by Judi Curtin
‘What?’ asked Kate.
‘I feel kind of guilty about all the stuff I used to have. I had more toys than I could play with, and more clothes than I could ever, ever wear. Back then, I thought I needed all that stuff, and now I feel bad. Think of poor Daisy – she was happy, even though her only presents were a home-made hanky, a diary and a bunch of wild flowers.’
‘And what about your thirteenth birthday?’ asked Kate. ‘What was that like?’
I sighed. ‘By the time my thirteenth birthday came around, I was older and wiser and poorer. Mum and Dad had lost their jobs, and we’d sold our big house.’
‘Poor you,’ said Kate.
‘It wasn’t so bad,’ I said, trying not to think of Kate spending her birthday all alone with Martha. ‘I’d moved to a new school, and made lots of new friends. It was a good birthday, really.’
I looked down at the diary in my hands. I was dying to read more, but the way Kate was looking at me made me feel bad.
I carefully wrapped the diary in the white fabric and stood up.
‘What are you going to do with it?’ asked Kate. ‘You can’t put it back in the shed.’
‘I’m going to put it inside where it’s safe,’ I said. ‘Just in case old Daisy Lavelle comes knocking on the door tonight, looking for it.’
Kate giggled. I ran inside and put the diary on the dresser in the corner of my bedroom, and then went back outside to join my friend.
Chapter Four
That night, Mum, Dad and I played Monopoly with Joey. As usual, Dad kept robbing the bank when he thought no one was looking, and then acting all hurt when Mum accused him of cheating. Joey laughed, because he’s just a kid, but for me the whole thing was totally, totally boring. In the end, I deliberately lost, and decided to go to bed early. I was tucked up in bed and just reaching for my book, when I spotted the diary.
‘Maybe Daisy’s ancient old secrets will send me off to sleep,’ I thought, as I opened the diary and began to read.
Dear Diary,
I felt a bit blue this morning, as it’s not my birthday any more. I have to wait a whole 364 days for another one to come along. I wonder what will happen this year. I wonder will any of my dreams come true.
Daisy was describing exactly how I feel on the day after my birthday! Maybe this long-ago girl and I weren’t so different after all. I couldn’t help smiling to myself, which I know is a bit weird.
I turned to the next page. Some of the writing was so faded, it was hard to make it out, and by the time I got to the fourth page, I was already starting to yawn. But something made me want to keep on reading …
Much, much later Mum came into my room.
‘I saw your light on, Eva,’ she said. ‘Why are you still awake at this hour?’
I quickly closed the diary. ‘Sorry, Mum,’ I said.
She kissed me and switched off the light. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘Now straight to sleep. It’s after midnight.’
I lay down and closed my eyes, but I wasn’t able to sleep. I couldn’t help thinking about Daisy. Once upon a time, she had been a young girl like me. She had secrets and hopes and dreams, like me.
I knew from the diary that Daisy had slept in this exact room.
Did she look at the crack in the ceiling over the bed, like I did every night?
Did she imagine it was a mysterious river, the way I did?
Did she look at the moon shining through the window?
Did she imagine it watching over her, protecting her?
Could she ever, ever have imagined that one day, men would walk on the surface of the moon?
I had so many questions; they were beginning to hurt my head.
When Daisy left this place, why didn’t she take her precious diary with her?
Why did she leave it hidden in a dirty old shed?
What had happened to her?
Next morning, I felt kind of weird, like I’d had really vivid dreams that I couldn’t shake free of. Only it wasn’t dreams – it was Daisy’s words that were echoing backwards and forwards through my head.
Kate and I sat in our garden for a while. I tried to concentrate on what Kate was saying, but I guess I wasn’t doing a very good job. In the end, she took me by the shoulders, and shook me.
‘Hello?’ she said. ‘Earth to Eva? Are you in there? You’re not listening to a word I’m saying.’
I knew the time had come to confess.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s just that I’ve been reading the diary – I’m nearly halfway through it, and I’ve kind of got caught up in Daisy’s life. She was really––’
Kate didn’t let me finish. ‘You read the diary?’
I felt ashamed as she stared at me. ‘It’s just that it’s ancient,’ I said. ‘Everything I read about happened years and years ago – to someone we’ve never even met.’
‘It’s still a diary!’ said Kate.
Then she smiled. ‘But maybe I’m a bit weird about things like that. What’s she like, this Daisy person?’
‘She seems like a nice girl – sort of gentle and sweet, but funny too. She loves plants and animals and stars and stuff.’
‘Like me,’ said Kate.
‘Yeah, exactly like you – and that makes me think that if Daisy was around now, I’d like to be friends with her.’
Kate smiled. ‘So what did she do all day, back in 1947?’
‘Kind of the same stuff we do. Listen to this.’
I pulled the diary from my pocket and began to read.
Dear Diary,
Today Mammy made a special picnic for Rose and me. There were cheese sandwiches and milk and a bun for each of us. We took the picnic to Manning’s Field, and after we’d finished eating, we climbed the big tree, and pretended it was a magic ship. We pretended we were fancy ladies sailing away to France. It was a very happy day.
I stopped reading and gave a big sigh. ‘Do you know where Manning’s Field is, Kate?’ I asked. ‘Maybe we could go there some day, and hang out. It would be kind of cool being where Daisy and Rose used to go, don’t you think?’
At first Kate didn’t answer. She was sitting there with her mouth half-open and a mysterious smile on her face.
‘OMG,’ she said in the end.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘Manning’s Field,’ she said. ‘That’s the field where Jeremy is.’
‘OMG, is right,’ I said. ‘That means Daisy and Rose used to hang out in our special place. They used to climb Jeremy too. That’s totally cool.’
Kate leaned closer. ‘Tell me more about Daisy,’ she said.
I smiled, glad to see that at last she was really interested in the diary. I thought back to all the things I’d read the night before.
‘Even though her dad was from France, Daisy was born in Seacove. She loved it here. She writes about it like it’s the most magical, special place in the whole world.’
‘It is,’ said Kate, grinning. ‘What else does she say?’
‘Daisy wanted to get a scholarship to go to the secondary school in the next town,’ I said. ‘So she was studying a lot. She dreamed of being a children’s nurse. She loved children, and hated being an only child.’
‘That’s sweet,’ said Kate. ‘That’s kind of the way I felt before Simon came along.’
‘Mmmm. It is sweet,’ I said. ‘I wish we could find out more about Daisy, though.’
‘Perfect timing,’ said Kate, jumping up. ‘Here comes Martha. Maybe she can help us. Maybe she remembers Daisy.’
I got up too, and went over to Kate’s granny who was just walking past our gate. We told her all about how we’d found the diary in the shed.
‘It belongs to Daisy Lavelle,’ said Kate. ‘She used to live in Monica’s house.’
Martha stopped walking and leaned on her stick.
‘Daisy Lavelle,’ she sighed. ‘Now there’s a name I haven’t heard for fifty years or more.’
I started to get excited. ‘OMG, you remember her! That’s brilliant. W
hat was she like?’
Martha shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t tell you much about Daisy. I never really knew her well. She was a bit older than me, and her family left here when I was very little.’
‘Oh,’ I said, trying to hide my disappointment.
‘Where did they go?’ asked Kate. ‘Why did they leave?’
Martha sighed again. ‘No one around here ever really trusted Daisy’s father,’ she said. ‘Because he was French.’
‘How did a French man end up living in Seacove all those years ago?’ asked Kate.
‘I believe he came on a visit with a rich uncle of his,’ said Martha. ‘And while he was here, he met Daisy’s mum and they fell in love. The uncle had to go back to France on his own.’
‘That’s so romantic,’ I sighed.
‘I don’t get why the local people didn’t trust him,’ said Kate. ‘I think being French is kind of cool.’
‘Things were different back in the olden days,’ said Martha. ‘Someone from the next parish would have been considered a bit of a threat, and someone from another country – well that was just shocking altogether. People back then didn’t like the exotic – they liked when things stayed the same.’
‘And is that why Daisy’s family left?’ I asked. ‘Because they weren’t really accepted around here?’
‘I don’t think that was the reason,’ said Martha.
‘Then what was?’ asked Kate.
‘We’ve read her diary,’ I said. ‘And we know she loved it here. So why would she leave?’
‘I think there was some kind of big scandal,’ said Martha. ‘But I don’t know any of the details.’
Kate giggled. ‘It doesn’t sound like a whole lot of exciting stuff happened back then,’ she said. ‘So how come you don’t remember a big scandal?’
Martha smiled at her. ‘It’s hard for you young girls to understand how things used to be. In those days, children were told nothing. We weren’t encouraged to ask questions. “Children should be seen and not heard” was one of my mother’s favourite sayings.’
‘That’s just weird,’ I muttered.
‘Whenever my parents talked about the Lavelles,’ continued Martha smiling. ‘It was in whispers, and if they saw me lurking around, they would quickly start to talk about other things.’
‘And didn’t you ask what happened?’ I said.
Martha sighed. ‘Of course I asked. I asked many times. I was very fond of Daisy – she always treated me like her little pet. After they left, I sometimes went and sat in her garden, waiting for her to come back – but she never did.’
‘That’s so sad,’ said Kate.
‘In the end I stopped asking about her,’ said Martha. ‘Whenever I mentioned Daisy’s name, my mother got very angry with me, and I didn’t understand why. I was only a little girl, and after a while, I’d almost forgotten that Daisy ever existed. I never knew the truth about what happened, so I can’t tell you any more, I’m afraid.’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Thanks anyway, Martha.’
‘You’re welcome,’ she said. ‘It’s always nice to talk about the olden days. They were such happy, innocent times.’
The olden days didn’t sound all that great to me, if whole families could just vanish without the neighbouring kids knowing why or how. But I just smiled at Martha, and then she continued on her walk.
Kate and I went to the beach for a while. We talked about all kinds of stuff, but I couldn’t concentrate properly. How could I live in the present, while Daisy was always at the edge of my thoughts, distracting me?
Chapter Five
The next morning, I had more important, present-day things to worry about though. Kate called over and she didn’t look happy.
‘I can’t stay long,’ she said. ‘Martha’s got a last-minute appointment in the hospital for her annual check-up, and we have to leave in half an hour.’
‘Why do you have to go?’ I asked, not looking forward to a whole day without any of my friends around.
‘Martha has to stay in hospital overnight, so while she’s there, Dad’s taking me on a one-night camping trip – he knows a place not far from there.’
‘That sounds like a good plan,’ I said. ‘And you love going camping with your dad, so why do you look like it’s the worst day of your life?’
‘It’s Zoe,’ said Kate. ‘She left the computer switched on last night, and I could see the website she’d been on.’
‘And?’
Tears came to Kate’s eyes. ‘She’d been looking at a job search website – based in London. She wants to go back there, Eva. I just know it.’
I hugged her, not sure of what to say to make things better.
‘And it wouldn’t be just Zoe leaving,’ said Kate. ‘If she goes back to London, Dad and Simon would go with her too.’
‘But they’d never just go off and leave you, would they? Not when you’re all so happy together. These days you lot are like an ad for the perfect family.’
Kate shrugged. ‘I guess Dad and Zoe would want to take me with them,’ she said.
‘Then it’s not a problem, is it? London’s not a million miles away, and it’s an amazing place to live. My friend Ruby loves it there now. I’d miss you, but I could visit you there sometimes.’
‘But …’
‘You and me and Ruby could do heaps of cool stuff together in London, and maybe you could come and stay with me here in Seacove in the summer, and––’
‘Martha would never, ever go to London,’ said Kate. ‘She says she’s never lived anywhere except for Seacove and she’s too old to change that now. And if Martha won’t go with Dad and Zoe, then I couldn’t go either. How could I leave her here on her own? She took care of me for years when I had no one else. I couldn’t just abandon her now.’
She was right. ‘Maybe you could …’ I stopped talking, because I realised I had nothing to say. I had no solution to offer my friend.
‘I’ve got really used to Dad and Zoe and Simon being here,’ she said. ‘If they left now, everything would be different – and not in a good way.’
I couldn’t argue with that. Martha is lovely, but I’d always thought that it was kind of lonely for Kate, living in a tiny village with just an old lady for company.
‘If I can’t leave, I have to find a way to make Zoe stay here, Eva,’ said Kate. ‘I just have to.’
‘You could lock her up in the house and hide all the keys,’ I said. ‘Then she couldn’t go anywhere.’
Kate looked all shocked, like I was being serious.
‘I’m kidding!’ I said. ‘Anyway, it’s not about stopping Zoe from leaving – it’s about making her want to stay.’
‘And how are we going to do that?’
‘You said she was bored here – so we need to find her a job. What did she work at in London?’
‘She was a personal assistant to the manager of a big hotel. She kind of did everything.’
‘And are there any jobs like that in Seacove?’ I asked, not feeling too optimistic about the answer.
Kate shook her head. ‘There aren’t any big hotels around here.’
‘Maybe she could work at something else? Zoe’s kind of open-minded, isn’t she? I bet she’d be prepared to try pretty much anything.’
‘Yeah, you’re right. I think she would try anything. Only trouble is, there aren’t any jobs. I’ve been reading the local paper and last week, the only job was for a window cleaner.’
‘You think she’d like to be a window-cleaner?’
Kate made a face. ‘I was desperate, so for a day or two I kind of hinted that Zoe should apply for it. I kept going on about how nice it would be to work in the open air and stuff.’
‘And what happened?’
‘Zoe said window-cleaning would be the perfect job for her, except for one tiny detail.’
‘Which was?’
Kate started to laugh. ‘Zoe’s terrified of heights.’
I laughed too, but stopped when I realised
that Kate was serious again.
‘You’ll think of something, won’t you, Eva?’ she asked. ‘You’ll find a way to make Zoe stay?’
I nodded slowly. ‘Er, sure,’ I said. ‘I’ll think of something.’
‘Brilliant,’ said Kate. ‘Now I’ve got to go help Dad to pack up the tent.’
And she ran off happily, leaving me with no idea what I was going to do next.
Just as I went back inside, Mum and Dad’s friend, Jacob, called over. Mum and Dad greeted him like they hadn’t seen him for months, which was a bit weird since they’d been in his pub only the night before. Sometimes I think Mum and Dad need to get out more.
Mum made a big pot of tea, and the three of them sat at the kitchen table talking. They talked about banks, and the weather, and the price of cabbages, until I was practically asleep from the boredom of it all.
My eyes were just closing when I caught the end of a sentence: ‘… no idea how I’m going to replace him,’ said Jacob.
Suddenly I was wide awake. ‘Replace who?’ I said. ‘Have you got a job that needs filling in the pub?’
Jacob laughed. ‘Yes, there’s a sudden vacancy, but I think you might be a little young for the job.’
‘It’s not for me,’ I said. ‘But I know someone else who’s looking for a job.’
Now Jacob was really interested. ‘Can they sing?’ he asked.
‘You need a singer?’ I asked.
He nodded. ‘Yes, the guy who sings in the pub at night quit suddenly yesterday, and I urgently need a replacement.
I jumped up. ‘Don’t go anywhere,’ I said to Jacob, and then I ran from the house and over to Kate’s place. The car was just leaving and I had to practically throw myself under it to catch their attention. Patrick and Martha were arguing about the best way to get to the hospital. Kate wound down her window, rolling her eyes.
