Mostly Sunny with a Chance of Storms (23 page)

‘Saskia, you can still be a great artist or a great
anything
and
not
be dyslexic. It’s not a prerequisite.’

‘Yeah, but if there was something I could take just before Dad gets me tested …’ I mean, I’ve memorised most of the warning signs and symptoms, but it would be great to have some help.’

‘Saskia! You can’t
fake
the test. What’s wrong with you?’

‘Nothing … unfortunately. I’m just so – so –
normal.
It’s unbearable!’

‘Oh no, you’re not,’ I said under my breath.

And Saskia said, ‘Pardon?’

And I said, ‘How would you feel about trying to communicate with the spirit of Granny Carmelene. Finn said he’d join in next time he comes over.’

‘I hardly even know Finn.’

‘You’ll really like him, Saskia. He’s
not
normal.’ I thought Saskia would be too scared to be a part of a seance, but the idea of it really seemed to cheer her up. For the rest of the petal-collecting time she was quiet and focussed, which is exactly how you’re meant to be while making a flower-essence remedy, according to Mum’s book, kind of like you’re meditating. It’s all about concentrating really hard on how you hope the medicine will work, kind of like the visualisation techniques that Auntie Guff taught me.

Don’t ask me why, but while I was picking rose petals, I
daydreamed about Steph sitting at a long table with Flora asleep in her arms … There is a crisp white tablecloth and posh crystal glasses and loads of friends and family around. Settimio is even there too. And Steph is just like the old Steph, laughing and chatting and making goo-goo eyes over Flora. And then she’s laughing at some kind of joke and I’m thinking that perhaps it’s a joke
I
told her, and Steph is laughing and laughing, so hard that when Lyall and Saskia ask her what she’s finding so funny, she can’t even answer them because she’s laughing so hard … and that’s where the daydream ends.

‘What now?’ said Saskia, holding the bowlful of petals.

‘Now we leave it to sit in the sun for a couple of hours and then we leave it out for the night to soak up the moon.’

Saskia looked up to the wintry sky. ‘Hardly any sun at all today,’ she said.

‘I know, I know,’ I said. ‘But that’s just from our perspective. As far as the sun’s concerned it’s beaming away like it always does. Just over the other side of the clouds.’

I was hoping
that by the time I got back Steph would be ready for a walk, but the guest room door was shut tight and Dad had told me not to knock or disturb her, on account of depressed people needing a lot more sleep than regular people.

‘Hey, Sunny,’ called Lyall from the library as I came downstairs. ‘There’s a letter for you. Looks like it’s from your
boyfriend.
’

‘Grow up, Lyall.’ I almost punched his arm but chose instead to grab the envelope. ‘He’s not my boyfriend.’

The letter was from Finn all right. Not only was he the only person who wrote me letters, but it was in one of his handmade and recycled envelopes. I carefully unstuck the back and found a message written on a smallish card.

‘Why doesn’t your
boyfriend
just, like, use the phone?’ said Lyall, as I put the card back in the envelope.

‘Probably because
you and your sister
are, like,
always
on it. Have you ever thought of that, Lyall? Besides, soon we’re going to be communicating exclusively by pigeon.’

‘Yeah, well, have you seen how much Settimio’s been feeding those birds? It’ll be a wonder if they can fly at all. There’re starting to look more like penguins. You’d better say something to him, Sunny. Really.’

‘Really?’ I said.

‘Really,’ said Lyall.

‘Hey, Lyall,’ yelled Saskia bursting through the back door. ‘Where are you?’

‘We’re in here!’ Lyall shouted back at her.

‘Shhh, you guys. Flora’s asleep!’ I said as Saskia found us in the library.

‘I’ve made some jumps,’ she said, still puffing. ‘For the dogs this afternoon. Come and see, you guys.’

‘They’re not horses, Saskia,’ said Lyall. ‘How are we meant to get dogs to go over jumps?’

‘With treats, Lyall. Like how you make a dog do anything else,’ said Saskia.

Willow looked up at me as if to say,
It’s true, treats work. You should really try them more often.

Saskia had made a whole circuit of jumps down on the flat part near the river. There were eight of them in total, made out of wooden garden stakes, propped up on whatever she could find.

‘Look, I’ll show you. Come on, Willow, follow me!’ Saskia started running and took the first jump, checking behind her to see if Willow was following, which … she wasn’t.

‘Come on, Willow!’ Saskia stood on the other side of the first jump and reached down deep into her pocket. Willow, clearly suspecting a treat, pricked up her ears and ran over to her, and Saskia took the next jump with Willow close behind, and then the next one, hoping Willow would catch on. Willow didn’t exactly
jump,
though. She spent a few moments sniffing the garden stake, and, with Saskia
desperately coaxing from the other side, eventually stepped over it, as though it was a puddle that wasn’t worth lying down in.

‘Good girl!’ said Saskia feeding her a leathery doggie treat. ‘She’s getting the idea! Come on, Willow, next one!’

Saskia started running again, with Willow pacing directly beside her, licking and nibbling at her hand rather than watching
at all
where she was going.

‘Jump, Willow!’ commanded Saskia as she hurdled the next jump.

Willow, of course, ran straight through it, knocking the stake over as well as the two buckets that were supporting it. She got such a fright that she yelped and ran away, as if she thought perhaps the jump was going to chase her. Then she suddenly became self-conscious, probably because Lyall and I were laughing so much, so she hurried towards me and buried her head between my knees.

‘Don’t be embarrassed, Willow,’ I said, stroking her head. ‘Lyall, stop laughing; you’ll hurt her feelings.’

‘Well,’ said Saskia. ‘Maybe it would work better if she was on her leash?’

‘Maybe it would work better if she was a horse!’ mocked Lyall. ‘The only ones who’ll be getting a workout are us!’

‘I don’t care!’ said Saskia, running toward the front gate. ‘I gotta go get Banjo. He’ll jump. I just know it!’

Lyall and I were on our way to picking up Woolfie and Sophia when I remembered Ritchie’s Crocs.

‘I forgot,’ said Lyall. ‘I’ll have to put them back next time. Don’t worry, Ritchie will never know it was us.’

‘You mean, Ritchie will never know it was
you,
’ I said.

‘Have it your way, Sunny,’ sighed Lyall. ‘Come to Ritchie’s with me anyway, and pick up Woolfie.’

‘Only if you agree to have a seance with me and Finn. So that we can commune with the spirit of Granny Carmelene.’

‘What about, Saskia?’

‘She’s in. She can hardly wait.’

Lyall looked at me suspiciously.

‘Come on, Lyall, what else are kids meant to do when they’re grounded?’

‘Okay,’ Lyall said. ‘But if the whole thing backfires I’m not taking the blame.’

When we got to Ritchie’s, Lyall and I were greeted by the most unexpected surprise. Sophia was running about in Ritchie’s front garden with Woolfie.

Lyall and I looked at one another in amazement, right at the exact moment the front door opened, and Ritchie and Kara appeared on the verandah …
together!

‘Well, thanks a million, Ritchie,’ said Kara, just before they noticed us. ‘Oh, Sunny,’ said Kara awkwardly. ‘We meet again. And hello, Lionel. Sorry, was it Lionel?’

‘Lyall,’ we answered at the same time.

‘I’m so sorry, Lyall,’ Kara said, burrowing through her bag for her keys.

‘Come on in, guys,’ said Ritchie holding Sophia by the collar, as if he’d known her all his life. ‘Kara and I were just chatting about her leaving Sophia here from time to time, for play days. Since she and Woolfie seem to have become such great friends and all – thanks to the wonderful team at Boredom Control.’

Kara laughed. It was kind of like a grown-up version of the fake laugh Claud had developed when she got a crush on Buster.

‘Sounds like a great idea,’ I said, looking to Lyall.

‘Great idea,’ he agreed. ‘Can’t believe we didn’t think of it ourselves.’

Kara and Ritchie shot each other a look. Kind of like the one Mum and Carl exchanged when they realised Carl was wearing Ritchie’s stolen Crocs. Then Kara did an about-turn and raced towards the gate.

‘Okay then, I’ll be off,’ she said. ‘Maybe after you’ve finished your routine you could drop Sophia back here? At least then she’ll have some company for the rest of the day. I’ve got to work late again.’

‘Sure,’ I said, clipping on Sophia’s leash as Kara squeezed out the gate.

‘No stress, Kara,’ said Ritchie. ‘Pick her up whenever
you like.’ He watched her get in her car and waved her off.

‘Nice lady,’ said Lyall.

‘You betcha,’ Ritchie smiled.

‘Sorry about that mix up with the collars,’ I added. ‘It won’t happen again.’

‘Fine by me, kiddo, you can give me an excuse to call Kara any old time you like.’

As you may have guessed, the jumps weren’t exactly a huge success, but I didn’t want to be the sort of person who says
I told you so,
so I tried my hardest to help Saskia make them work. Besides, I really wanted to be in a position where Saskia owed me a little generosity, as she’d be sure to freak out when seance time actually did come around. (I must say, Willow didn’t exactly help matters. She kept distracting the other dogs in an attempt to get one or all of them to chase her around the house.)

‘Forget it!’ Saskia shrieked eventually, stamping her foot.

‘Let them run for a while,’ I said, hanging the leashes on the wooden railing at the back verandah stairs. ‘They
are
meant to be losing weight after all.’

Just as I opened my mouth to comment on Banjo’s exemplary behaviour, he suddenly stopped speeding about with the others and began barking at them instead.

‘Oh no,’ I said. ‘Banjo’s got that look again. Like he’s seeing the world through
round-’em-up
coloured glasses.’

He crouched down on all fours, trying to look as if he was invisible, obviously planning a pounce.

‘Banjo,
stay
!’ I said, holding up my hand like a stop sign. But it was too late. Banjo lurched out at Willow, who was the first to pass him, and crunched his jaws around her back foot.

Willow gave a yelp I’d never heard before. Then she growled and gnashed her teeth at Banjo, and ran over to cower behind my legs. She was holding one of her back feet up off the ground, and I could see a puncture wound and blood.

‘Oh no!’ I wailed. ‘
He’s done it again!
’

‘Oh my!’ cried Saskia, pointing towards the other dogs. They were piled up on top of one another in one big angry doggie brawl. ‘Dog fight! Lyall, do something!’

It was a dog fight all right. A growling tumble-dryer of teeth and claws, and it seemed to be getting more and more intense.

‘Daaaaaaaaad!!’ screamed Saskia.

‘Dad’s not here, idiot!’ yelled Lyall.

Willow was shaking, but I didn’t want to move in case Banjo shifted his focus from savaging Woolfie and Sophia and tried to take on me and Willow instead.

That’s when Steph appeared at the back door in her nightie.
Steph
of all people, and she looked dead angry too. She stomped down the back steps and snatched the hose
up from where it was lying by the herb garden.

‘I know there are water restrictions and all, Lyall, but turn it on full blast, would you?
Hurry!
’ yelled Steph.