The Good Teacher

by Petronella McGovern

  ‘Belief doesn’t cure cancer. Belief can’t do anything.’

  Ally was wrong. Belief could do everything.

  Luke stared at his daughter as she twirled a red plastic ball along the rope at the bottom of the climbing frame. The other mother in the playground was still talking to him but he’d lost track of the conversation. Perhaps he’d email that cure-all centre tomorrow.

  16

  MAZ

  Maz squeezed past the crowds chatting near the surf life saving club. A Saturday run at Manly was an obstacle course in avoiding dawdling tourists and the weekend workout types. But today, Maz didn’t care.

  Since the little girl had finished her last round of chemo, Gracie’s hair was starting to sprout and her skin had a healthy pink glow. Maz thought her immune-boosting supplements must have something to do with it. When she’d heard Gracie sniffling that morning, she’d wondered if the dose should be doubled.

  Donations were climbing steadily. And the other offers. Gracie had received tickets to Luna Park, the zoo, a kids’ show at the Opera House, a Wiggles concert and heaps more.

  Mum and Dad were scraping together as much as they could for Gracie; they’d cut right back—no movies, no fancy steak, no takeaways. Dad had told Maz that she could save more money if she stopped buying ‘those bloody vitamin pills’. Biting her lip to hide her smirk, she hadn’t replied. More new orders today! Those teenage boys couldn’t get enough. Maz was waiting until she grew the business; only then would she show off her success to her parents. She’d promised ten per cent of all profits from her Bio-Antidotes to Gracie and she’d given up her one daily treat—the green smoothie from the gym cafe. It wouldn’t bring in a huge amount but every donation was one dollar closer to the goal.

  Sidestepping her way through the crowd, Maz smiled at the kids, swung her ponytail and accelerated past the prams. $53,219. Amazingly awesome in two weeks. They would definitely hit the target in time. And, on top of that, she’d kissed Luke on the lips.

  He hadn’t pulled away but she’d felt his nervousness. Of course, it must be difficult to be with another woman after his wife’s death, but the electricity had been sparking between them since they’d first met. Over the past few months, Maz had been on dates with other guys but none of them had Luke’s intensity. And the love he had for Gracie shone from within. Luke was the perfect father. The perfect business partner and workout partner. And, if she played her cards right, the perfect lover.

  Back at the playground, Maz had a drink and a quick stretch.

  ‘One of the mums said there’s a seal on the headland near Curl Curl.’ Luke jiggled his keys in his pocket. ‘Gracie’s keen to see it. Shall we go?’

  ‘Absolutely!’

  They drove in the Jeep with its top down, Maz loving the cool wind against her sweaty body. In the back seat, Gracie had to hold on to her cap. Together, they’d slathered the girl in sunscreen before the outing. Even though the weather was cooler now, Luke still took every precaution.

  Only a few others were standing on the rocky headland. While they were waiting to catch sight of the seal, a seaplane chugged overhead. Low and loud. One day, it would be Maz peering down from those tiny windows, marvelling at the coastline from above, whizzing up to Palm Beach for a fancy lunch.

  When the seal lumbered up onto the rocks, Gracie cheered.

  ‘And look, there’s another one!’ Maz pointed into the waves.

  ‘And another!’ Gracie yelled. A third seal was poking its head out of the water.

  The seals rolled and twisted in the swell.

  ‘I think those are two boys trying to impress the girl on the rock.’ Luke laughed. ‘Which boyfriend is trying to impress you this week, Gracie?’

  ‘Silly, Daddy.’ Gracie poked him in the side. ‘Kids don’t have boyfriends.’

  Over the top of her head, Luke smiled slowly at Maz. Wow, this was it. She wanted to throw herself right at him, right now. Maz wished that Gracie wasn’t standing between them. Wished they could sneak behind the rocks, into the bushes.

  Walking back to the Jeep, Luke took her hand. Stroked the back of it. Maz’s body tingled in anticipation. And then, Gracie sneezed. Two long rivers of snot cascaded from her nose. Letting go of his hand, Maz searched in her backpack for tissues. But Luke beat her to it, producing some from his pocket.

  ‘Have a good blow,’ he told Gracie.

  ‘She must’ve caught it from Allison,’ Maz whispered. The teacher had been sick for two weeks. Instead of staying in bed, Allison had gone to school and to meetings about Gracie Day, spreading her germs further. And Gracie was there with her, living in a sick house, going off to a sick school.

  ‘Has Gracie seen the doctor lately?’ Maz asked.

  ‘Yep. On Thursday. It’s a normal cold, apparently.’

  ‘I think you should move out for a few days to stop her getting worse.’ Maz was thinking aloud. If only she could say, Come and stay with me. But there wasn’t enough room at her place.

  Luke pulled up next to the kerb in front of Maz’s house. He’d never mentioned the size of her home but the whole thing could fit into the same space as Allison’s two living areas. ‘Emmanuel has a holiday house up the coast at Avoca—I could ask him,’ Luke said. ‘It’d be good for Gracie to have a break. Maybe you could come with us?’

  A trip to Avoca was exactly the break they needed. And a chance for Maz to have Luke to herself. Since they’d set up the fundraiser, everyone had developed a crush on Luke. Clients were choosing his class over every other; instructors were flirting with him; punters were asking Maz if he had a girlfriend. Hands off! He’s mine! She wanted to scream it out at the gym.

  Early April meant they had the beach to themselves. The cafes and the shops had a totally relaxed vibe. Even Luke seemed to slow down and open up.

  They were walking a few steps behind Gracie as she collected shells in a bucket, when Luke began speaking about his wife.

  ‘Sarah was dedicated to Gracie. After the surgery and before the first chemo, she booked a place at Apollo Bay. One afternoon, we climbed the lighthouse at Cape Otway. I carried Gracie all the way to the top. It was magical.’

  Maz felt him take her hand, entwine his fingers around hers. She looked up to see happiness in his eyes.

  ‘Sarah would be relieved to see Gracie smiling again,’ he said. ‘And that’s because of you, Maz.’

  The sex, when it finally happened that night, was even more awesome than she’d imagined. Tender but frenzied. As if Luke couldn’t get enough of her. With Gracie asleep in the next room, Maz pressed her mouth against Luke’s shoulder to silence her moans. Afterwards, they lay panting, their breaths an echo of the waves pounding Avoca beach.

  Beforehand, he’d said, ‘This will be my first time since …’

  In the heat of the moment, Maz had forgotten but now, in the afterglow, she remembered. Running her fingers over his chest, she asked if he was okay.

  ‘More than okay. That was awesome.’

  Maz giggled and rolled on top of him, pinning down his arms, kissing his eyes, nose, mouth.

  ‘You’re awesome!’

  They’d be doing it once more tonight, Maz was certain.

  The next day, Maz wondered if Gracie would be aware of the change. But the little girl behaved the same as usual. She didn’t comment when Maz and Luke walked into the old-time movie theatre holding hands. Or when Maz sprawled against Luke on the picnic blanket by the rockpool.

  ‘Come and see this crab,’ Gracie called to her.

  ‘Don’t step in the water,’ Luke warned his daughter. ‘We don’t want that cold to get any worse.’

  Maz forced herself off the blanket, her thigh still tingling from where Luke’s fingers had been tracing a line upwards.

  ‘Gee, that crab is crawling super fast.’ Maz tried to sound interested but she was counting the number of hours until Gracie went to sleep. They should have left the little girl with the schoolteacher. No, the reason we came was to get away from t
he sick teacher.

  Over dinner of salmon and Asian greens, Gracie couldn’t stop coughing.

  ‘We should double the dose of her supplements,’ Maz said. ‘She has to be as healthy as possible for Chicago.’

  ‘I don’t want to change anything without asking Dr Rawson.’

  ‘Can you text him now?’

  ‘He wouldn’t appreciate a call at seven o’clock at night. Gracie isn’t his only patient.’

  Luke gave a little laugh to soften his words but Maz blushed anyway. Luke worshipped Dr Rawson—his word was law. After Curtis had done a phone interview with the doctor, he’d reported back: That man has the biggest brain. He explained about those new drugs but I didn’t really understand. It’s so complicated. Of course Luke had a man crush on the specialist who was opening doors to save Gracie’s life.

  Dr Rawson had approved the supplements. Surely it would be beneficial for Gracie to double the dose.

  Maz would get the containers out after dinner, while Luke was in the shower.

  17

  ALLISON

  Allison couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d jeopardised Gracie’s health twice. Before Luke went to Avoca, she made a decision.

  ‘I’ll sell the house, then I can loan you the rest of the money straight up,’ she told Luke. ‘Once the fundraiser gets to that amount, you can pay me back.’

  Instead of being grateful as she’d expected, Luke shook his head.

  ‘You can’t do that, Ally. It’s your house and your money. I thought you never wanted to sell.’

  ‘I could sell for the right reason. For Gracie. Not because of Tony.’

  Tony wouldn’t stop texting her about the house. Her last response to him had said: I will consider selling after Gracie is back from Chicago in June. Although Allison could do it right now, if she wanted. But she’d suddenly realised the sale would take too long to deliver the money for Gracie’s treatment.

  ‘You need to look after your money,’ Luke said. ‘I saw it when my aunt got divorced. She lost everything. When you sell the house, invest the cash.’

  If Allison invested the money, maybe she could make more for Gracie. Not in time for this treatment but the next one. If this round worked well, Dr Rawson said they’d do another in four months. Emmanuel was into investments—she’d talk to him. He was a nice guy but life was complicated at the moment. Would Emmanuel be another complication? They’d had sex on that first night but not since then; Allison insisted on taking it very, very slowly. Emmanuel joked that it was a bit late for that. But he didn’t pressure her. They’d been out for dinner twice. He’d supported the fundraising by sending the link to his wealthy financial colleagues and encouraging them to join Gracie’s Gang. And he’d lent Luke his holiday house for a few days.

  When Luke returned from Avoca, he was upbeat, and upfront.

  ‘Maz and I are kind of … dating now.’ He ran a hand through his spiky hair. ‘She’s got so much energy and she’s great with Gracie. It might sound weird to say this, but I know Sarah would approve. She’d like Maz’s zest for life.’

  That zest for life was certainly impressive. And also irritating. How could Maz be so happy all the time? Was it possible for the bouncy instructor to be even happier now that she’d snagged her prize? While Allison had suggested the match, she found it infuriating to see young love in her house—the two of them radiated some kind of sexual glow.

  Allison had been hoping to take Gracie to the Royal Easter Show as a belated birthday present. She especially wanted to take her into the petting zoo and to see the horses—a link to her mother. But Gracie wasn’t interested. Allison wondered if part of her sickness and lethargy was psychological, the sadness of her fifth birthday without her mum.

  The fundraising campaign had started as Allison’s project but it expanded without her input. A bunch of mums from school had organised a family fun run around Narrabeen Lake. Some of the kids raised hundreds of dollars in sponsorship from their relatives. An instructor who worked with Luke set up a wine fundraiser. The stories in the Northern Beaches News inspired two of the local pubs to donate the takings from their weekly trivia nights. Maz’s grandmother called bingo at the retirement village and asked residents to hand over coins for every bingo counter they used. Allison’s mother hosted a very successful fundraising lunch at her golf club.

  ‘Everyone was very generous,’ Barbara reported back. ‘Especially Sally. You remember her grandson died last year.’

  Allison pictured the sixteen-year-old. A healthy happy teenager one month, gone the next. Some kind of infection.

  ‘How’s the family?’

  ‘Getting through it day by day. I thought Sally would be too upset to come but she insisted. She donated eight hundred dollars at the beginning of lunch, and then another eight hundred at the end.’

  ‘That’s extremely generous.’ Allison considered what she knew of Sally. ‘Can she afford it, though?’

  ‘She wants to help.’

  So many people wanted to help. Schoolchildren were giving up their pocket money. Teenagers handed over precious dollars from their weekend jobs. Little by little, it was adding up. One of the clubs in Dee Why held a karaoke fundraising night. An anonymous donor transferred five thousand. Shona contacted three radio stations and told Gracie’s story on air in her lovely, lilting accent; the donations skyrocketed.

  They celebrated when the total hit eighty thousand, then a hundred, then a hundred and twenty. When they’d set up the campaign, Allison had imagined the target as a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow—the end of that rainbow was now in sight.

  After recess on Friday morning, as Allison was handing out a worksheet on matching pictures and words, Shona appeared in the doorway.

  ‘You’re wanted in the office,’ she said. ‘I’ll mind your class.’

  Then Shona leant in close and whispered: ‘Two police officers are waiting to see you.’

  Oh God, Tony. Had he followed through with his threat of an AVO? But she hadn’t been near his place for weeks. And surely the police wouldn’t serve her with an AVO at school. Not here, in front of staff and students. It was bullshit anyway. Tony was making it up to force her to sell the house. She’d call him out for domestic abuse—Tony, the solicitor who had helped so many other women. It would ruin his career. Was that what he wanted?

  The police officers were waiting in the staffroom for her, their caps in their hands. Not the same couple as last time. Younger, both male.

  ‘Mrs Walsh, we’re sorry to disturb you during class time.’

  Even though they were standing, Allison decided to sit; she needed the support underneath her body.

  ‘We’ve made some arrests on the robberies,’ said the one with the crew cut. ‘The attempt at your house was the breakthrough for the case.’

  The robberies. Not an AVO. Double relief. She’d been reading the crime section of the paper each week, waiting for the next report. There hadn’t been one since her house. And the fact that the robbers hadn’t moved on concerned Allison. She wondered if they were following her and Luke as they collected fundraising money.

  ‘Thank God. Maybe I’ll be able to sleep now.’

  She wasn’t joking.

  ‘One of the perpetrators was from your school community, as you suggested, Mrs Walsh. His son, Zack, is in your class.’

  Bloody hell. She should’ve realised when Zack was trying to sell stuff—Allison had assumed it was his family’s belongings, not stolen goods. Allison had only seen Zack’s dad once. Dressed in trendy sports clothes, he looked like a rapper: designer tracksuit pants, gleaming white sneakers, a black cap on his head. Along with bloodshot eyes and the most charming smile.

  ‘Does Zack know his father has been arrested?’

  ‘Yes, he was in the home when the arrest was made last night.’

  Closing her eyes, Allison imagined Zack’s fear and confusion. Most kids thought the police only arrested ‘the bad guys’; it’d be hard for Zack to reconcile th
at concept with his own dad going to jail. How would he cope? He wasn’t in today. The family must be in a state of shock.

  Another child to discuss with the school counsellor.

  The Easter Hat Parade was on Wednesday, just before the school holidays. The Wombats had made cardboard hats with bunny ears sticking out the top. After last-minute tears from Evelyn, who accidentally ripped hers as she was adjusting it, the class strode out onto the basketball court smiling proudly. During the parade, they collected gold coin donations for Gracie, the last fundraiser before Chicago. Zack’s mum pulled Allison to one side and apologised on behalf of her husband. She passed over an envelope with five hundred dollars cash for Gracie’s fund. Should Allison take it to the police or bank it? She’d let Luke decide.

  When Allison had checked the total this morning, it was hovering around one hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars. So close. A few days of school holidays and then Gracie would be in America. Unbelievable. This annus horribilis might possibly turn into a good year.

  Gracie knelt on the kitchen stool, sprinkling hundreds and thousands across her buttered bread. Tiny balls of colour dotted the benchtop. Allison would have to make sure she wiped up every last one, leaving no trace of the sugary afternoon tea by the time Luke got home at six-thirty. They’d also shared Easter eggs at school—oops, definitely too much sugar today.

  In the five days since Gracie had come back from Avoca, her cough had improved. Allison blamed herself for the illness. She should’ve put herself into quarantine when she’d first felt ill to avoid any risk of Gracie catching it. But she’d had to organise Gracie Day. Bizarrely, Allison had endangered Gracie’s life in order to save it.

  Still wearing her Easter hat over the top of her pink beanie, Gracie concentrated on the fairy bread. She used a knife to smooth out the sprinkles so they weren’t clumped together.

  ‘Do you want milk with your fairy bread?’ Allison asked.

  ‘Yes, please.’