Amelia Dee and the Peacock Lamp by Odo Hirsch Page B

lamp?’
    ‘I’m saying the people had a right to something.’
    ‘The lamp was hers, Kevin.’
    ‘Yeah, but look at it another way, and the lamp was really theirs.’
    ‘The lamp’s mine now,’ said Amelia. ‘That’s the funny thing.’
    There was silence for a moment.
    ‘You’re just jealous,’ said Eugenie to Kevin.
    ‘Of what?’
    ‘Of everything the Princess had. You don’t like the idea she had it all because you could never have anything like it yourself.’
    ‘That’s not true. I’m just saying, you can understand why the people would have been angry.’
    Eugenie smiled smugly, as if she knew what was really going on in Kevin’s mind.
    ‘Why do you want to defend her?’ demanded Kevin in exasperation. ‘Why do you take her side? Eugenie, she was horrible. She didn’t say a word to you the other day.’
    ‘She did.’
    ‘She didn’t.’
    ‘She did!’
    ‘She didn’t. For all she cared, you weren’t so much as a speck of dust.’
    ‘That’s not true!’
    ‘Amelia? Did the Princess say a word to Eugenie?’
    Amelia shook her head. The Princess hadn’t said a word to Eugenie, as they all knew.
    ‘Well, what do you expect?’ demanded Eugenie. ‘She’s had such a terrible life. Everything was taken away from her. How old was she? No older than we are. Just imagine it, suddenly you have to leave, and you can’t take anything with you.’
    ‘She obviously managed to keep something,’ said Kevin.
    ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
    ‘Well, look at her. She’s got that big car. She must have had the money to buy that. And there’s the old guy who drives her around. He was her servant all the way back then. I bet he’s stayed with her all his life.’
    ‘Yeah, and I bet it’s nothing compared with the life they left behind. One old car. One old servant. Imagine how many servants she must have had in the Grand Palace!’
    Kevin shook his head. ‘Maybe they only managed to take what they could carry, but they had money somewhere, didn’t they? Isn’t that what you said, Amelia? In a bank or something? And where did that money come from? It was illegally put there by the Shan. So whose was it really?’
    ‘See!’ cried Eugenie. ‘You are jealous. Look at him, Amelia. He’s as jealous as anything.’
    ‘I’m not jealous! I just don’t think the Princess has had such a terrible life. She could have gone back if she wanted.’
    ‘There was a revolution!’
    ‘After the revolution. She could go back now, the old guy said so. But she won’t, will she? Why? Because she won’t be a princess any more, and that’s all she cares about. Having people call her Your Serenity. I bet no one will call her Your Serenity in Irafia. Right, Amelia?’
    Amelia nodded. It was true. All the Princess cared about was being treated according to her rank, and treating other people according to theirs. And Kevin hadn’t seen how horrible she could really be in the way she treated people, not as Amelia had seen it that day in Mr Vishwanath’s studio.
    ‘She could still say hello to us, couldn’t she?’ said Kevin. ‘She could still be civil. I bet she’d have a lot more friends if she did.’
    ‘A princess doesn’t want friends,’ retorted Eugenie. ‘If you knew anything about princesses, you’d realise that. But you don’t know the first thing about them. How can you possibly know what it is to be a princess and then to have all of it, everything, taken away?’
    True as well, thought Amelia. None of them could really know what that would be like.
    Kevin and Eugenie glared at each other.
    Amelia frowned. In a way, they each had a point.
    She looked around. The café was empty. The film must have started. Everyone had gone in.

CHAPTER 15
    The lamp hung motionless above the stairs. Amelia switched it on, and it glowed. She switched it off. She switched it on and off again a couple of times, quickly.
    She traced the metalwork with her eyes, as she had traced it hundreds of times