Sleep-over

by Rowan McAuley

  Olivia wished she’d never come. Or that Daniel would shut up. Or at the very least, that the sauce would come out!

  She hit the bottle hard, and then — SPLAT!

  A huge dollop of sauce spurted out of the bottle all over her plate, making a disgusting sound. It covered all three sausages, all the beans, and most of the mashed potato.

  ‘Oh, come on!’ said Daniel. ‘Have you left any for us?’

  ‘Daniel!’ said Mr Adams. ‘Enough!’

  Ching Ching poked her tongue out at her brother. Olivia passed him the sauce, not even looking at him.

  ‘But, Dad,’ said Daniel. ‘You never let us have that much sauce. You always say we can only have a dab.’

  Olivia just wanted to disappear.

  Dinner was a disaster.

  She tried to pretend that she liked having great pools of sauce all over her food. She cut up the first sausage and ate a piece. It was dripping with sauce. It’s not too bad, she told herself.

  The boys were talking to their dad, and Ching Ching was telling her mum about school, so no-one was left to talk to Olivia. Good. She kept her head down and worked through the sausages, covering each bite in sauce.

  By the time she finished her dinner, she felt ill. She never wanted to taste tomato sauce again. Her throat was burning with it. More than anything in the world, Olivia wanted her mum to phone up and say she needed Olivia back home right away.

  ‘Has everyone had enough to eat?’ said Mrs Adams.

  ‘That was great,’ said Mr Adams.

  William groaned and patted his belly. Henry burped.

  ‘Henry!’ said Mrs Adams. ‘Olivia, dear, would you like some more?’

  Olivia shook her head firmly. No way, she thought.

  ‘I mean, no thanks,’ she said, trying to sound polite.

  ‘Right, then,’ said Mrs Adams. ‘Clear the table.’

  The Adams had no television, but they did have a dishwasher. After dinner, each person rinsed their own plate and stacked it in the dishwasher.

  When the table was cleared, Mrs Adams brought a tub of ice-cream and a packet of waffle cones to the table.

  ‘One ice-cream cone each,’ she said. ‘And you can eat them outside.’

  She made up the cones and passed them one by one along the table.

  ‘Now, shoo!’ she said. ‘I need some peace and quiet.’

  Outside it was still light. The sun was setting, though, and the sky was pink and orange over the trees.

  Henry, Daniel and William ate their ice-creams as fast as they could and went back to playing cricket. Ching Ching and Olivia made their ice-creams last as long as possible and then decided to go for another swim.

  ‘It’s so nice to swim as it gets dark,’ said Ching Ching. ‘The water’s so warm, and you can just lie on your back and watch the bats go by and the stars come out.’

  Olivia agreed. They paddled and talked and looked at the sky and, except for the boys shouting as they played cricket, it was very peaceful.

  After a while, it was too dark for the boys to see the ball and they packed up and went back inside. It was really quiet by the pool now, and a tiny bit spooky.

  ‘Do you ever think,’ said Olivia, ‘you could just sink under the water and never come up?’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Ching Ching. ‘You could swim so deep you got sucked down that big plug hole.’

  They shuddered happily at the thought. They did this sometimes — talked about scary things to see how badly they could frighten themselves.

  ‘And the next day, there’d be nothing but your pigtail stuck in the pool filter,’ said Olivia.

  ‘And then one foot would be washed up on a beach, miles and miles away,’ said Ching Ching.

  ‘Eew!’ they said together, laughing, but holding tight onto the edge of the pool, just in case.

  ‘We should sleep out here tonight,’ said Ching Ching.

  ‘Yeah?’ said Olivia. ‘What about the mosquitoes?’

  ‘We would be OK under the sheets,’ said Ching Ching. ‘Maybe we could burn one of those smelly candles, too.’

  ‘And we could stay up all night and watch the sunrise,’ said Olivia.

  ‘Ching Ching!’

  It was Mrs Adams calling from the back door.

  ‘Time for bed. You and Olivia, out of the pool, now!’

  ‘You can so tell your mum is a school teacher,’ said Olivia.

  They got out of the pool and found that their fingers and toes had gone wrinkly. The air was cool on their wet skin and by the time they got inside they were shivering.

  They stood together in front of the bathroom mirror with their matching toothbrushes, giggling and trying to brush their chattering teeth. They brushed their hair and Ching Ching tied hers back in long, low plaits for bed. They changed into their pyjamas and decided it was too much effort to sleep outside that night.

  Ching Ching had bunk beds, and because it was the first time Olivia had slept over, she got to sleep on the top.

  ‘I always read for a bit before I go to sleep,’ said Ching Ching. ‘Would you like to borrow a book, or do you have one?’

  ‘Borrow one, please,’ said Olivia, because Ching Ching always had heaps of books. Olivia supposed it was because both her parents were teachers.

  Olivia found one about a girl who ran away to sea on a pirate ship. It looked very interesting, but when she climbed up the ladder to her bed and got in under the covers, she didn’t feel like reading.

  At home, in her own bed, her mum usually came in and kissed her goodnight. Sometimes they talked about their day, sometimes Olivia read out loud from a book, and sometimes her mum told her a story instead. She remembered how her mum had said that morning that she would miss Olivia.

  Olivia realised this was the first time she had ever gone to bed without even a hug from her mum. She felt a bit sad and lonely.

  Outside in the pool, talking with Ching Ching, Olivia had forgotten all about the embarrassment of dinner. Now, lying in bed, she started thinking about it all over again. She felt her stomach shrink into a cold, hard ball.

  It was too late to call her mum and ask to go home. She was stuck here. Daniel was horrible, Mrs Adams probably thought she was stupid for forgetting her toothbrush, and everyone thought she was greedy for eating all that tomato sauce.

  How could she sleep with all these thoughts in her head? She wanted to cry but she didn’t want Ching Ching to hear her. In the bunk below, Ching Ching switched off her lamp.

  ‘Goodnight, Olivia,’ she said.

  ‘Goodnight,’ said Olivia, hoping her voice sounded normal.

  Olivia turned off her lamp, too. The room was very dark now. How long until morning? Olivia rolled onto her side and pretended she was in her own bed. She imagined her own room, her own toys, her own blankets over her. She imagined her mum in the room next door, and it must have worked because very soon she was fast asleep.

  Olivia had strange dreams. She woke up suddenly, and for a moment she couldn’t work out where she was. The bed was on the wrong side of the window, and up too high, and her pillow smelt funny. It was still dark. She could hear a clock ticking and someone below her breathing.

  Oh yes — she was at Ching Ching’s house. She couldn’t remember her dream but she felt wide awake. What time was it? It was definitely too early to get up.

  At home she would have gone to the toilet and then maybe crept into her mum’s bed for a cuddle until morning.

  That wasn’t a good thing to think about right now. It just made her feel sorry for herself. Instead, she would think of warm, sleepy things. Hot chocolate before bedtime, sheepskin slippers, the sound of heavy rain on the roof …

  When Olivia opened her eyes again, it was properly Saturday morning. The sunlight was bright through Ching Ching’s curtains and the bedcovers felt too warm now.

  Olivia listened. The house was still very quiet. Not sleeping quiet, but empty quiet.

  She peered over the edge of her bunk bed and looked for Chi
ng Ching. Her bed was a tumble of blankets and sheets, but there was no Ching Ching in it.

  Olivia couldn’t decide whether to get up or stay where she was and wait for Ching Ching to come back. Would it be worse to lie in bed for ages and have Ching Ching waiting for her, or worse to go down the hallway and bump into Henry or Daniel or William while she was wearing her pink and green pyjamas?

  She was sitting up in bed, the top of her head almost brushing the ceiling, when Ching Ching appeared at the doorway.

  ‘Oh, you’re up,’ she said. ‘Good. We have the house to ourselves.’

  ‘Where’s everyone gone?’ asked Olivia.

  ‘The boys play sport on Saturday, so Dad’s taken Henry to one field, and Mum has taken Daniel and William to another. They’ll be back for lunch, though.’

  Phew! Olivia could avoid horrible Daniel at least until lunchtime. She climbed down from the bed.

  ‘The boys have eaten all the good cereal,’ said Ching Ching. ‘There’s only bread left for us.’

  ‘Are you allowed to use the stove?’ asked Olivia.

  ‘Probably,’ said Ching Ching. ‘Why?’

  ‘I could make us French toast. Mum and I make it all the time.’

  ‘Cool,’ said Ching Ching. ‘That’s way better than cereal. What do you need?’

  ‘Eggs, milk and butter,’ said Olivia. ‘And a frypan. And bread, of course.’

  Olivia set about mixing the eggs and milk and soaking the bread.

  ‘While I’m making this,’ she said, ‘you should find some cinnamon sugar to go with it.’

  Ching Ching looked.

  ‘We don’t have any,’ she said.

  ‘Maple syrup?’

  ‘Nope,’ said Ching Ching. ‘What about honey?’

  ‘That will work,’ said Olivia, dropping the first slice of bread into the frypan. It sizzled nicely.

  ‘We’ve got bananas and strawberries, too,’ said Ching Ching.

  ‘Perfect,’ said Olivia, turning the toast.

  In the end, it was a beautiful breakfast. Olivia cooked them two slices of French toast each, and Ching Ching decorated the toast with honey and fruit.

  ‘Wait,’ said Ching Ching. ‘One more thing.’

  She pulled a can of whipped cream out of the fridge and squirted a long squiggle onto each plate.

  ‘That,’ said Olivia, ‘is so fancy.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Ching Ching.

  ‘Almost too fancy to eat.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Ching Ching.

  They were quiet for a second, admiring their work. Then Ching Ching caught Olivia’s eye and smiled.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I can eat it.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Olivia.

  They sat by the pool, dangling their legs in the water and eating the toast off plates balanced on their laps.

  ‘This is so nice,’ said Olivia.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Ching Ching. ‘I wish we could do this every Saturday. No boys yelling, no parents nagging.’

  ‘Is it nice having a big family?’ asked Olivia.

  ‘Mostly. I get tired of being the smallest sometimes, though.’

  Olivia was the biggest and the smallest rolled into one in her family, but she understood what Ching Ching meant.

  ‘Still,’ she said. ‘I bet you don’t get bored.’

  ‘No,’ said Ching Ching, eating the last strawberry on her plate.

  There was a loud bang from the house as the front door slammed shut. Then Mrs Adams called out from the back door, ‘Ching Ching!’

  ‘Oh, no,’ said Ching Ching. ‘They’re back already and we haven’t even had our Saturday morning skinny dip yet.’

  ‘Ching Ching,’ said Mrs Adams, when they were back inside the house. ‘Have you been using the stove?’

  Olivia froze.

  In her hands were the dirty plates from breakfast, and in the kitchen, sitting in the sink, was the dirty frypan she had used to cook the French toast.

  ‘No,’ said Ching Ching.

  Olivia couldn’t believe her ears. Mrs Adams looked angry. No, more than angry. She looked wild and fierce.

  ‘Ching Ching,’ said Mrs Adams. ‘Don’t lie to me. Have you been using the stove?’

  ‘I promise,’ said Ching Ching. ‘I never touched the stove. Did I, Olivia?’

  Mrs Adams turned to Olivia, and Olivia was so frightened she could hardly breathe.

  ‘Is Ching Ching telling the truth?’ asked Mrs Adams.

  ‘Yes,’ said Olivia in a shaky voice.

  ‘See?’ said Ching Ching to her mum.

  ‘Well, then,’ said Mrs Adams. ‘Who made all this mess?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Ching Ching.

  She was about to say more, but Olivia spoke up.

  ‘I did,’ Olivia said.

  She didn’t know what would happen to her now, but she couldn’t keep quiet. She would rather die than have Mrs Adams angry with her, but she never lied to her mum and didn’t know how not to tell the truth.

  ‘I used the stove,’ she said quietly.

  Mrs Adams looked at her. Ching Ching stared at her.

  ‘You, Olivia?’ said Mrs Adams.

  ‘I cooked French toast,’ said Olivia.

  She looked at Ching Ching, but her friend’s face was a careful blank.

  ‘I see,’ said Mrs Adams. ‘Didn’t Ching Ching tell you she isn’t allowed to use the stove without a grown-up in the house?’

  Olivia shook her head.

  ‘I mean,’ she said quickly, not wanting to get Ching Ching in trouble, ‘she thought perhaps it might be all right.’

  Mrs Adams sighed and looked at the two of them.

  ‘I’m sorry to say this, Olivia,’ she said. ‘But Ching Ching did not tell you the truth. In this house, children are not allowed to cook on their own.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Olivia, almost in a whisper.

  ‘Ching Ching,’ said Mrs Adams. ‘I’m so angry with you right now. Did you know the stove was left on? When I came in, the hot plate was glowing red. That’s how fires start, and houses burn down, and people get very badly hurt.’

  Ching Ching said nothing.

  ‘Well, what do you have to say for yourself?’ asked Mrs Adams.

  ‘The boys ate all the good cereal,’ said Ching Ching. ‘There was nothing else for us to eat.’

  ‘That’s not quite true, is it?’ said Mrs Adams. ‘You could have used the toaster. Or the microwave. You could have had banana sandwiches, or made milkshakes. You weren’t going to starve.’

  Mrs Adams opened the fridge to show Ching Ching all the things she could have had for breakfast.

  ‘Look,’ she said. ‘Orange juice, watermelon, cheese, tomatoes. You could have had — hey! Did you eat all the strawberries?’

  Oh no, thought Olivia.

  ‘Right,’ said Mrs Adams, slamming the fridge. ‘Go to your room now, Ching Ching! I’m just furious.’

  The two girls fled.

  In Ching Ching’s room, Olivia finally started to breathe again.

  ‘I thought your mum was going to kill us,’ she said.

  ‘She would have if you’d kept talking,’ said Ching Ching.

  ‘Me?’ said Olivia. ‘What did I do?’

  ‘Only told her everything,’ said Ching Ching. ‘If you’d kept quiet we’d be outside right now, having a swim.’

  Olivia was shocked.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ she said. ‘I left the stove on and we weren’t even meant to touch it!’

  ‘So?’ said Ching Ching.

  ‘And you lied to your mum!’

  ‘Sort of,’ said Ching Ching. ‘But it wasn’t a big lie.’

  Olivia stared at her friend. She thought Ching Ching was crazy to lie to Mrs Adams.

  Ching Ching sighed.

  ‘Look,’ she said. ‘You don’t have any brothers or sisters, so you probably don’t understand. When you have a big family, you don’t need to get into trouble. Mum and Dad are so busy, and there are so many of
us, you can just do what you like. As long as everyone keeps quiet, Mum and Dad can never work out who did what and so no-one gets the blame.’

  ‘That’s terrible,’ said Olivia, but she could see that it was a bit exciting too.

  ‘But you dobbed us in, so now we have to sit here,’ said Ching Ching.

  ‘Your mum would have known it was us, though,’ said Olivia. ‘We were the only ones home.’

  ‘Probably,’ said Ching Ching. ‘But then maybe she left with Daniel and William before Dad and Henry left, so maybe it wasn’t us after all.’

  Olivia thought about her place, with just her and her mum. Her mum could tell exactly what Olivia did — every dropped sock, every wet towel, every crumb on the coffee table. Who else could it be?

  It was hard to imagine what it would be like to live in Ching Ching’s house. You could get away with so many things!

  On the other hand, maybe that made it lonely sometimes. Olivia liked the idea that her mum knew everything about her.

  ‘Anyway,’ said Ching Ching. ‘It was worth it. That was the best breakfast I’ve ever had.’

  ‘You’re a shocker,’ said Olivia.

  ‘I know,’ said Ching Ching. ‘I’m really, really naughty. But guess what? I’m also full of French toast and strawberries, and I don’t care.’

  Olivia laughed. She couldn’t help it. Ching Ching really was terrible, but she was so funny too. Olivia knew they were stuck in Ching Ching’s room because they were in disgrace, but right now, giggling with her best friend, even that seemed kind of fun.

  They stayed in Ching Ching’s room for ages, reading books and playing with Ching Ching’s toys. They heard Mr Adams come home with Henry, and then all three brothers and Mr Adams went outside for a swim. Ching Ching and Olivia watched them from the bedroom window.

  The boys were diving and bombing into the pool and water was splashing up in waves all over the sides. Mr Adams was sitting on the steps in the shallow end, the water up to his chest, cheering the boys on.

  ‘Well done, William!’ he called. ‘That was the biggest bomb yet. Watch out, Henry! Daniel’s in your way.’