The family had practised the drill many times, so Pearlie knew exactly what to do. She put Tinto into his pouch, placed Santa’s cage under the kitchen table, then went outside to comfort Rusty, who was howling like a wolf in a forest. He hated the sirens as much as Pearlie did.
‘It’s all right, Rusty,’ she said, tying a rope around his neck. He followed Pearlie with his head down and tail between his legs.
The Girls had already fled inside the chicken coop and all Mum had to do was lock them in.
Before jumping into the trench, Dad gave Pearlie a stick, which she put in her mouth. She bit down on it as they had all been trained to do. This was in case of bombs exploding around you. It had been raining on and off for days and the bottom of the trench was filled with muddy water. She tried to coax Rusty to jump in but his body was rigid with fear. So she lay down on her back, cuddling Tinto to her chest and holding onto the end of Rusty’s rope so he couldn’t run away.
The rain fell on Pearlie’s face and she closed her eyes, praying that she wouldn’t hear the drone of bomber planes. She wondered what Reddy was doing. His house didn’t have a trench. Where would he be sheltering? She hadn’t seen him since they’d had the argument and missed him not being around.
When the all-clear siren sounded, Dad stood up first. His back was dripping with mud and so was Mum’s. Joey had mud splatters on his face, as if he had the measles.
Pearlie couldn’t help herself and she began to giggle. Dad drew a moustache on his top lip with his muddy finger, which set Mum off giggling too. And all at once, things didn’t seem so terrifying.
‘We’ll clean ourselves up and go back to our Christmas lunch,’ Dad said as he gave one more glance up at the sky.
He brought buckets of water up from the well and poured them into a channel that connected to the trough in the kitchen, which Mum then heated up on the wood stove.
Pearlie was first to wash. She peeled off her mud-soaked dress and dropped it on the floor. Then she stepped into a metal tub that Mum had filled. The water turned a deep chocolate brown. Tinto peeped over the edge, looking at his reflection in the water. He didn’t need a bath – only his face and hands were muddy, so Pearlie used a cloth to wipe him down gently.
That was by far the most interesting thing that happened all day. It was the quietest Christmas Pearlie had known. Quiet, that is, until Reddy popped his head inside the back door.
‘Merry Christmas, everyone!’ he said. ‘Mum baked a fruit cake and asked me to bring it round.’
‘Come in, Reddy,’ Mum said and fussed about setting a place for him. ‘There’s plenty of goose left.’
Reddy glanced at Pearlie. She was overjoyed to see him but didn’t want Reddy to know so she gave him a frown instead. Tinto was sitting on her lap and she felt him move. She knew he wanted to go to Reddy but she held him back.
‘Ah, no thanks. I have to go,’ Reddy said.
‘Well, thank your mother for the cake . . .’ Mum began.
Pearlie didn’t want Reddy to leave. Now she released Tinto. The little monkey scampered towards him.
‘You can stay if you want,’ she said, pretending not to care by helping herself to a serving of carrots.
‘Well, as a matter of fact I don’t have time,’ Reddy said. ‘I have a piglet to rescue.’
Pearlie looked up in surprise. ‘What piglet?’
‘Her name’s Leonetta, belongs to my neighbour. Someone saw her heading down the Mindil Beach track.’ Then Reddy smiled. ‘Thought it’d be a good job for Pearlie’s Pet Rescue.’
Pearlie was grinning on the inside. She stood up. ‘Then what are we waiting for?’ She put Tinto’s pouch over her head and called to him. Tinto snuggled down inside. Grabbing the rope that she’d used for Rusty, she said, ‘See you later, Mum and Dad.’
‘Wait a minute, Pearlie! What about the rest of lunch – and the dishes?’ Mum said.
‘I’ll do them when I get back!’ she called, and she and Reddy hurried through the shop and out onto the street.
They walked in silence past the swamp and the cemetery, made a wide circle around Old Man Lizard’s shack and Titch, his ferocious barking dog, then headed to the beach. It felt right to have Reddy back there by her side. Pearlie hadn’t had many arguments with friends – only one or two with Naoko and this one with Reddy – and they made her feel sour inside, as if her veins were filled with lemon juice.
Pearlie was the first one to speak. ‘Dulcie gave me her bird to look after. He’s cute, really cute, and he can talk. We nearly became friends . . .’
Reddy stopped dead on the track. ‘This is Dulcie McBride you’re talking about?’
Pearlie laughed. ‘I know, funny isn’t it? But when big things happen to people it changes them. Dulcie turned out to be okay on the inside. Sort of.’
A dragonfly with a bright red body flew across their path and hovered with invisible wings before buzzing off. Tinto saw it and leapt out of his pouch to the ground. Then he sat on his haunches watching the dragonfly flutter into the air.
‘Hear that?’ Reddy said, stopping and turning his head to face the wind.
Pearlie heard a high-pitched squealing sound. ‘Is that –?’
‘Yep. Sounds like a trapped piggy to me,’ Reddy said as he pushed through the scrub.
Pearlie followed and found Reddy on his knees peering down a large burrow. She knelt beside him and looked into the darkness.
Two frightened eyes peered back at them.
‘Poor little girl,’ Pearlie said. ‘How can we get her out?’
‘I can probably reach her,’ Reddy said, lying on his stomach. He plunged his arm into the hole right up to his armpit and hauled a squealing Leonetta out by her two front legs.
Pearlie clasped her hands together in delight when she saw the piglet. She had brown fur with black splodges like a leopard. Leonetta struggled in Reddy’s arms as he brushed the dirt off her face.
‘She’s adorable! Look, she’s smiling,’ Pearlie said.
‘Do you want to keep her?’ Reddy said.
‘I thought she belonged to your neighbour.’
‘She does but they’re leaving. That’s why I asked you to come and find her with me.’
‘I thought you were against rescuing animals,’ Pearlie said. ‘You said it was a waste of time.’
He gave a shy smile. ‘I’ll help you look after them until our family has to go, too.’
‘Oh peanuts, Reddy Hart,’ Pearlie said. ‘I wish you’d make up your mind. I was so mad at you I couldn’t sleep!’
Reddy grinned sheepishly. ‘What can I do to help?’
‘I don’t think Mum will be too thrilled if I bring home another animal. Leonetta will have to live at your place. Your mum won’t mind, will she?’ Pearlie said.
‘I reckon she has no choice.’
‘Reckon not.’
‘You’re getting quite bossy, you know?’ Reddy said. ‘Almost as bossy as Naoko.’
‘She was a good teacher.’ Pearlie grinned. ‘Now let me tie this rope around Leonetta’s neck and see if she’ll follow us.’
And follow them the little piglet did, right at Pearlie’s heel, just like a puppy.
When Pearlie and Reddy got to his house, his brother and sister came running outside. It wasn’t the piglet they were interested in but Tinto.
‘Can I have a hold?’ Clara said.
‘He might be a bit scared so just pat his head,’ Pearlie replied as she held Tinto in the crook of her arm.
Clara stroked Tinto gently.
‘Leonetta might be hungry. What do pigs eat?’ Pearlie said.
‘Uncle Tom used to have a pig and he gave it scraps,’ said Reddy.
‘Are we keeping her?’ Billy said.
‘Yep. She’s our Christmas present. See what you can rustle up.’
Billy raced inside the house and came back with a bowl of mashed potato. He put it down on the ground and Leonetta buried her little snout into it.
‘She likes it.
’ Clara smiled.
‘Now she’s fed, we better build a pen,’ said Reddy.
Reddy’s dad was a builder before he joined the army and went away to fight, so the backyard was filled with pieces of timber. And he had a shed full of tools.
‘She needs a place to roll in the mud to keep cool,’ Billy said to Pearlie.
‘And some straw to sleep on,’ said Clara.
They worked all afternoon and soon there was a comfortable pen for Leonetta with a mud puddle, a hutch filled with straw, scraps of food and plenty of clean water.
The children sat back happily, watching Leonetta wagging her curly tail as she checked out her new enclosure. Then she trotted up to the wire fence and pushed her snout through.
At that moment, Tinto pulled himself out of the pouch and jumped down. But instead of frightening Leonetta, he went up to her slowly and reached out his little hand. Leonetta was curious and came right up to Tinto, wagging her tail. Then Tinto started grooming the piglet like he would another monkey.
‘Well, will you look at that,’ Reddy said, leaning on the shovel.
‘They’re best friends.’ Pearlie grinned. And then she looked up at Reddy, who grinned back, nodding.
THREE-and-a-half weeks went by and Pearlie noticed that Dad was getting thinner and thinner. To catch up with back orders she would hear him in the shop sewing late into the night. He looked terrible – he had red blotches on his skin and he complained to Mum that his joints ached. Sometimes he couldn’t sit still and would walk around the house.
‘You need to see a doctor,’ Pearlie heard Mum say one day.
‘I can’t afford to stop working, Vera,’ he said, sounding frustrated.
It worried Pearlie. Now Mr Spiros had left, she couldn’t even earn extra money doing deliveries for him like she used to.
Nobody else had asked her to look after their pets, which Pearlie was glad of. Every day Pearlie took Tinto and Rusty to Reddy’s to visit Leonetta. She was also training Tinto to go by himself back and forth between Reddy’s place and home. It was fun. She would tie a note to Tinto’s collar and say, ‘See Reddy.’ And off the little monkey would go. In fifteen minutes he’d be back with a note from Reddy. Instead of a carrier pigeon, Tinto was a carrier monkey! Pearlie always had a special treat to give him when he returned, like a piece of melon or apple.
Leonetta was growing bigger and fatter by the week. She was a piglet no longer and Reddy had to build a bigger enclosure for her. Tinto loved riding on Leonetta’s back, holding on like a jockey, while Rusty splashed around in the mud puddles surrounding them.
But as the days passed, Dad grew gradually sicker until one morning Pearlie found him on the floor. She dashed over and knelt down, listening for a heartbeat. Then when she heard it faintly, she ran to get Mum.
‘I need you to look after Joey,’ Mum said as she climbed into the ambulance beside Dad.
Pearlie was in shock. The doors closed and the ambulance drove away. She stood in the street holding Joey’s little hand. ‘I want Mama,’ he wailed.
Pearlie gave Joey his lunch then they walked up the street and bought two raspberry cordial ice blocks, for threepence, from one of the Chinese shops. Joey was a mess as it dripped down his front and Pearlie had to take him home for a change of clothes. They played with Rusty and Tinto in the backyard.
But all day Pearlie couldn’t stop thinking about Dad. As soon as she heard Mum open the front door of the shop, she jumped up and ran to greet her.
‘Is Dad going to be all right?’
Mum’s face was grave. ‘The doctors still don’t know what it is.’ She sighed, taking off her hat. ‘We’ll have to wait and see, Pearlie,’ she said.
Joey came running up to Mum and she lifted him onto her hip.
‘Do you want me to make you a cup of tea, Mum?’ Pearlie said.
‘Not now thanks, love. But can you give Joey something to eat? I’ll just rest for an hour and then I’ll go back to the hospital.’
Pearlie made Joey some porridge and sweetened it with condensed milk. Then she wrote a note to Reddy, telling him what had happened to Dad.
‘Go see Reddy, Tinto. Good boy,’ she said, attaching the note to his collar. Then she gave him a kiss on the top of his head and sent him on his way. Tinto scampered across the yard, scattering the hens before him, climbed the back fence and was gone.
Pearlie helped Mum prepare dinner. Then Mum took Joey and went back to the hospital.
It’s strange that Tinto’s not back yet, Pearlie thought. By now it had been two hours since she’d sent the little monkey to Reddy’s. He’d never stayed away this long before.
Pearlie was beginning to worry. She stood in the back lane, hoping to see Tinto scampering towards her.
The sun was setting as she knocked on Reddy’s front door.
Clara opened it. ‘Reddy’s at Uncle Bill’s making sick trucks get well,’ she said.
‘Have you seen Tinto, Clara? I sent him here with a message but he hasn’t come back. I’m really worried about him.’
‘He might be out the back with Leonetta. They’re girlfriend and boyfriend,’ she giggled.
At that moment Reddy came up the path. ‘Sorry about your dad,’ he said.
‘So you saw Tinto then?’ Pearlie said.
‘Yeah, sent him straight back with a message. Why?’
Pearlie felt panic rising in her chest. ‘He hasn’t come home, Reddy.’
‘Strewth.’ Reddy rubbed his chin.
‘Do you think somebody’s stolen him? Or he’s been run over?’
‘Nah. I bet the little fella’s home now waiting for you at the back door.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Pearlie said. ‘I better go and check.
Pearlie’s heart felt heavy as she trudged home. What if someone had stolen Tinto? Or he’d been run over or attacked by a dog? She couldn’t bear the thoughts going around her head and began to run, not stopping till she reached her front door.
With a small ray of hope Pearlie looked inside Tinto’s cage. But he wasn’t there. He’d be hungry by now, the poor little man, she thought.
That night, after Mum had gone to bed, Pearlie crept to the back door and gazed up at the stars. She was hoping to see a shooting star so she could make a wish. She sat there for an hour in her nightdress, hugging Rusty. Then she crept back to bed, leaving the door ajar just in case Tinto found his way home.
Please come home, Tinto. And Dad, please get well.
THE next morning, Mum was smiling when Pearlie got up for breakfast.
‘Your father’s doing better,’ she said as she scooped up Joey to go back to the hospital. ‘The doctor thinks he’s going to be okay.’
Pearlie felt relieved, but hurried through her chores so she could search for Tinto. Her mind was racing now, racing ahead to the time when she would see Naoko again. How could she explain to her best friend that she’d been so careless?
Santa greeted her with a loud screech. ‘Allo Pearlie, allo, allo,’ he said. He jumped from his perch to the bars while Pearlie took out his seed bowl and blew off the husks, changed his water and poked a piece of apple through the bars. ‘I’ll let you out later,’ she said. ‘Be a good boy now.’
‘Santa good boy, good boy,’ the cockatiel said.
She fed Rusty and let the Girls out of the chicken coop. They pecked at the leftover rice and vegetables from last night’s dinner while she collected the freshly laid eggs and put them inside the house.
‘There, all done. Come on, Rusty,’ Pearlie said. ‘Let’s find Tinto.’
She was hoping that Rusty would be able to pick up Tinto’s scent. Rusty danced around her legs, happy to be going for a walk.
Pearlie was all set to leave when she heard someone calling over the fence. Her first thought was that something bad must have happened to Dad.
She rushed to open the gate. To her surprise it was Frank McBride, Dulcie’s older brother, dressed in his soldier’s uniform. And who should he be holding but
Tinto!
Tinto jumped into Pearlie’s arms and snuggled into the crook of her neck, as though he couldn’t get close enough.
‘Oh my little darling. I’ve been so worried about you. Where did you find him, Frank?’
‘I’m afraid he’s been in a bit of strife,’ Frank said.
Pearlie didn’t like the tone of Frank’s voice.
‘Apparently the little scoundrel hitched a ride on a truck heading for Larrakeyah Barracks. Once he was inside he made straight for the canteen kitchen and spent the whole night there making a proper mess of the place. Food, pots and pans, dishes everywhere. It’s going to cost the army a pretty penny.’
‘Oh peanuts!’ Pearlie said. ‘Is it that bad?’
‘If I were you, Pearlie, I’d lie low with Tinto for a couple of days,’ Frank said. ‘At the moment the Colonel’s hopping mad and wants me to get rid of your pesky monkey. But he’ll soon forget. He’s got more important things on his mind. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.’
‘I will. Gee thanks, Frank,’ Pearlie said.
‘No worries, kiddo. You just look after yourself – and Tinto.’
Pearlie shut the gate and took Tinto inside. ‘I thought I’d never see you again,’ she said. ‘I missed you so much.’
Tinto looked up at Pearlie and wrapped his long tail around her arm. She hugged the little monkey to her chest. Lie low for a few days, was what Frank had said. But where? She drummed the kitchen table with her fingers, thinking. Then she stopped. ‘I’ve got it, Tinto! Diamond Cave is the perfect place to lie low.’
The last time Pearlie had been to Diamond Cave was with Naoko and Reddy, the day they’d spied on Beake. It was a spooky place, but she had been brave, then, because she’d been with her friends. She’d never imagined that one day she’d be going there all alone.
Pearlie packed her school satchel quickly. What would Nao take? she wondered. Torch, spare batteries, food, water . . . and yes, shoes for the long walk there.
Tinto perched on Pearlie’s shoulder for some of the way. At other times he slept in the pouch or ran along the sand beside her. She ate sweet bush cherries to give her the energy to keep going.
Pearlie's Pet Rescue Page 3
