw something, Her mother passed her a sheet of paper and a ballpoint pen.
Coraline tried drawing the mist. After ten minutes of drawing she still had a white sheet of paper with
written on it in one corner in slightly wiggly letters. She grunted and passed it to her mother.
Mm. Very modern, dear, said Coralineʼs mother.
Coraline crept into the drawing room and tried to open the old door in the corner. It was locked once more. She supposed her mother must have locked it again. She shrugged.
Coraline went to see her father.
He had his back to the door as he typed. Go away, he said cheerfully as she walked in.
Iʼm bored, she said.
Learn how to tap-dance, he suggested, without turning around.
Coraline shook her head. Why donʼt you play with me? she asked.
Busy, he said. Working, he added. He still hadnʼt turned around to look at her. Why donʼt you go and bother Miss Spink and Miss Forcible?
Coraline put on her coat and pulled up her hood and went out of the house. She went downstairs. She rang the door of Miss Spink and Miss Forcibleʼs flat. Coraline could hear a frenzied woofing as the Scottie dogs ran out into the hall. After a while Miss Spink opened the door.
Oh, itʼs you, Caroline, she said. Angus, Hamish, Bruce, down now, luvvies. Itʼs only Caroline. Come in, dear. Would you like a cup of tea?
The flat smelled of furniture polish and dogs.
Yes, please, said Coraline. Miss Spink led her into a dusty little room, which she called the parlor. On the walls were black-and-white photographs of pretty women, and theater programs in frames. Miss Forcible was sitting in one of the armchairs, knitting hard[6].
They poured Coraline a cup of tea in a little pink bone china cup, with a saucer. They gave her a dry Garibaldi biscuit to go with it.
Miss Forcible looked at Miss Spink, picked up her knitting, and took a deep breath. Anyway, April. As I was saying: you still have to admit, thereʼs life in the old dog yet.
Miriam, dear, neither of us is as young as we were.
Madame Arcati, replied Miss Forcible. The nurse in Romeo. Lady Bracknell. Character parts. They canʼt retire you from the stage.
Now, Miriam, we agreed, said Miss Spink. Coraline wondered if theyʼd forgotten she was there. They werenʼt making much sense; she decided they were having an argument as old and comfortable as an armchair, the kind of argument that no one ever really wins or loses but which can go on forever, if both parties are willing.
She sipped her tea.
Iʼll read the leaves, if you want, said Miss Spink to Coraline.
Sorry? said Coraline.
The tea leaves, dear. Iʼll read your future.
Coraline passed Miss Spink her cup. Miss Spink peered shortsightedly at the black tea leaves in the bottom. She pursed her lips.
You know, Caroline, she said, after a while, you are in terrible danger.
Miss Forcible snorted, and put down her knitting. Donʼt be silly, April. Stop scaring the girl. Your eyes are going. Pass me that cup, child.
Coraline carried the cup over to Miss Forcible. Miss Forcible looked into it carefully, shook her head, and looked into it again.
Oh dear, she said. You were right, April. She is in danger.
See, Miriam, said Miss Spink triumphantly. My eyes are as good as they ever were . . .
What am I in danger from? asked Coraline.
Misses Spink and Forcible stared at her blankly. It didnʼt say, said Miss Spink. Tea leaves arenʼt reliable for that kind of thing. Not really. Theyʼre good for general, but not for specifics.
What should I do then? asked Coraline, who was slightly alarmed by this.
Donʼt wear green in your dressing room, suggested Miss Spink.
Or mention the Scottish play, added Miss Forcible.
Coraline wondered why so few of the adults she had met made any sense. She sometimes wondered who they thought they were talking to.
And be very, very careful, said Miss Spink. She got up from the armchair and went over to the fireplace. On the mantelpiece was a small jar, and Miss Spink took off the top of the jar and began to pull things out of it. There was a tiny china duck, a thimble, a strange little brass coin, two paper clips and a stone with a hole in it.
She passed Coraline the stone with a hole in it.
Whatʼs it for? asked Coraline. The hole went all the way through the middle of the stone. She held it up to the window and looked through it.
It might help, said Miss Spink. Theyʼre good for bad things, sometimes.
Coraline put on her coat, said good-bye to Misses Spink and Forcible and to the dogs, and went outside.
The mist hung like blindness around the house. She walked slowly to the stairs up to her familyʼs flat, and then stopped and looked around.
In the mist, it was a ghost-world. In danger? thought Coraline to herself. It sounded exciting. It didnʼt sound like a bad thing. Not really.
Coraline went back upstairs, her fist closed tightly around her new stone.
III
The next day the sun shone, and Coralineʼs mother took her into the nearest large town to buy clothes for school. They dropped her father off at the railway station. He was going into London for the day to see some people.
Coraline waved him good-bye.
They went to the department store to buy the school clothes.
Coraline saw some Day-Glo green gloves she liked a lot. Her mother refused to buy them for her, preferring instead to buy white socks, navy blue school underpants, four gray blouses, and a dark gray skirt.
But Mum, everybody at schoolʼs got gray blouses and everything. Nobodyʼs got green gloves. I could be the only one.
Her mother ignored her; she was talking to the shop assistant. They were talking about which kind of sweater to get for Coraline, and were agreeing that the best thing to do would be to get one that was embarrassingly large and baggy, in the hopes that one day she might grow into it.
Coraline wandered off and looked at a display of Wellington boots shaped like frogs and ducks and rabbits.
Then she wandered back.
Coraline? Oh, there you are. Where on earth were you?
I was kidnapped by aliens, said Coraline. They came down from outer space with ray guns, but I fooled them by wearing a wig and laughing in a foreign accent, and I escaped.
Yes, dear. Now, I think you could do with some more hair clips, donʼt you?
No.
Well, letʼs say half a dozen, to be on the safe side, said her mother.
Coraline didnʼt say anything.
In the car on the way back home, Coraline said, Whatʼs in the empty flat?
I donʼt know. Nothing, I expect. It probably looks like our flat before we moved in. Empty rooms.
Do you think you could get into it from our flat?
Not unless you can walk through bricks, dear.
Not unless you can walk through bricks, dear.
Oh.
They got home around lunchtime. The sun was shining, although the day was cold. Coralineʼs mother looked in the fridge and found a sad little tomato and a piece of cheese with green stuff growing on it. There was only a crust in the bread bin.
Iʼd better dash down to the shops and get some fish fingers or something, said her mother. Do you want to come?
No, said Coraline.
Suit yourself, said her mother, and left. Then she came back and got her purse and car keys and went out again.
Coraline was bored.
She flipped through a book her mother was reading about native people in a distant country; how every day they would take pieces of white silk and draw on them in wax, then dip the silks in dye, then draw on them more in wax and dye them some more, then boil the wax out in hot water, and then finally, throw the now-beautiful cloths on a fire and burn them to ashes.
It seemed particularly pointless to Coraline, but she hoped that the people enjoyed it.
She was still bored, and her mother wasnʼt yet home.
Coraline got a chair and pushed it over to the kitchen door. She climbed onto the chair and reached up. She got down, then got a broom from the broom cupboard. She climbed back on the chair again and reached up with the broom.
Chink.
She climbed down from the chair and picked up the keys. She smiled triumphantly. Then she leaned the broom against the wall and went into the drawing room.
The family did not use the drawing room. They had inherited the furniture from Coralineʼs grandmother, along with a wooden coffee table, a side table, a heavy glass ashtray, and the oil painting of a bowl of fruit. Coraline could never work out why anyone would want to paint a bowl of fruit. Other than that, the room was empty: there were no knickknacks on the mantelpiece, no statues or clocks; nothing that made it feel comfortable or lived-in.
The old black key felt colder than any of the others. She pushed it into the keyhole. It turned smoothly, with a satisfying clunk.
Coraline stopped and listened. She knew she was doing something wrong, and she was trying to listen for her mother coming back, but she heard nothing. Then Coraline put her hand on the doorknob and turned it; and, finally, she opened the door.
It opened on to a dark hallway. The bricks had gone as if theyʼd never been there. There was a cold, musty smell coming through the open doorway: it smelled like something very old and very slow.
Coraline went through the door.
She wondered what the empty flat would be likeif that was where the corridor led.
Coraline walked down the corridor uneasily. There was something very familiar about it.
The carpet beneath her feet was the same carpet they had in her flat. The wallpaper was the same wallpaper they had. The picture hanging in the hall was the same that they had hanging in their hallway at home.
She knew where she was: she was in her own home. She hadnʼt left.
She shook her head, confused.
She stared at the picture hanging on the wall: no, it wasnʼt exactly the same. The picture they had in their own hallway showed a boy in old-fashioned clothes staring at some bubbles. But now the expression on his face was differenthe was looking at the bubbles as if he was planning to do something very nasty indeed to them. And there was something peculiar about his eyes.
Coraline stared at his eyes, trying to figure out what exactly was different.
She almost had it when somebody said, Coraline?
It sounded like her mother. Coraline went into the kitchen, where the voice had come from. A woman stood in the kitchen with her back to Coraline. She looked a little like Coralineʼs mother. Only . . .
Only her skin was white as paper.
Only she was taller and thinner.
Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped moving, and her dark red fingernails were curved and sharp.
Coraline? the woman said. Is that you?
And then she turned around. Her eyes were big black buttons.
Lunchtime, Coraline, said the woman.
Who are you? asked Coraline.
Iʼm your other mother, said the woman. Go and tell your other father that lunch is ready. She opened the door of the oven. Suddenly Coraline realized how hungry she was. It smelled wonderful. Well, go on.
Coraline went down the hall, to where her fatherʼs study was. She opened the door. There was a man in there, sitting at the keyboard, with his back to her. Hello, said Coraline. II mean, she said to say that lunch is ready.
The man turned around.
His eyes were buttons, big and black and shiny.
Hello Coraline, he said. Iʼm starving.
He got up and went with her into the kitchen. They sat at the kitchen table, and Coralineʼs other mother brought them lunch. A huge, golden-brown roasted chicken, fried potatoes, tiny green peas. Coraline shoveled the food into her mouth. It tasted wonderful.
Weʼve been waiting for you for a long time, said Coralineʼs other father.
For me?
Yes, said the other mother. It wasnʼt the same here without you. But we knew youʼd arrive one day, and then we could be a proper family. Would you like some more chicken?
It was the best chicken that Coraline had ever eaten. Her mother sometimes made chicken, but it was always out of packets or frozen, and was very dry, and it never tasted of anything. When Coralineʼs father cooked chicken he bought real chicken, but he did strange things to it, like stewing it in wine, or stuffing it with prunes, or baking it in pastry, and Coraline would always refuse to touch it on principle.
She took some more chicken.
I didnʼt know I had another mother, said Coraline, cautiously.
Of course you do. Everyone does, said the other mother, her black button eyes gleaming. After lunch I thought you might like to play in your room with the rats.
The rats?
From upstairs.
Coraline had never seen a rat, except on television. She was quite looking forward to it. This was turning out to be a very interesting day after all.
After lunch her other parents did the washing up, and Coraline went down the hall to her other bedroom.
It was different from her bedroom at home. For a start it was painted in an off-putting shade of green and a peculiar shade of pink.
Coraline decided that she wouldnʼt want to have to sleep in there, but that the color scheme was an awful lot more interesting than her own bedroom.
There were all sorts of remarkable things in there sheʼd never seen before: windup angels that fluttered around the bedroom like startled sparrows; books with pictures that writhed and crawled and shimmered; little dinosaur skulls that chattered their teeth as she passed. A whole toy box filled with wonderful toys.
This is more like it, thought Coraline. She looked out of the window. Outside, the view was the same one she saw from her own bedroom: trees, fields, and beyond them, on the horizon, distant purple hills.
Something black scurried across the floor and vanished under the bed. Coraline got down on her knees and looked under the bed. Fifty little red eyes stared back at her.
Hello, said Coraline. Are you the rats?
They came out from under the bed, blinking their eyes in the light. They had short, soot-black fur, little red eyes, pink paws like tiny hands, and pink, hairless tails like long, smooth worms.
Can you talk? she asked.
The largest, blackest of the rats shook its head. It had an unpleasant sort of smile, Coraline thought.