Stay Well Soon

by Penny Tangey

  Our home is girt by sea;

  Girt means ‘surrounded’, according to Mr Parks. Australia is an island.

  Our land abounds in nature’s gifts

  Of beauty rich and rare;

  Like brown coal. Nana Dad Ben said brown coal is the life blood of the Latrobe Valley, which is where she lived before she got her caravan.

  In history’s page, let every stage

  Advance Australia Fair.

  I guess so.

  In joyful strains then let us sing,

  No-one in the school sounds joyful except for Rory Tickner, who wants to be a famous singer. He says you never know where there might be a talent scout, even at Langwarrin Primary School’s Monday assembly.

  Advance Australia Fair.

  No-one knows the next bit so that is the end.

  Our principal, Mrs Anselma, starts talking. She says we all have to wear hats outside and we’re not supposed to run in the corridors. Who cares? She says that at every assembly.

  Mrs Anselma says, ‘And now it’s time to award this month’s Certificate of Recognition for Leadership.’

  I can’t believe I forgot about the Certificate of Recognition for Leadership. I have had so much on my mind, what with the group and the trip to the tip and everything.

  I stand up straight.

  Mrs Anselma says my name. Everyone claps. I walk to the front and I look back and see Morgan is smiling at me. Mrs Anselma tells the whole school I have been given the certificate for outstanding leadership on rubbish duty. She hands me the Certificate of Recognition for Leadership. It has a fancy swirly border and my name is written in calligraphy.

  Morgan lets me have a piece of her slice at lunchtime to celebrate my Certificate of Recognition for Leadership.

  She says, ‘I bet Indigo and Jade made this happen through the power of the bracelets.’

  I won the award before we found the bracelets. I explain to Morgan that I was pretending to be a lobster snapping my claws at April.

  After that, we can’t stop talking about the tip and the bonfire.

  ‘I could have been killed!’ says Morgan.

  ‘It was so cool,’ I say. ‘How upset would your mum and dad have been?’

  ‘Pretty upset. They would hate it if I died. Hey, what kind of funeral do you want?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.’

  Morgan has thought about it. ‘I don’t want a sad funeral,’ she says. ‘Mine would be like a big party where everyone tells stories about me and laughs. With really good food and music. And chocolate ripple cake.’

  Morgan loves talking about death. She is really mature.

  ‘If I die, do you promise not to cry at my funeral?’ says Morgan.

  ‘Okay,’ I say.

  Morgan is looking at her bracelet. ‘I bet Indigo and Jade’s coffins were carried into the church by two midnight-black mares,’ she says.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘It would have been so tragic,’ Morgan says. ‘I wish I could have been there. To say goodbye.’

  April and Charlotte are walking towards us.

  ‘Hi, girls,’ says April. ‘We thought you might like these.’ They throw some Glad Wrap and chip packets on the bench.

  ‘This could be a necklace,’ says Charlotte, pointing to the empty Samboy packet.

  Brianna must have told them where we got our bracelets from. I’m not surprised; she can’t keep a secret.

  ‘Go away,’ says Morgan.

  ‘There’s no need to be rude,’ says April. ‘We were just trying to help. And we know Stevie is a recognised rubbish expert with a certificate to prove it.’

  April is just jealous because she’s never won a Certificate of Recognition for Leadership. I just ignore her.

  ‘At least we don’t make jewellery out of compost,’ Morgan says.

  ‘What?’ says April.

  ‘Stevie told me about your jewellery. Dried orange peel is rubbish too.’

  Charlotte stares for a moment with her mouth open. She turns away and her shoulders are shaking.

  April says, ‘Charlotte makes sustainable jewellery from repurposed renewable resources. It’s not the same as finding stuff at the tip and wearing it.’ She turns and puts her arm around Charlotte. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’

  Morgan picks up the chip packet. ‘We could make jewellery out of these,’ she says. Morgan goes inside and gets scissors. She cuts down one side of the packet and across the bottom to make one flat piece. She cuts a strip from the packet in a spiral so that she ends up with a long piece of orange and silver packet. Then she wraps it around her neck and ties up the end. It looks amazing. I ask if she’ll make me one from a Twisties packet.

  When we go back into class Mr Parks says, ‘Nice to see some glamour in the classroom.’

  I know I am blushing like mad.

  Charlotte’s eyes are red and puffy. She is the last person to finish the maths sheet. Even Brendan James finishes before her and he gets sixes and nines confused.

  Morgan asks me during maths if I want to go to her house to play after school. The cemetery is near her house and we could look for Indigo and Jade’s graves. I say I’m not allowed to organise things for the same day, which is true.

  Finally, the bell rings for the end of the day.

  I say goodbye to Morgan and then I go to the toilets. I always go to the toilet before I leave school even if I don’t really need to, just in case.

  I am in the cubicle when I hear someone come in. I think it is Charlotte because of the way she shuffles. I don’t want to see her so I try to finish as quickly as possible, but she comes out when I’m washing my hands.

  She doesn’t say hello to me.

  ‘I do like your jewellery,’ I say.

  ‘Well then how come you don’t wear the earrings I made you for your birthday?’

  ‘I’m saving them for special,’ I say. Actually, they went mouldy and Mum made me throw them out.

  ‘Well then how come you’ve never bought anything yourself? Not any of the times we were at the market together. You never bought a single thing. Not even an anklet.’

  ‘I’m saving up,’ I say.

  Charlotte snorts. ‘April’s bought three of my bracelets, and she’s only been here a term.’

  ‘She gets more pocket money than me.’

  ‘April’s right,’ she says. ‘There’ll always be an excuse with you.’ She walks out.

  I don’t understand why Charlotte is so upset. Why does she care about the jewellery when she has Cinnamon? If I had a horse, or even a pony, I wouldn’t care about anything else. I would always be happy.

  When I arrive at the Kidz Space the touchscreens are already being used (I don’t think I will ever get a turn) but Bananas in Pyjamas is playing on the television screen. I used to love this show when I was a little kid. I sit in a blue beanbag to watch.

  A voice beside me says, ‘I thought you might be here.’

  I look up and see Lara.

  I don’t say anything because I’m not sure if she’s still angry at me.

  ‘Do you like the Bananas?’ she asks.

  ‘No. It’s dumb.’ I don’t want her to think I watch little kids’ shows.

  ‘It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?’ she says. ‘Two massive grown-up bananas wearing pyjamas all day.’

  She’s right, it is weird.

  ‘What’s that you’re holding?’ Lara asks. She’s pointing at my certificate, which is rolled up with a rubber band around it. I’m carrying it so it won’t get squashed in my bag.

  ‘It’s my Certificate of Recognition,’ I say. ‘I got it for leadership and stuff.’

  I hope Lara doesn’t think I’m bragging.

  ‘Congratulations!’ she says.

  ‘Thanks.’


  ‘Hey, Stevie, I’m sorry about the other day,’ Lara says. ‘I was mad because Mum’s stopped me going out for a smoke. Everyone’s always telling me what to do, you know?’

  I do know.

  ‘But what can you do?’ she says. ‘Anyway, I shouldn’t take it out on you. It’s not your fault.’

  We watch the Bananas. They are being stupid, as always.

  ‘What was it like having your own horse?’ I ask.

  ‘It was great. My dad had lots of horses. But Finnigan was the first horse who was just mine, so that made him special.’

  ‘What colour was he?’

  ‘Black.’

  ‘Did you ride him every day?’

  ‘Most days.’

  ‘That is amazing. That would be a dream come true for me.’

  ‘Actually, I’ve been thinking about your situation.’

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘Well, does your brother like horses?’

  ‘Kind of.’ Rhys would come and visit Star with me when we used to go on bike rides together. Rhys gave Star a carrot and that went well.

  ‘If he’s really sick, he might get to make a wish. He could wish for a horse. There are organisations that give sick kids whatever they want.’

  ‘I don’t know if he is really sick. I mean, I think he is because Mum cries sometimes.’

  ‘You can’t tell from crying. Some parents cry when their kid breaks an arm. But he must be pretty sick if he’s been in hospital for this long. They need the beds.’

  That’s what I thought too.

  ‘Would they give him a horse?’

  ‘Maybe not, but he could go horse riding and you could go with him.’

  ‘How do you know about this?’

  ‘I got a wish.’

  ‘What did you get?’

  ‘I met Nelson Mandela.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Nelson Mandela. He was in jail for twenty-seven years for fighting to end apartheid in South Africa.’

  It sounds like a boring wish, if you could have anything in the world, but I don’t want to be rude. ‘That sounds good,’ I say.

  ‘It was cool – though it was a bit superficial. I thought I might get to ask him about his time in jail and his opinion on continuing inequality in South Africa but it was all photos and small talk.’

  In the car on the way home I say to Mum, ‘Could Rhys make a wish?’

  ‘What are you on about?’

  ‘You know, make a wish from the wish people for sick kids.’

  Mum doesn’t say anything. She just touches her hair a few times and then she starts crying.

  She cries all the way home. At home she goes to her room and keeps crying.

  I am starving. I don’t think Mum is going to make tea. I’m not very good at cooking but I know how to make fish on rice.

  I get the fish out of the freezer and put it on a tray to go in the oven. I put a pot of water on the stove for the rice.

  When it’s ready I knock on Mum’s door. ‘Tea’s ready,’ I say.

  Mum comes out into the kitchen. She has stopped crying.

  ‘You’re a good girl, Stevie.’

  Mum is feeling better, I can tell. We take our teas into the lounge room and watch The X Factor together. We are both enjoying the program. Some people are very talented at singing. Maybe one day there will be an X Factor show for drawing and I will go on that.

  In the ad break Mum says, ‘Sorry, Stevie. For getting upset, I mean.’

  ‘That’s okay.’

  At the end of the day on Tuesday, Morgan and I wait to be picked up. Normally, Morgan gets picked up before me, but today her parents are running late. We talk about Morgan’s funeral again. She can’t decide whether she wants to have Pachelbel’s Canon or ‘Yesterday’ playing when her coffin is carried out of the service. I haven’t heard of either of them, so I am not much help.

  Mum’s car pulls up and I see that David is in the car again. Mum does a U-turn out the front of the school.

  ‘Who’s that in the car?’ asks Morgan.

  I don’t want to explain to Morgan about visiting Rhys at the hospital. She would get too excited. ‘Just my brother’s friend, David. We’re taking him to cricket practice,’ I say.

  ‘He’s cute,’ says Morgan.

  ‘Whatever,’ I say. ‘See you.’ I get into the car quickly.

  ‘Hey, Stevie,’ David says to me. Most of Rhys’s friends don’t even remember my name.

  ‘Hey, David,’ I say.

  Lara is in the Kidz Space already when I arrive. A clown is trying to talk to her but Lara is ignoring him and looking at her iPad. I sit next to Lara and the clown tries to talk to me. I ignore him too.

  Luckily, a boy in a wheelchair arrives and the clown starts to race him around the Kidz Space. It’s not a very fair race, though, because the boy is sick and can’t go very fast. I would have thought a grown man would have better things to do.

  ‘How did you go with the make-a-wish thing?’ asks Lara.

  ‘Um, Mum doesn’t want to do it.’ I say. I don’t want to tell Lara about the crying. If Lara got a wish, and if she’s always in hospital, she must be really sick too. I don’t want her to be upset.

  ‘Do you want to do a drawing?’ I ask.

  I get out my pencils and we both draw. I draw what I think Cinnamon would look like.

  ‘We’ll just have to think of something else,’ says Lara. ‘We’ll get you a horse somehow.’

  Lara draws a picture of Finnigan.

  ‘Do you miss him?’ I ask.

  ‘Every day.’

  Maybe it is even harder to have had a horse, and lost it, than to have never had one at all.

  When we pull into the driveway at home, Mum says, ‘Do you want to get the mail, Stevie?’

  I jump out of the car and go to the box. There’s a parcel! I look at the back. It’s from Dad Ben.

  I run into the house.

  ‘There’s a parcel from Dad Ben!’ I say.

  ‘Oh, right,’ says Mum. ‘He said he was going to send a present for Rhys.’

  I am not interested in the parcel now. I put it on the kitchen table and go to my room.

  Mum comes to my door, ‘It’s addressed to all of us,’ she says. ‘Why don’t you open it?’

  The parcel is a big white envelope with bubble wrap on the inside. There is lots of sticky tape holding it together so it is quite difficult to rip open. In the end, I have to use my craft scissors.

  I tip the wrapped presents out on the bed. There are three of them.

  One of the presents has an envelope stuck on it that says Rhys, but there is another present that says Miranda and one that says Stevie.

  My present is a rectangular shape, and it rattles, so it’s not a book. I take off the paper carefully so I can use it again. It is a new set of pencils – really good pencils.

  ‘Hey,’ says Mum. ‘Don’t be greedy – read the card.’

  I open the envelope. There is a postcard with a picture of a group of wild mustangs. The postcard says, So you can keep drawing wonderful horses like these. From your Dad Ben.

  I am going to draw a horse for Lara.

  I take my new pencils to school to show Morgan. She says her cousin had some like that and now her cousin is at the Victorian College of the Arts.

  Morgan wants to have a go, and I let her. Morgan draws a cat and she presses really hard. The black pencil will need to be sharpened again. My pencils were so perfect and new yesterday and now they’re already being used up.

  At the end of the day Mr Parks says he has an important announcement to make. Everyone in the class starts trying to guess what the announcement is, which is stupid because Mr Parks won’t tell us until everyone is quiet, so if we want to know what the announcement is, then we should be qu
iet.

  Brianna starts shushing and eventually we are quiet again. Mr Parks says we are going to have a Grandparents and Friends Day. Everyone in the school will bring a Grandparent or Friend to school so they can see what we’ve been working on and buy things from our craft stall.

  People start talking about who they’re going to bring.

  Mr Parks is standing up the front of the room being very still except for his eyebrows, which are going up and down. That means he wants us to be quiet.

  Brianna starts shushing again.

  Brendan James says, ‘All my grandparents are dead,’ just as the room goes quiet, so everyone hears him really loudly.

  I don’t know why, but it is really funny. We all laugh, even though it is not funny for Brendan.

  Mr Parks yells. Mr Parks says it seems like we can’t handle the pressure of Grandparents and Friends Day so maybe he will call the whole thing off. He says, ‘Can you behave sensibly about Grandparents and Friends Day?’

  We all say, ‘Yes.’

  Mr Parks seems satisfied with that. He tells us that the theme of the day is Australian history. We are all going to do a history project and present it to the Grandparents and Friends.

  April says, ‘Can we choose our own topics?’

  Brendan says, ‘Are we working in groups?’

  Teegan says, ‘Can I do bushrangers because I’m related to Ned Kelly?’

  Mr Parks says that calling out is exactly the sort of thing that would make him cancel the whole day because he would be embarrassed if the Grandparents and Friends had to witness that kind of behaviour.

  He looks up at the ceiling and says, ‘Will this day never end?’

  Finally, when everyone is quiet, Mr Parks tells us about the history project. We have to work in pairs. Luckily, we are allowed to pick our own pairs. Last term we did a school project and we weren’t allowed to pick our own pairs. And even worse, we were all paired up boys with girls. I had to do a project on koalas with Julian. He can’t even do bubble writing so I practically had to do the whole poster myself.

  Morgan looks at me and I nod. We are a pair.

  The bad thing is that we can’t choose our own topics, we have to do the ones Mr Parks has picked. Only one pair can do each topic so Mr Parks is going to draw our names from a hat to decide who gets to pick their topic first.