by Lisa Nicol
Still lost in their tears, Bessie and Dr Boogaloo didn’t immediately notice something remarkable was happening. But as Blue started whooping, her body pitching back and forth in a fit of uncontrollable belly laughs, the spell of sadness shattered. Bessie’s jingly-jangly arms flew into the air. She leapt at Blue and squeezed her so tight she almost stopped breathing, let alone laughing. Dr Boogaloo, usually a man of restraint unless listening to African drumbeats or the wildest Jamaican dancehall, jumped into the air.
‘ALL RIGHT!’ he yelled.
Squeezing and laughing, laughing and crying, at that moment in time they were the three happiest people in the entire universe (and every universe beyond, although that would be almost impossible prove).
After a while, they all calmed down enough to communicate with words.
‘What happened, Dr Boogaloo? Why did I get my laughter back now?’ Blue asked.
‘A Boogaloo musical cure, that’s what happened – courtesy of these fine fellows with just a dash of castanets! I lost my magical thinking for a bit there, but as soon as I gave up, it came back to me! Like a boomerang! You’ve always got to let go for things to come back. And you’ve got to be ready to catch them when they do. Musical cures, there’s no telling them when to arrive. Five parts pure mystery, Blue, five parts pure mystery! There’s one thing you can be certain of, though …’ Overcome with emotion, the Doctor’s voice trailed off into a whisper. ‘Music will bring our hopes and dreams to us – if we let it! Sometimes it just takes a helluva long time to find the right tune.’
Dr Boogaloo composed himself. He turned to the scruffy musicians, who didn’t look the least bit surprised, as if people always cried and laughed uncontrollably when they heard their music.
‘That’s one helluva weeping song, boys. How’d you like to record it?’ he said, dabbing the corner of his eyes with the hanky Bessie had quietly tucked into his hand. The musicians looked delighted. ‘But first,’ said the Doctor, breaking into a trot, ‘I’ve got some instruments to save. Come on, Bess, come on, Blue … to the iBike!’
By the time Dr Boogaloo arrived back at the clinic, the hammer had already fallen on his cigar-box guitar, his hurdy-gurdy and his extensive collection of harmonicas. When he explained to the buyers he’d had a change of heart, they all happily returned their instruments in exchange for their money back. Except one extraordinarily grumpy collector from France, into whose hands the hurdy-gurdy had fallen, who insisted the Doctor pay him double plus travel expenses.
That night, Dr Boogaloo took down the CLOSED FOR BUSINESS sign from the roadside. After telling all the animals the good news, the Boogaloos decided to make a cup of tea and retire for the night. Boris, the guitarist from Uzbekistan, had reappeared in the comfy chair in the kitchen, snoozing and snoring as always like a big bass drum. Still being a touch gassy of late, the Doctor added some Spanish fandango to the tea and a splash of swing for Bessie, who looked shattered. Even her fairy-floss hair had lost its glow. Its Mars-orange radiance dimmed to a brittle pale apricot through utter exhaustion, unlike her possums, unfortunately, who had just risen and were feeling perky. Dolly and Makeba were tumbling about in the folds of her skirt and dangling upside down like bats.
Before going to bed, Dr Boogaloo pulled down his book of musical cures. On page 308,704 he made a correction to the treatment section of No Laughing Syndrome:
Responds well to scruffy trios in tunnels with cylindrical acoustics and spiralling echoes. Need a wizard on keys wearing plenty of rings for extra chinks, star-like guitar and gentle freshwater drums, with just a dash of castanets.
Dr Boogaloo closed the book and made his way upstairs to bed.
Tomorrow, the clinic would be busy and he could barely wait to get started.
When Blue got home she told Melvin, Luz and Tracee the good news. Melvin was so thrilled he cursed out loud for the very first time: ‘That’s #*$@&* marvellous news, my dear!’ Luz and Tracee shook their mabungos and screeched with laughter. Even Melvin shook what little mabungo he had left.
Blue then Skyped her father. He was in the mountains of Tibet, purchasing a monastery he planned to convert into a luxury hotel.
‘What wonderful news, Maggie,’ said Blue’s father. ‘Well, you won’t be needing this, then.’ He held up a fluffy white balaclava. ‘It’s made from the fur of a snow leopard. They’re endangered, you know. It was awfully expensive.’
‘I knew that Doctor would fix you up. Didn’t I tell you!’ said Blue’s mother from an expensive resort in Switzerland. ‘I can’t believe my ordeal is finally over. I’m going to order the most expensive bubbles on Earth to celebrate.’
Although Blue still struggled to understand many things about her parents, it made her feel so good to make them happy again. They were just people after all. And there aren’t any perfect people. Not any. Blue decided loving each other just the way we are is all any of us can try our best to do.
Blue’s mother was so happy she no longer had a misery guts for a daughter, she even said yes when Blue asked if she could invite the Taylor children over to play. Blue knocked on the Taylors’ door and asked Mrs Taylor (whose pannacotta bun had slipped down the other side of her head) if the boys would like to come and watch a movie with her – Hunt for the Wilderpeople, she’d heard it was absolutely hilarious. An exhausted-looking Mrs Taylor said that would be bloody marvellous and she’d send them over immediately.
With a tub of her mother’s best white chocolate ice-cream, Blue, Luz, Tracee, Melvin and the three Taylor boys sat on big white pillows and laughed themselves silly. After the movie, they played charades and Blue, Ned, Riley and Tom made plans to start a neighbourhood band. Eventually, Mr Taylor came to take the boys home to bed. Blue imagined she would be seeing a lot more of the Taylor boys. They were good fun. And she wanted to make up for lost time. From her calculations, she had at least 233,700 laughs to catch up on.
That night, castanets tucked beneath her pillow, Blue dreamt of harp-playing humpback whales on bicycles flying through night skies filled with brightly lit songs.
Dreams can be funny like that.
POSTSCRIPT
(What Happens After)
After all they’d been through, Blue’s mother and father decided to take extended holidays to recover. Blue’s father returned to Namibia to shoot magnificent, defenceless creatures. Blue’s mother stayed in Switzerland for a new experimental form of therapy that guaranteed to whiten her eyeballs and change the colour of her invisible aura.
The following year, Luz opened her first kwek-kwek bar. Within two years, she had seventeen kwek-kwek bars across the country. Each and every meal served came with a Filipino saying – a bit like a Chinese fortune cookie.
Tracee is now a fully qualified doctor with her own busy practice.
Melvin welcomed his first great-great-grandchild into the world.
Mr and Mrs Taylor finally got to read the paper on Saturday mornings again, and Mrs Taylor even found the time for a visit to the hairdressers.
Blue, Ned, Riley and Tom started a band called the Evening Birds. When they played at the school dance, they were mobbed by screaming teenage girls. The Evening Birds now work regularly at the Boogaloo Family Clinic of Musical Cures.
Dr Boogaloo and Bessie gave Blue a job at the clinic, which means she gets to see them every day after school. Blue’s official job title is Leonard’s Dive Guide and Keeper.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
LISA would mostly like to thank her publisher, Holly Toohey, for being open to random solicitations. Her direction and feedback was spot on and invaluable to the story. Her editor, Cristina Briones, for making the manuscript sing sweetly and clearly. And her agent, Grace Heifetz, for taking such great care of everything else.
Lastly, Lisa would like to thank her writers’ group – Marian, Katy, Jenny, Denise, Stephanie, Tracey, Wendy, Katrina, Debra, Sarah, Maala and Amanda – whose support, encouragement and sharp editorial advice transformed the work.
ABOUT THE AUTH
OR
LISA NICOL is a writer and filmmaker. A lot of her work revolves around music. At home even her own children tell her to turn it down! (What’s wrong with kids these days? Don’t they like permanent hearing damage?) In case you’re wondering, no, she hasn’t been scribbling stories since before she was knee-high to a grasshopper and, no, she didn’t ever think she could be a writer. But after one too many crazy (her kids would say cringy) kitchen dance sessions, ideas started falling out of her head and onto the floor, so she decided to pick them up and try writing them down.
Lisa keeps her musical immune system in tiptop shape with daily doses of multi-musicals and random blows on a set of blue-suede bagpipes.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
DANIEL GRAY-BARNETT is an illustrator based in Sydney, Australia. Self-taught, he studied Medical Science at the University of Sydney before swapping his microscope for pencils when he realised illustration had a much lower patient mortality rate.
His illustrations have been commissioned by clients such as the New York Times, Sydney Opera House, the Boston Globe, Warner Music and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. His work has been shown internationally and has been awarded by the Society of Illustrators NY, Communication Arts and 3x3 magazine.
His favourite music is pop, he can play the piano and the French horn and thinks that he laughs a bit like a hyena.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Penguin Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Dr Boogaloo and The Girl Who Lost Her Laughter
ePub ISBN – 9780143782605
First published by Random House Australia in 2017
Text copyright © Lisa Nicol, 2017
Illustrations © Daniel Gray-Barnett, 2017
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Random House book
Published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd
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www.penguin.com.au
Addresses for the Penguin Random House group of companies can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com/offices.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Nicol, Lisa
Title: Dr Boogaloo and the girl who lost her laughter
ISBN: 978 0 14378 260 5 (ebook)
Target audience: For primary school age
Subjects: Physicians – Fiction
Laughter – Fiction
Cover illustration by Daniel Gray-Barnett
Cover and text design by Bruno Herfst
Ebook by Firstsource
