by Alice Pung
“What about money from the government?”
“Well, Al gave up on getting off the streets a long time ago. He uses a bit of money to get by every day. Anything he can spare, he gives to the younger homeless.”
I breathe out. “Wow. He sounds like a great guy.” But really, all I can think is, Bullshit!
“Yeah, he is,” he says, glancing over at Al. Following Daniel’s gaze, I notice Al giving a blanket to a homeless woman. I feel a little guilty at the sight, but brush it off.
A couple of minutes later a woman with dreads, wearing what looks like a rainbow-coloured potato sack, picks up a cup but as she pulls away her sleeve catches on my bracelet and it snaps off. This time the blood doesn’t rush to my face out of embarrassment.
“Ugh! Look what you’ve done, you stupid hag!” I snatch my bracelet from her, walk away and sit under a tree, holding the bracelet as tears start to form. Surprisingly, Daniel joins me.
“That bracelet is really important to you, huh?”
I pick at the grass. “It’s the last thing my dad gave me before he left.”
Taking the bracelet from me, Daniel bends the small chains together again and clips it around my wrist. I thank him quietly, as he wipes away my tears.
Hearing someone approach, I look up to see Jules, the lady in charge. After telling us to pack up, she asks Daniel with a motherly look, “Have you got somewhere warm to sleep tonight, hun?”
My head snaps around to Daniel.
“I’m gonna stick with Al tonight,” he says.
My head slowly drops, hair falling over my face to hide new tears.
Jules replies with, “Okay, hun. Stay safe.” And she walks away.
Unable to look Daniel in the eyes, I continue to stare at the grass. Then, tenderly, he tilts my head up with his finger.
“I’m sorry, I should have told you.”
His words make me cry even more. With a tight throat and low voice I say, “No, I’m upset because you don’t deserve this.”
Smiling confidently, he wipes my tears away again. “I’m fine.”
I try turning away, but he gently holds me still. “But I’ll only continue to be fine if you promise that I’ll see you again.”
My heart starts to beat so hard I can almost hear it. I reply with a small smile, “I promise.”
LIFE LESSON #1
PEOPLE AREN’T ALWAYS WHO YOU THINK THEY ARE
Francis Cao
We lay in the grass on the hilltop overlooking the school. The cattails rose above us and danced in the carpet of grey clouds that slowly glided across the sky. Our heads rested on our school bags, our clothes smelling of damp from the dew on the grass. The gentle whistling wind swept over us, stealing the words from our mouths.
I flicked through my farewell card once again, its surface wrinkled and damp from my clasping hands. The originality of the messages dwindled as I read on, each almost a copy of the one before. “I’ll miss you Steph, Sandy.” “Have fun at your new school! Jennie.” “Won’t forget you. Britney.”
Would they really miss me? Would I really miss them? Their words flew off the card but constituted into nothing but empty promises; meaningless words existing nowhere but this card. The shrapnel of their constant ridicule still lay dormant under my skin, every sympathetic word nothing but more distance between us.
But then, there was Spencer. He was the first one to call me Steph and it made him different. Nicknames weren’t uncommon, but they were often crude ones. But I could hear it in his voice – his was genuine. I looked over at him and smiled. The freckles speckled across his cheeks seemed to glisten as the sun began to set. His brown curls flowed gracefully onto the grass, past his scruffy jawline. His stillness and solemn expression seemed to halt time as he lay gently on the grass, like freshly fallen snow.
He’d always been there for me, even through three years of harassment from petty high school boys. Though, up on this hill, he seemed different. He was a world away; his eyes lost in the sky, frozen in contemplation. He’d been like this all day, not a single word to me. I expected him to do something, at least. I didn’t want this to be my last memory of us together: silent on a hilltop.
I heard the grass rustle beside me, his bag jingling with keys and coins. He sat up and slumped over his legs, his breaths shallow and quick.
We all seem ensnared in society’s little game, confined by its little rules. The game made it difficult to love Spencer without being able to show it. I couldn’t kiss him, or touch him, or probably even tell him. What would he have thought? I would’ve become alien to him, separated by an aura of discomfort and with the truth hanging freely in the air. However, as I’d watched girlfriend after girlfriend filter through each year, I’d wondered whether I meant anything to him, anything more than friends, or if I was simply a wallflower destined to observe from the sidelines.
I could hear empty words stumbling out of his mouth but he still wouldn’t look back at me. So many things I could have done, so many things I could have said.
“Are you okay, Spencer?” I asked, my mouth a floodgate for overflowing emotions.
A sharp sniff came from his nose. He wiped it with the back of his hand, shunning away. I put my hand on his shoulder. He flinched and shrugged it off, leaving my hand lingering in the air, unsure of how to react. He was acting strange, so I backed off. I pulled my jumper over my knees and rested my head between them, hugging my thighs. Looking down at the grass beside me, I reached for a broken cattail and rolled it between my fingers.
Did I do something wrong?
The air was still and the silence was suspended in it. Staring at the back of Spencer’s head, I hoped that I could search through his mind and understand his thoughts and feelings. It was useless. I lay back down and looked back up at the sky. If only he knew how I felt.
*
“Steph?” I heard him mumble under his breath. I turned over and rested on my arm. The warm red setting sky glowed above us, the clouds slowly dispersing. I called back and there was silence.
“Steph, you know how you’re leaving?” he finally responded. He began to mumble again.
“Spencer, I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
He spoke a little louder but slowly faded away. “You know how you’re leaving? Well, I have to tell …”
“What? Spencer, I can’t understand—”
My skin froze against the cool grass as my words were stolen from my lips. My arms melted and I fell down, his body following on top of me. I could see nothing but his eyes, gleaming like moonlight. The warmth of his hands as he touched my face radiated across my whole body. We closed our eyes; time stopped and everything felt right.
He pulled away from me, waking me up from my euphoric dream. His face was inches away from mine, surrounded by a halo of red glow.
He kissed me.
Our hearts stopped simultaneously. Spencer stared at me, his eyes slowly widening. Words raced from my mind to my mouth but turned into nothing but clouds of warm breath. His face was torn by emotion, finally broken by a single tear. As his final words slipped through his lips, I knew this wasn’t a dream.
“Don’t leave me. I love you, Stephan.”
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
The Editor
Alice Pung is a writer, editor, teacher and lawyer based in Melbourne. She is the author of Unpolished Gem, Her Father’s Daughter and the editor of the anthology Growing Up Asian in Australia. Her first novel, Laurinda, won the Ethel Turner Prize at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Alice’s work has appeared in the Monthly, Good Weekend, the Age, The Best Australian Stories and Meanjin. Alice lives with her husband at Janet Clarke Hall at the University of Melbourne, where she is currently the Artist in Residence.
The Authors*
Noa Abrahams, a Year Nine student at The King David School in Malvern, has spent the last two years learning invaluable writing techniques and skills at The Signal Express, and plans to continue writing and editing in the futu
re. Noa finds inspiration from Kelly Gardiner’s Isabella in Act of Faith, who is a forward-thinking feminist: resilient, creative and proud of her heritage.
Jacinta Barnard is a Year Ten student at Parkes High School. Her favourite fictional book character is Margo Spiegelman from John Green’s Paper Towns, because of her perspective and the way she sees things – she’s different.
Odessa Blain is in Year Eleven at Saint George Girls High School. She lives in Sydney with her two parents and grumpy, overweight dog. Her favourite fictional character is Renée Michel in The Elegance of the Hedgehog because she is far more complex than she first appears.
Keely Brown is in Year Nine at the University High School in Parkville, Melbourne. Her favourite book character, for now, is Viola from the Chaos Walking trilogy, because she is level-headed, strong-willed and a quick thinker.
Francis Cao is in Year Ten at Parade College, Melbourne. Roald Dahl’s Matilda is his favourite character because she is smart, fun, kind, and courageous, with a love for stories and a thirst for knowledge. And who doesn’t want to be able to control things with their mind?
Sarah Chahine is a Year Ten student at St Leo’s Catholic College, Wahroonga. She was born in Lebanon and moved to Australia when she was eight, and is fluent in Arabic and English. Sarah’s favourite fictional character is Hermione Granger because of her strength, resilience and independence.
Sara Clarke is a Year Ten student at St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School in Karrinyup, Perth. She admires the character Éowyn from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, because she is a total badass shieldmaiden and a light for young female readers, and she also shows it is the girls who get the job done.
Claudia Connelly is in Year Ten at Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta. Her favourite fictional character is Eleanor from Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. It’s Eleanor’s ability to stay true to herself and maintain her fierce and determined attitude against the odds that makes her Claudia’s favourite fictional character.
Shayna Correa is a Year Ten student at Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta. One of Shayna’s favourite fictional book characters is from Jonathan Kellerman’s The Murderer’s Daughter. She loves the protagonist, Grace Blades, as she embodies what it is to be a strong, independent woman who helps other people through sharing her talents.
Mia Cummins is in Year Ten at Parkes High School. Her favourite fictional book character is Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games series, because she is so strong, intelligent and inspiring. The Hunger Games are her favourite books.
Olivia Dimovski is in Year Ten at Rochester Secondary College. When she’s not reading, she’s daydreaming or trying to study. Olivia’s also a keen debater. Becoming a writer has been Olivia’s lifelong dream, and she has been telling stories since she was young. Her favourite fictional character is Josie Alibrandi.
Ysabel Dungca is a Year Eleven student from Marymede Catholic College. Her favourite fictional book character is Guildenstern from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, because of his thought-provoking theories on the nature of reality and the finality of one’s actions.
Niamh Formosa is in Year Twelve at Tara Anglican School for Girls. She enjoys reading stories as they can take you anywhere, and the same story can evoke a different experience for each reader. When she was younger her all-time favourite book was Percy Jackson, as she dreamed of one day being that sassy!
Laura Ham is in Year Ten at Moama Anglican Grammar. Currently, her favourite book character is Razor from Walk The Edge by Katie McGarry. His charm, mystery and dangerous background drew her in, but how he protects those he loves makes her wish she was more like him.
Sabira Hasanoff is a Year Ten student at Sirius College, Melbourne. Just like many other girls with an incontrovertibly keen interest in classical literature, her favourite fictional book character is Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.
Coco Xiaoge Huang is in Year Ten at Hornsby Girls’ High School. She believes there are few characters who can teach you as much about courage, empathy and morality as Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. He embodies the conflict between individual integrity and deeply entrenched societal values, and influences his children to resist these conventions, an ideal which Coco considers to be of timeless importance.
Arshya Kulkarni is in Year Ten at St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School in Karrinyup, Perth. In regards to her favourite fictional character, it’s Manchee, the dog from The Knife of Never Letting Go, because he is so loyal, genuine and self-sacrificing. These qualities make him irresistibly endearing, and his story affected her more than that of any other fictional character.
Ann Liang is a Year Ten student at Korowa Anglican Girls’ School. She adores Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice for her intelligence, wit and persistent whimsicality, despite the restraints of a largely unromantic society. Elizabeth’s ability to think independently is as enchanting as it is refreshing.
Geena Mawby is a Year Twelve student at Ballarat High School. Her favourite fictional character is Mr Fox from Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox. He’s a fox up against the world, and he’s ingenious, wily and crafty, with amusing wit and slyness.
Shraddha Mehta is in Year Ten at Amaroo School, and her favourite fictional character is Sara Crewe from A Little Princess. That children’s classic was the very first book she read and Sara Crewe was a role model to her when growing up. She loves the character of Sara because she kept her head held high, even in the hardest of times, not letting go of her niceness and values even when the whole world was against her. Shraddha admires that trait and wishes to be like Sara, nice and selfless.
Isabella Newton is in Year Ten at Woolooware High School. Jane Eyre is her favourite character because she is independent, undeterred from her convictions and passionate, even when facing incredible hardships. She also falls in love, which is delightful for both her and the reader.
Genevieve Somerville is a Year Ten student at Bendigo South East College. When she’s not at school she loves to be home in her pyjamas baking up a storm for her family, felting, eating chocolate and cuddling her cats. Her favourite fictional book character is Clary from Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series.
Neve Traynor is in Year Nine at Loreto Kirribilli, Sydney. Her story is inspired by her first trip overseas, a safari tour in Kenya and Tanzania, when she was in Year Six. She loves mysteries and her favourite fictional character is the master of wit and intellect: Sherlock Holmes.
Sanna Wei attends Year Twelve at Radford College in Bruce, Canberra. She is incurably curious, with a passion for people, science and classical music. Her favourite character is Astrid Jones in A.S. King’s novel Ask the Passengers, because she admires Astrid’s thoughtful determination to reach her own conclusions as she questions her sexuality and society’s opinions.
William Woodrow is a Year Ten student at Canberra Grammar School. Robin Hobb’s portrayal of Fitz in her Realm of the Elderlings series creates such a real figure, whom the reader knows so well – his many faults and attributes, struggles and triumphs. But what William really enjoys most about the character is his truly unique relationships, primarily with his gender-fluid best friend, The Fool, and his wolf best friend, Nighteyes.
_______________
*Authors’ ages and schools were correct at the time of entry to the My First Lesson competition.
EXTRACT FROM LAURINDA
by Alice Pung
PROLOGUE
Dear Linh, Remember how we used to catch the 406 bus after school, past the Victory Carpet Factory and the main hub of Sunray, through to Stanley? What an adventure, we used to think then. What a waste of time, looking back now. It was a waste of time because the bus would always worm its way back to Stanley, following exactly the same route, stopping at the same places and collecting the same people, who did the same things every same day.
Remember that girl from St Claire’s who put her bag on the seat next to her so that no one else could sit down? And how we thought,
typical of girls like that. When she got the vibe that we were talking about her behind her back, she turned around and told us to get stuffed. But that wasn’t the most shocking thing about her. The most shocking thing was that where we had expected to see white teeth all even like a picket fence, they were herded behind that ugly gate in her mouth. Looking into that paddock of crumbly yellow rocks straining to break free from barbed wire, I thought, no wonder you’re going back to Stanley.
I don’t remember what you saw on those bus trips, but this is how I see it now. An old strip of seven shops, each with an identical metallic snake of a roller shutter coiled at the top. At night, with those iron blinds lowered, the street looked like a long, continuous dirty warehouse, all graffiti and concrete.
There was the local fish and chip shop, the Happy Oyster, which had never seen an oyster, joyous or otherwise, from the first day of its existence. A shop selling smokes, with incredibly expensive and lewd painted plaster figurines in its window – women with serpents and black leather straps instead of clothes. And a hairdresser that still called itself a barber, with a red, white and blue pole at the front and posters in the window of great haircuts from 1983.
The largest shop was the milk bar that tried to pass itself off as a mini-mart, with faded packets of instant noodles and tins of soup not seen in a proper supermarket for years. The most popular items were the Samboy chips, the Redskins and the 7 Ups that kids would buy on their way home from school. The whole strip could probably only rustle up two or three trays of vegetables. The place that got the most business was Stanley Spirits on the corner. People mostly went there to get beer – half a dozen cans of VB at a stretch, VB standing for Victoria Bitter, which could also express the sentiments of the male residents of Stanley aged between seventeen and seventy. My mum never bought anything from this strip. Instead, she caught the bus to neighbouring Sunray and its market, where she could get tomatoes for a dollar a kilo if she went near closing time.
