Maddy just stared at her. Surely Miss Dewitt couldn’t have rung Mrs. Walton over what had happened this afternoon? In her experience, teachers never bothered parents outside parent- teacher nights once a term. But she was attending Jennifer Walton’s posh school, and who knew what teachers did in these sorts of schools?
“About your behaviour this afternoon,” continued the grave voice.
Maddy’s heart sank. Surely Miss Dewitt hadn’t rung to repeat Bronwin’s accusation of her cheating at draughts?
“Everyone carried on like absolute pills, and it wasn’t my fault,” Maddy said sulkily.
“She spoke to Mr. Brown before she rang me.”
Maddy waited. Miss Dewitt had actually checked on Bronwin’s accusation! She hadn’t realized how busybody and sneaky Miss Dewitt was. Another description of Miss Dewitt occurred to her. She was a troublemaker and by the look on Mrs. Walton’s face, Maddy was the one in trouble!
The next morning Maddy woke to the sound of rain. It splattered against the window in fitful gusts and gurgled steadily down the pipes. Her first and most thankful thought was she had dodged the visit to Grandma’s place. It was dreadful enough when it was fine, but when rain forced Grandpa’s unwilling and irritable presence inside, it was even worse.
Then the memory of the previous evening of solid lectures, grave concern, and disappointment returned. She scowled. For a while, the lecture had moved on to really weird things.
“Making everyone else feel bad because you feel bad is childish and unladylike.”
“I am a child.” Maddy had pointed out at that point, but Mrs. Walton had kept on and on.
“You represent our family, and you are expected to behave properly all the time, not just when you feel in the mood for it.”
“Selina and Linda and Bronwin were being beastly,” Maddy protested. “I’m allowed to stick up for myself.”
“It’s how you talk and act that sets off the way other people treat you. You must be more thoughtful, and try to put yourself in their shoes. Look at how nice that little Jennifer Matson is. She deserves to be the most popular girl in the district with that happy nature.”
“What?” Maddy stammered, but Mrs. Walton kept on going.
Maddy had lost track for a while. What topsy-turvy thing was happening that Jennifer now-Matson was still the most popular girl in the district? Maddy scowled again as she remembered her dreadful evening. It had been totally wasted on endlessly rewriting apology notes.
Moving those pieces around was no big deal, but Mrs. Walton had carried on as if it was the equal of starting World War Three, smashing windows, or burning down high schools.
“I’m disappointed in you, Maddy,” the lecture finished at long last, while Maddy had tried to keep her face solemn and nod at the right intervals. “You not only let yourself down by such petty-minded and despicable actions, but you also cast a slur on us because we are your parents. You will write an apology to Mr. Brown, and hope that he is generous enough to overlook and forgive what you did.”
She had missed out on all of the evening’s television, cooped up in the bedroom as she had struggled to compose her note of apology. And she wasn’t even allowed to work out what she wanted to write on the computer.
She had to sit at the desk, and hand write and endlessly rewrite, until Mrs. Walton was satisfied that the letter contained the right note of grovelling, sucking up and putting herself down.
It took all evening before Mrs. Walton was satisfied, and then Maddy had to write it out again in her best handwriting and sign it. After that, she had to go straight to bed.
She kept protesting that on Friday nights her favourite late show “Tales from the Crypt” was showing, but Mrs. Walton ignored her protests. She had been bundled off to bed and given a foul mixture to swallow to make her sleep.
“You get yourself over-tired and you end up cranky, unreasonable, and fighting with everyone like you did today. Even though I requested you have a quiet day with the social studies class instead of going swimming.” Mrs. Walton turned off the light. “Sleep well.”
Maddy had pulled a face in the darkness. She had never thought of Mrs. Walton as nasty before, but it was a hateful, spiteful thing to do under the pretence of worrying about swimming being too tiring. She loved swimming. It was her favourite sport.
Miss Dewitt had been spying on her and then reporting everything she heard and noticed back to Mrs. Walton. She had drifted off to sleep, drowsily wondering whether it was a disadvantage that the Waltons had plenty of money.
They probably paid Miss Dewitt to spy on her all the time. How did poor Jennifer always manage to look so happy and contented with everyone watching and spying on her all the time?
Still, she had slept well and today was the start of her wonderful weekend. Maddy got out of bed and pulled on the warm tracksuit. She would take a pile of hot, buttered toast into the lounge and settle down to a peaceful Saturday morning of watching cartoons.
“What do you think you are doing, Maddy?” Mrs. Walton asked as she came into the lounge room about an hour later.
“Watching cartoon carnival,” Maddy explained. “Did I disturb you? I had the telly turned right down.”
Mrs. Walton looked at the remains of the buttered toast on the floor beside Maddy. For a few seconds she looked bewildered and then she shrugged. To Maddy’s horror, she walked over and turned off the television.
“Come and finish eating at the breakfast nook, Maddy,” she said.
“What’s wrong with me watching it in front of telly?” Maddy protested. “That was my favourite segment you turned off.”
“We do not eat in the lounge or in front of television, that’s what,” Mrs. Walton said.
The kitchen was pleasant with the smells of bacon and eggs. Mr. Walton sat in the breakfast nook with a paper in front of him. He was reading the financial section of his paper. He looked up and smiled at Maddy. Maddy sat down beside him.
“Can I have the comic pages please?” she asked.
“No reading at the table,” Mrs. Walton said sharply.
“I was just glancing through it,” Mr. Walton said, as he folded the paper and put it down. “So what’s my Princess doing this morning?”
“I’m watching cartoon carnival,” Maddy said.
She almost felt as if she was in the right family for once. Did all fathers call their daughters Princess?”
“Showering and changing into a good dress and going for your piano lesson,” Mrs. Walton said.
Maddy stuck out her bottom lip. There went her peaceful morning of cartoon carnival! She had forgotten about the way Jennifer rushed off to piano lessons every Saturday. Although Jennifer had always confided that she loved piano lessons and wouldn’t miss them for the world.
What a shocking way to waste a perfectly good wet, Saturday morning! Maddy and her sisters were supposed to be learning the piano, but she hated every wrongly pressed key of her lessons.
It was Grandma who kept paying for the three Matson girls to have lessons. Every now and then they were expected to play something on the dark yellow keys of Grandma’s spooky piano to prove they were still learning and practising.
Mr. and Mrs. Walton exchanged smiles. Maddy felt the back of her neck prickle. The sort of smiles they exchanged hinted at something secret and interesting happening.
“We have a special nice surprise for you this afternoon,” Mrs. Walton said.
“Really! What?”
This was more like it, Maddy decided. The Waltons were into giving Jennifer nice surprises. They made such a fuss of Jennifer all the time.
The Waltons always bought tickets for the most exciting things. Jennifer had seen the troupe of dancing horses when they were in town, and the big circus that was much too high priced for ordinary people, and the air show with the stunt planes.
“Wouldn’t be a surprise if we told you first,” Mrs. Walton said. “Wear your new gold velvet to piano class. We will have an early lunch in town and kee
p going.”
“Going where?” Maddy insisted.
Were they going somewhere in the city, or were they having an early lunch because they had a long drive afterwards? There was a big country rodeo about two hours’ drive from the city. Was that where they were going? What about the exciting Disney ice show in town at the moment? Was that where they were going?
Maddy took in a deep breath of sheer pleasure and excitement. Hanging around for the Walton’s weekend was the right thing to do! Life just couldn’t get any better.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” Mr. Walton said and winked. “But I do guarantee you’re going to love it.”
Maddy flew off and showered, remembering to hang up her towels and tidy up afterwards. She put on the new, gold velvet dress and inspected her reflection with delighted awe. The gold velvet made her look like a beautiful stranger, as if her dark hair and dark eyes were something attractive instead of something ordinary.
Jennifer was so lucky to have such wonderful expensive clothes and spend her weekends going to wonderful, exciting places. I am so lucky, she reminded herself, as she danced out to the car.
Mrs. Walton pulled the car under the shelter of the post office and produced the letter addressed to Mr. Brown. “Post this please, Maddy,” she said pleasantly.
Maddy hesitated. Post that horrid, grovelling, sucking up apology to Mr. Brown! She would rather stuff it in the rubbish bin or drop it in the fast- flowing gutter.
“Hurry up, Maddy,” Mrs. Walton said, still pleasantly, but there was a firm note in her voice.
Maddy opened the car door. Could she accidentally drop it in the gutter? She sneaked a look back at Mrs. Walton, who watched her with a glint in her grey eyes. Maddy sighed and swung out to drop the letter into the letter slot.
Her pleasure at living life as Jennifer Walton dimmed through the tedium that was called her piano lesson. The teacher, old Miss Rofe, nagged and carped about her not practising, not sitting correctly, not pressing foot pedals correctly and not turning pages correctly. Worst of all, she threatened to tell Mrs. Walton to make Maddy practise more regularly.
It was still raining when the lesson was over. Mr. Walton was waiting for her with an umbrella, looking very smart in his dark grey suit. Mrs. Walton was driving and smiled happily at them. She was wearing a loose coat over a dark blue dress with beading glittering on it.
Maddy immediately felt happy again as she climbed into the back seat. Mrs. Walton wouldn’t wear a glittering beaded dress to a rodeo, nor would Mr. Walton wear a suit. They must be going to the Disney ice show!
She had a crumbed cutlet with salad for lunch, and studied the wonderful desserts on the menu. It was wonderful to be rich and eat out. Wouldn’t it be fun to eat in cafés all the time?
“Can I have chocolate ice-cream cake for dessert?”
“As this is a special day, I suppose just once won’t hurt you,” Mr. Walton said doubtfully.
“I don’t really think you should, Maddy.” Mrs. Walton looked at the way Maddy’s face dropped and sighed. “Don’t blame me if it makes you sick.”
The chocolate ice-cream cake was the most delicious sweet Maddy had ever tasted. Plain Maddy Matson never ate like this.
Afterwards they got back in the car and Mr. Walton drove across town to an indoor car park. Maddy was so excited, she had trouble sitting still. The placards for the Disney ice show were all over the front of the big building as they drove past. People were queuing up to go inside. They drove up the spiraling ramps until they found a spot to park the car on the fifth floor.
“We can catch the lift down to the basement and walk across,” Mr. Walton said, as he pressed the lift button. “Finding parking is the worst thing about coming on opening day.”
“I think it’s wonderful that you managed to get tickets for the matinee at all,” Mrs. Walton said.
“Wonderful,” Maddy echoed dreamily.
They got out of the lift in the basement, walked across the car park and got into another lift up to the ground floor. It opened into a big, carpeted lobby. Lots of people were gathered around talking. The men mostly wore suits like Mr. Walton, and the women all wore good dresses and high heels like Mrs. Walton. There were lots of girls wearing the same sort of long-sleeved dresses with longer hemlines like Maddy’s.
A bell chimed. Everyone started walking towards the doors where the ushers waited to take tickets.
Maddy stared at the placards and glass-fronted displays of costumes and pink or white satin slippers as they walked towards the doors. She looked at the blown-up photographs. They were all of people wearing interesting outfits, but they were wearing nasty satin slippers, not skates under their fancy costumes.
The horrid suspicion became a certainty. The basement car park had been under the road! They were across the road from the building with the Disney ice show!
“Ballet!” she gasped in shock and disappointment. “We’re going to the ballet!”
“Knew you would be thrilled about it,” Mrs. Walton said.
Mr. Walton handed over the tickets, and they went through into the darkened auditorium. He ushered them down to the very front row. They sat down and he produced programs.
“That’s right, Princess. Your favourite show, Swan Lake. Your Superman father managed to get tickets to the opening matinee for you. What do you think of our surprise?”
“She’s too overwhelmed to thank you. Aren’t you, Maddy?” Mrs. Walton asked with a smile.
Maddy stared at Mr. and Mrs. Walton. This was supposed to be their wonderful surprise! A yucky, stupid, boring ballet instead of the Disney ice shows! She hated ballet!
It was fortunate that she was too speechless with disappointment to say so.
Chapter Eight
Swan Lake ended at last, but it wasn’t that bad after all, Maddy decided.
Watching it in person was different from seeing it on telly. Because they sat in the front row, there wasn’t the illusion of fragile wishy-washy dancers drifting about. Maddy heard the thuds and thumps as the dancers bounded across the stage, and saw the effort and energy put into their steps. She realized that the dancers really were as fit and hard-working as the local footie team. It was just that they were so good; they made it look sissy and easy.
She was able to assure Mr. and Mrs. Walton with perfect truth, as they jostled their way across the car park with all the other people, that the ballet really was something else, and she hadn’t realized how fit the dancers were.
For an instant a sad expression crossed Mrs. Walton’s face, and then she smiled agreement. “Yes, my darling. Think of all the years they dedicate to practising to get so good.”
Mr. Walton cleared his throat and said practise makes perfect, and what about they buy some take-away chicken on the way home to finish off their perfect day. Maddy lost interest in the oddity of the sad expression on Mrs. Walton’s face. She loved take-away chicken.
However, when they got home and sat in the breakfast nook to eat, Maddy looked at the hot steaming chicken and chips and suddenly wasn’t hungry. Still, she loved take-away chicken, and she intended to eat every delicious morsel.
She took a mouthful and chewed. Her head ached and thudded in time as she chewed. Her stomach felt as if it was churning around like a washing machine. She put down her beautiful drumstick and stood up. The kitchen whirled around like a merry-go-round.
“I feel sick,” she said, and ran for the bathroom.
Mrs. Walton followed her in. Maddy felt too ill to care. She had never felt so sick over something as simple as throwing up. Usually, if she threw up, that was all she did, and she felt better immediately. She had never got a thumping headache or shivered and sweated the way she was doing right now.
Mrs. Walton got her out of the stained velvet dress, no longer beautiful, and Mr. Walton carried her to bed, where Mrs. Walton sponged her down and put towels and a bucket beside her.
“That chocolate ice-cream cake was too much,” she heard Mrs. Walton say.
“You know her system can’t cope with preservatives.”
“They assured me that it was all natural ingredients,” Mr. Walton protested. “And she’s been so good lately.”
“It wasn’t worth risking this on their assurances,” Mrs. Walton said crisply.
Maddy wondered what they were talking about. Then she lost interest in why Jennifer couldn’t cope with preservatives. It didn’t matter anyway. She knew she had brought up all of her chocolate ice-cream cake and everything else she had ever eaten in her whole life.
She spent the night shivering or sweating. Mrs. Walton sponged her and occasionally coaxed her to sip water, which she threw straight up again. Mrs. Walton was very caring and endlessly patient, but having someone else look after you when you felt this bad didn’t help at all.
“Where’s Mum. I want my own mum right now,” Maddy cried.
“Delirious, my poor darling,” Mrs. Walton said and tried to get her to sip more water.
Maddy tried to wish her life back to normal, but Mrs. Walton was holding her hands away from her face as she sponged her and somehow she couldn’t!
Maddy eventually drifted off to sleep. When she woke, she felt rested and much better. Her stomach was sore, but it wasn’t churning around anymore. The thudding headache, the dizziness, the shivering, and sweating were gone.
The room was very dark, and the bedside clock said five o’clock. Was it early morning or late afternoon? She felt as if she had been sleeping for days! She slid out of bed, staggered across the room to the window, and opened the drapes.
It was actually afternoon! Everything was darkened to greyness by the heavy rain. She had slept right through Sunday! She had never done that in her life before. She pulled on her warm tracksuit and opened the bedroom door.
The house seemed very quiet. Surely Mr. and Mrs. Walton hadn’t gone off and left her by herself? Feeling a bit scared; Maddy tiptoed down the passage. Her own mother and father never left them alone in an empty house.
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