I groan again. ‘Okay, limericks.’ Samantha is yapping away. (Dog joke.) ‘Keep quiet. We’re doing the one where everyone says a line.’
‘Don’t know what you mean.’ Samantha is unhelpful.
Rob is already zooming along the highway. There are a few SuperJacks yelled out. I shout, ‘Topic is Nanna.’ Nanna beams of course. She loves being the topic. Everyone shuts up because no one wants to hurt Nanna’s feelings. I start.
‘There was an old Nanna from Surfers (me)
Who loved swimming like a porpoise’ (I wanted to say dolphins, but it doesn’t rhyme)
‘She slid down the path’ (Leo adds)
‘And fractured her arm’ (Rob)
‘So Nanna swam crooked instead.’ (Samantha)
Samantha’s line doesn’t quite rhyme, but it’s a good start. I nudge Leo. ‘You choose the topic for the next limerick.’
‘Pig.’
Phew. Glad it wasn’t SuperJack.
‘That’s terrific, Leo.’ Mum cups her hands next to her head pretending they are pig’s ears. She thinks she is funny. She is NOT.
‘Meet Miss Piggy Piggle’ (Mum)
‘Watch her give a wiggle’ (Nanna)
‘Her husband is Rob’ (Samantha)
‘What a dumb knob’ (Me, ha, ha)
‘And both of them make you giggle.’ (Anna — that’s so cute)
We are all laughing when Mum asks right out of nowhere, ‘Do you think you’d like to live in a house?’ She turns around to look at us.
‘House. Is that the next limerick, Mum?’ Samantha squeals.
‘No.’ Mum reaches her hand across to her. ‘Would you like to live in a house, with a garden?’
‘A garden,’ Samantha repeats.
‘A house,’ I echo. We are all a bit staggered. What does Mum mean? ‘We live in a unit.’
‘Yes, but Rob and I want to buy a house.’ Mum takes a breath. ‘There will be a room for Nanna.’ Mum looks at Leo. ‘And Leo when he visits. Leo, you can sleep in your own room, too.’
Nanna nods and her teeth wobble forward a bit. She obviously knows all about this. Her green eyes have tears in them.
Samantha has been quiet, which is very un-Samantha-like. Suddenly she bursts out, ‘A garden? Oh a garden, Mum. There’ll be room for a puppy. A real puppy. Can I have a puppy?’
I tickle Floppy. ‘But he’ll be jealous.’
Samantha hugs Floppy really hard. ‘Please Mum. Please Rob.’
Mum and Rob smile at each other. ‘Yes.’
Samantha is speechless for the first time in her life. She just keeps hugging Floppy.
This is all too amazing. I need time to think. I stare out of the window watching the gum trees swoosh by. A house, Rob and Mum, Nanna living with us.
‘We’ll find a house not too far away from where we live now.’ Mum smiles. ‘Not far from the best fruitologist in Sydney.’
Anna’s laugh sings through the car.
I stammer, ‘Rob, do you think we can have our own workshop?’
‘We’ll have one, Jack. For sure,’ he calls out. ‘And Leo can use it too.’
I shake my head. Leo won’t use it. It’ll be Rob’s and mine. But Leo can have his own things there. It’s fair. There has to be a Leo computer bench for sure. I stare at Rob’s golf ball head and Mum’s blonde fuzz. Imagine the wedding. They are going to look so funny. I start to laugh.
Suddenly Nanna sees a big fishing poster.
Fish.
Nanna’s eyes light up. Oh no. She turns to Leo. ‘Do you know when Jack was a baby, he swallowed a …’
I AM JACK
Susanne Gervay
Jack likes going to school. He enjoys learning.
George Hamel calls Jack — Bum Head.
All the kids at school call Jack — Bum Head.
Jack’s in BIG trouble … school is getting dangerous.
Nobody seems to want to listen. Until one day …
‘I Am Jack celebrates kids. Unique, valuable kids. Bullying isolates and victimises children. I Am Jack shows them that they are not alone and can win against bullying.’
LIFE EDUCATION AUSTRALIA
ISBN 0 207 19905 1
About the Author
FROM THE AUTHOR:
My Jacks — I Am Jack and SuperJack — are inspired by my wonderful, crazy family and the people I love. When you read these books, I am inviting you inside my home to meet fantastic characters — the nanna who is obsessed with buying bargains, the step-dad who is the best dish washer in the whole world, the sister who loves dogs, the mum (me) who does the best star jumps possible, and of course Jack.
We live in Sydney and we went on a great holiday up north, to the Gold Coast. There were so many adventures on the way, as well as when we got there — everything from dolphins to cane toads to the Tower of Terror. I want to thank Dreamworld and their amazing Bengal tigers and Sea World with their awesome polar bears for making it an even better time. I write about the trip north in SuperJack and about being a family, with all the funny, sad and happy parts.
I love being an author. I used to be a teacher, which I loved too. I loved helping recreate The Hughenden, which is a beautiful heritage hotel in Sydney, associated with Australia’s first philosopher. I absolutely love my kids — except when they are making a huge mess inside the house.
I wrote SuperJack for my family, for the people I care about and for you.
‘I Am Jack and SuperJack celebrate kids, just as Life Education Australia does.’
LIFE EDUCATION AUSTRALIA
Visit Susanne Gervay’s website at: www.users.bigpond.com/gervays
Other books by Susanne Gervay
Butterflies
The Cave
I Am Jack
Jamie’s a Hero
My Brother Is So Annoying
Next Stop the Moon
Shadows of Olive Trees
Copyright
Angus&Robertson
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, Australia
First published in 2003
This edition published in 2012
by HarperCollinsPublishers Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
A member of the HarperCollinsPublishers (Australia) Pty Limited Group
www.harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Susanne Gervay 2003
Illustrations copyright © Cathy Wilcox 2003
The right of Susanne Gervay and Cathy Wilcox to be identified as the moral rights author/illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000 (Cth).
This book is copyright.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publishers.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-publication data:
Gervay, Susanne.
SuperJack.
Children aged 8–12.
ISBN 0 207 19918 3.
ISBN 978 1 74309 765 6 (epub)
1. Family life – Juvenile fiction. 2. Stepfamilies – Juvenile fiction.
I. Wilcox, Cathy, 1963–. II. Title.
A823.3
Internal illustrations by Cathy Wilcox
Internal design by Gayna Murphy, HarperCollins Design Studio
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Super Jack Page 13
