Lucky Jars and Broken Promises
Page 5
From stairs seven to twelve she remembered how Sienna had been allowed to eat bubblegum ice-cream right before dinner time. Halfway down the hall, she remembered how happy he had seemed about Sienna being on the seventieth percentile.
Just because Sienna was bigger than Penelope had been at that age, that didn’t mean she was better (or that she should be allowed bubble-gum ice-cream right before dinner). That thought pumped Penelope right back to her usual size. She was Very Aware that she should try to stop thinking like that. She had a terrible feeling that if she got pumped up too much, she might just POP. There was no way she could have an outburst at her dad. That would be the very worst thing EVER for stretchy family ties.
But by the time she got to her room, Penelope couldn’t help thinking about the way her dad had smiled as he corrected Sienna when she kept missing out on the five and the eight.
‘Guys,’ her dad called up the stairs, ‘I have to go now.’
Now, instead of feeling flat as a pancake, Penelope felt like she was being blown up like a balloon. Her temples throbbed and the palms of her hands felt sweaty.
‘Wait,’ she called.
Since her dad was standing right at the bottom, Penelope nearly thwacked into him. And then it happened.
Penelope POPPED.
‘THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT FAIR, DAD! DON’T YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND HOW DISAPPOINTING THIS IS FOR ME AND HARRY?’
‘Calm down, sweetheart,’ her dad said. ‘I really hoped this weekend would work out as planned. But I’m a busy man. Sometimes work gets in the way.’
‘BUT YOU PROMISED!’ Penelope yelled.
Penelope’s dad put his hand on her shoulder. ‘Come on, Penelope,’ he said in a soothing voice. ‘That’s not exactly true. I didn’t actually promise anything.’
Now Penelope felt crosser than ever. Her dad had never (not since he left them anyway) seen Penelope have an outburst. She suspected that he might be a bit shocked by the way her face had gone red and her veins were popping out. But she couldn’t stop it now. The words were tumbling out all by themselves.
‘WELL, YOU DID PROMISE!’ she screamed. ‘MAYBE NOT IN WORDS, BUT YOU DID PROMISE.’
A car horn beeped outside. Penelope ignored it.
‘HARRY IS IN HIS FIRST GRAND FINAL EVER. DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW GOOD HE IS?’
She paused. Now that she’d started, she couldn’t stop. But there were so many things to be cross about, she had to choose.
‘I BET YOU WOULDN’T DO THIS TO YOUR NEW FAMILY,’ she yelled. ‘I BET YOU WOULD NEVER DISAPPOINT SIENNA.’
Now she was on a roll, nothing could stop her. She barrelled on, drowning out the long hoot of the car horn outside.
‘OBVIOUSLY YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR NEW FAMILY MORE THAN US. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? SIENNA ISN’T PERFECT. SHE CAN’T EVEN COUNT TO TEN PROPERLY. SHE KEEPS MISSING OUT ON THE FIVE AND EIGHT.’
She paused for a moment to let that sink in. ‘AND I’LL HAVE THAT BADGE BACK, THANK YOU,’ she finished.
As her dad unpinned the badge, Penelope looked up to the landing. Harry was leaning over the banister with his hand over his mouth, looking very surprised.
‘That is no way to behave, Penelope Kingston,’ her dad said firmly. ‘You know I have a big job and that I have to make sacrifices sometimes. It’s just the way it is.’
‘WELL, THE WAY IT IS SUCKS,’ Penelope said. ‘AND IF YOU CAN’T ADMIT THAT, YOU’RE ONLY CHEATING YOURSELF.’
Penelope’s dad shook his head, as though he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.
‘I can’t enter into a debate about this at the moment,’ he said. ‘We’ll talk about this later.’
Then Penelope’s father turned and walked out the front door.
‘Hey,’ Harry called down from the landing. ‘Go you! You sure told him.’
Penelope was silent.
‘Penelope?’
She put her head in her hands and listened as Harry came down the stairs (three at a time, with big thumps). Outbursts were always exhausting, but this had been her worst outburst EVER.
‘Hey sis,’ Harry said, ‘you just told the truth.’ He paused for a second. ‘Even if it isn’t nice, it is the truth,’ he continued. ‘The way it is does suck.’
Penelope thought about the advice from Grandpa’s chart.
Communication is important this week. Sometimes the truth needs to be spoken, even when it’s unpleasant.
Perhaps the chart was totally wrong this time. She had told Bob the unpleasant truth about her crush on Tommy Stratton, and that hadn’t worked. Luckily Bob had been OK about Penelope’s speech.
But this? With her dad?
Maybe family ties couldn’t be stretched that far. Maybe she’d just gone and broken them completely.
SNAP.
The fete was buzzing by the time Penelope and Harry arrived. The sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze. Even though her morning had been EXTREMELY difficult, Penelope couldn’t help but feel the excitement all around her.
The basketball court had been (really and not just in Penelope’s imagination) completely transformed. It was covered with stalls, and there were people everywhere. Even though her shift on the Lucky Jar stall wasn’t until 1.30 pm, Penelope led Harry straight there. Gwen, from the Parents Committee, was looking after it.
There were no Lucky Jar customers just at that moment, but Penelope was still tempted to help out. The jars weren’t spaced very evenly – she would start by fixing that. She was just taking her backpack off when Bob ran up and stopped her.
‘Oh no you don’t, Penny Kingston,’ Bob squealed. ‘I’ve been waiting FOREVER for you to get here!’
At another time, Penelope might have pointed out that what Bob had said wasn’t technically correct. But at that moment she was just relieved that Bob’s crush didn’t seem to be changing things between them.
‘Oh my God,’ Bob said suddenly.
Penelope and Harry looked over to the courtyard, where Bob was pointing. Bob’s dad was on the fairy-floss stall. He was wearing a pink tutu over his jeans and waving around a stick of fairy floss to attract customers.
‘He’s KILLING me,’ Bob squealed, putting her hands around her own neck in a fake choking hold.
Penelope smiled. It was a real smile, because Bob was very funny. But, even though she wouldn’t say it aloud, she was the one who was embarrassed. Bob’s dad may have been wearing a tutu. But at least he was there.
‘Where’s your dad, Pen?’ Bob asked. ‘I’m dying to know if he is even a teensy bit as wacky as mine.’
Penelope gulped. Although Bob was her very best friend, Penelope wasn’t ready to talk about what had happened to her family ties that morning.
‘Something came up,’ she said.
Harry moved closer to Penelope. Shoulder to shoulder. And, even though he didn’t say anything, Penelope knew what that meant.
Harry was being very caring. And that made Penelope feel emotional all over again. So it was probably just as well that Oscar Finley ran up to them just at that moment.
‘I did the 10 to 10.30 shift,’ he said. ‘Your Lucky Jars were going really well, Pen! I really reckon …’ Oscar stopped mid-sentence as he noticed Penelope’s brother.
‘Hey, you’re Harry Kingston! Jersey number sixteen?’ he asked.
Harry nodded. ‘I’ve watched you play soccer,’ Oscar continued. ‘I was at the semi-final when you kicked three goals. You’re awesome!’
Now it was Harry’s turn to smile. And Penelope could tell it was a real smile, even if there was some sadness underneath it. Even if their own dad wouldn’t be there to watch Harry play soccer and gush about it, at least someone would.
Just then, a huge roar came from the direction of the oval.
‘Everyone’s trying to dunk Mr Joseph,’ Bob explained. ‘No-one has managed it yet, but it’ll be hilarious when it happens.’ Mr Joseph was probably the grumpiest teacher in the whole of Chelsea Primary.
‘Quick, everyone,’ Oscar said. ‘I
’ve got a ripper of an idea.’
The oval was full of amazing activities. There were pony rides, a jumping castle, and even a cup-and-saucer ride where you could sit inside a teacup and spin around. But the biggest crowd was around the Dunk Tank.
The Dunk Tank was made up of a see-through plastic tank filled with water. A seat was suspended above the tank, and on that seat was Mr Joseph.
Next to the tank was a target with a hole in the centre. That was the aim. If you got a ball to hit the target, the seat would sink – along with Mr Joseph.
‘Isn’t anyone good enough to knock me off my perch?’ Mr Joseph challenged in his usual bellowing voice. ‘Just two dollars and you’ll get your chance.’
‘I reckon you’re the one to do it, Harry,’ Oscar said. ‘Jersey number sixteen, soccer legend, are you up for it?’
‘You’re all hopeless,’ Mr Joseph yelled from the tank. ‘I’ll be going home dry as a bone.’
Harry narrowed his eyes and shook his head in a fake-fierce way. ‘Let’s do this.’
Oscar guided Harry to the front of the crowd. Harry paid his two dollars. Then, instead of holding the ball in his hands like everyone else had done, Harry put it at his feet.
Penelope pinched Bob on the thigh (because she absolutely knew you could do that with best friends when you were sharing a special moment).
The next bit was like slow motion. Harry brought his right foot back. He kicked. The ball flew through the air. Then it went straight into the target.
Mr Joseph instantly went down. He flattened his (wet) nose against the window.
‘Hero!’ Oscar exclaimed, grabbing Harry’s hand and lifting it into the air. Everyone cheered.
And Penelope realised something she’d never quite realised before.
Even if their dad didn’t care, she was proud of her brother.
The rest of the day was so much fun, Penelope (almost) forgot about her outburst. Even Rita Azul was too busy having fun to think up a single mean thing to say. And, even though Tommy Stratton and Felix Unger did chase her and Bob and let off fart bombs that smelled like rotten eggs (which was a very silly thing to do), Penelope didn’t mind too much.
Penelope had:
It definitely wasn’t a good day for the food pyramid, but despite a Truly Terrible start, it was a good day for Penelope.
It got even better when Penelope did her shift at the Lucky Jar stall. As soon as she’d sold the forty-fifth jar, she knew they’d done it. Penelope and Oscar found the principal and shared the good news.
Penelope (sweetly, and not saying a word about the time Ms Bourke had forgotten to give Penelope an award for picking up litter without even being asked) reminded Ms Bourke to make an announcement over the loudspeaker.
Penelope was checking out the second-hand books when it happened.
‘The Lucky Jar record for Chelsea Primary has just been broken. A big thank you to Oscar Finley and Penelope Kingston for all their great work!’
When Penelope had imagined this moment, she had pictured her dad right beside her, glowing with pride. But some moments are not how you imagine they’ll be.
There were a couple of cheers, but most of the crowd kept doing whatever they were doing.
Around Penelope, though, a small group began to form. The group consisted of Oscar Finley, Bob, Harry, and Penelope’s mum.
Oscar Finley high-fived her. Bob pinched her arm. Harry gave her two thumbs up, quite casually, but Penelope had a feeling that he was probably proud of her.
Penelope looked at her mum. Although she hadn’t wanted to discuss it at the fete, she could tell that her mum knew what had happened with her dad. It was in her eyes. Penelope had a Strong Suspicion that her dad would be hearing from her mum about it. And that the words she used would be Very Pointy.
Then, without even trying, a Pleasant Image came to her.
In front of everyone, Penelope’s mum gave her a big hug.
‘I am so crazily proud of you, Penelope Kingston,’ she whispered in Penelope’s ear.
Normally, Penelope would have thought it was embarrassing to be hugged by her mum in public. This time, though, she didn’t mind. Not one bit.
Sometimes, moments aren’t exactly as you imagine they will be. But they can still be Very Special.
Just as Penelope was thinking that, her phone beeped. She assumed it would be Grandpa George. Grandpa often liked to find out whether his chart advice had worked.
Penelope wasn’t sure how she was going to answer him.
Penelope’s heart raced as she realised the text was from her father. It was the longest message she’d ever received.
Penelope handed the phone to her mum and Harry, and watched as they read the message. She truly wanted to believe her dad was going to change. But she was afraid to trust him.
‘Did Dad make that up?’ she asked her mum. ‘The bit about how I used to miss the five and the eight?’
Penelope’s mum shook her head. ‘It’s actually true,’ she said softly.
‘Yeah,’ Harry agreed, ‘even I remember that. Dad used to correct you all the time.’
Penelope closed her eyes. Perhaps Grandpa’s chart had been right after all? Perhaps her (almost definitely) last outburst hadn’t been totally the wrong thing to do?
She certainly couldn’t remember her dad apologising to her before. It felt new. In a good way. Like some mucky history had been washed away and now, perhaps, they could start afresh.
Penelope looked up from the text to her small but Very Special group.
‘Are you okay, poss?’ her mum asked. Penelope glanced down at her mum’s odd socks. Maybe in some ways she wasn’t quite suited to her mum and Harry. But in other ways (no matter what happened with Penelope’s dad) they were perfect together.
‘I’m fine,’ Penelope said.
And, actually, she was.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chrissie Perry is the author of over thirty books for children and young adults, including thirteen books in the popular Go Girl series and the award-winning Whisper. She lives in St Kilda with her husband, three children (who are stubbornly refusing to stay young) and an opinionated Maltese Shih Tzu called Gidget. Like Penelope Kingston, Chrissie believes it’s great to aim for excellence. But she has a sneaking suspicion that going with the flow every now and again can also work out just fine.
For Gaynor Twining, with love
Lucky Jars & Broken Promises
Published in 2015 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
This ebook is also available as a print edition in all good bookstores.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.
A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.
eISBN 9781743583739
Text copyright © 2015 Chrissie Perry
Illustrations copyright © 2015 Hardie Grant Egmont
Series design copyright © 2015 Hardie Grant Egmont
Series design by Elissa Webb
Illustrations by Jon Davis
Typeset by Cannon Typesetting
We welcome feedback from our readers. All our ebooks are edited and proofread vigorously, but we know that mistakes sometimes get through. If you spot any errors, please email info@hardiegrantegmont.com.au so that we can fix them for your fellow ebook readers.
-moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share