Super Jack

by Susanne Gervay

‘No way, Mum.’ I look innocently at her. Anyway, Mum is the queen of bribery. She is always bribing us with ice creams and bubble gum to tidy our rooms and do our homework. It works, sometimes.

  Rob is shaking his head. ‘Today we’ll get our bearings. Let you kids really get to know each other, drive around the beaches, maybe swim. A relaxing day. Your mum and I need to unwind.’

  ‘But, but …’

  ‘Tomorrow, the dolphins, then we’ll see.’

  I start to argue, then realise Rob is not in a reasonable mood. Then I think. Hey, beaches today, dolphins tomorrow. Theme park for sure, the day after.

  ‘Get ready. We’re going for a drive now, kids.’

  I grab the last piece of bacon. Anna made it crunchy. Just the way I like it. ‘Coming, Samantha? Anna?’ Rob squints at me. I know what he wants. I yell, ‘Coming, Leo?’

  ‘In a minute,’ Leo answers with his mouth full of mashed toast.

  ‘The dishes …’ Mum’s voice disappears as I slam my bedroom door. I couldn’t wash the dishes up while Mum and Rob were still eating. Mum knows that.

  I check out my jar of fungus, which I put under the bed. Wow, it’s looking excellent. The white marshmallow growths are mutating into lumps and the green parts are darker. I crawl under the bottom bunk and stick it back underneath. Hey, what’s that? There is a crackly sound. What is it? Something is stuck in the slats of Leo’s bunk. I drag it out. It’s the left-over packet of jelly snakes we were looking for in the car. Why would he take it? Who’d want to eat jelly snakes by themselves? That’s no fun. I shake my head. Leo is a thief for sure. I stuff the packet of jelly snakes under my blanket on the top bunk for now.

  We are ready to go. Mum leaves a note for Nanna saying we’ll be back by lunch time. I race towards the car. Leo calls out, ‘Dad, can I sit in the front seat?’

  Dad? I turn around and stare at Leo and Rob. Tingles crawl down my neck. Dad? But Leo doesn’t even really know Rob. Rob lives with us. Hey, Leo is climbing into the front seat. That’s Mum’s spot. No one else is allowed to sit there, except on special occasions.

  ‘Leo and Rob need to talk about a lot of things,’ Mum explains as she gets into the back.

  ‘They’re always talking,’ I mumble. It’s just a crummy excuse that Leo has made up to get into the front seat.

  Mum’s daffodil scarf flutters behind her as she gets into the car.

  ‘That’s so pretty.’ Samantha wiggles her fingers between the folds.

  Mum has bubble gum balls in her pocket. (Bribery.) She gives us two each, then she taps Leo’s shoulder. ‘Do you want some bubble gum, Leo?’ He sticks his hand out and Mum gives him only ONE bubble gum ball. Good, he deserves that. He doesn’t even say thank you to Mum. He shouldn’t get even one gum ball.

  Rob pulls into Kirra Beach so we can all watch the surfboard riders. ‘It has some of the best waves in the world.’ Rob watches the waves for ages. Then I notice two surfie girls with long blonde hair. I whistle.

  Anna goes nuts. ‘Sexist,’ she explodes with her cannonball eyes.

  I could be in trouble here. ‘It’s only a joke, Anna. You like my jokes.’

  ‘Not this one.’

  I am going to say sorry when Leo butts in. ‘Some jokes aren’t funny.’

  ‘That’s right.’ Anna crosses her arms.

  I want to kick Leo in the shins, except I can’t reach him. What’s he up to?

  ‘Jack is just being dumb, Anna.’ Samantha shrugs. ‘He’s told me that there’s no one as pretty as you.’

  I feel my head thumping. How could Samantha say that? Then I notice Anna trying not to smile. ‘This time I’ll forget your grossness, Jack. Only this time.’ She pretends to be angry.

  Saved by the Samantha. Phew.

  Coolangatta is definitely a holiday town — surf shops, cafés, heaps of people. The Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club is right in the middle of the beach. ‘There’s a pie shop.’ Samantha spies it straightaway. She has excellent eyes when she is looking for meat pies or cream buns.

  ‘We’ll get some later for lunch.’ Mum kisses Samantha.

  Rob parks near the escarpment on the other side of Coolangatta. We start climbing to the top. It’s steep and I have to pull Samantha up behind me. Leo runs ahead of us. ‘I’ll get there first.’

  I raise my eyebrows. Who cares? ‘Good,’ I call after him. I have to help Samantha, anyway.

  ‘Lucky we didn’t bring Nanna.’ Samantha gasps. ‘She’d have to stay in the car, and it’s too hot in the back seat today.’

  Nanna. Mum and Rob keep having secret talks about her. Sometimes I catch a bit of their conversations. ‘… can’t live by herself any more.’ ‘What if she falls and no one finds her for days?’

  I drag Samantha up the final peak. Samantha’s ears are red. Really red like hot chilli. ‘Your ears.’ I point to them. ‘Ha. Ha. Are you going to explode?’ That is hilarious. ‘Ha, ha. Exploding Samantha.’

  ‘Stop it, Jack. I’m boiling.’

  But I don’t stop it. Fun is fun. ‘Red ears. You’re an exploding pixie. What is short and red all over? A sunburnt pixie reading the newspaper. Do you get it? Red and read.’ Samantha isn’t laughing. ‘Red is the colour of the pixie and read is what you do when you have a newspaper.’ Samantha just ignores me.

  Anna wanders up to us. ‘It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?’ I stop teasing Samantha. I see Leo further up the escarpment. Anna notices him too. ‘He’s nice, Jack, isn’t he?’

  Is Anna kidding? I want to tell her about what he said about Nanna, and now there are the jelly snakes. But I have second thoughts. Leo isn’t nice to Mum either. He’s always trying to get Rob to himself.

  Anna is bending over the railing with her hair blowing in the wind. I move next to her. It’s great with just Anna, Samantha and me here. We can see beaches stretching right up to the Gold Coast with its skyscrapers. They look like matchboxes on the horizon.

  Racing back down the hill is fast and furious. I’m first to reach the bottom. Leo is second. ‘I fell,’ he said.

  ‘You didn’t fall.’ Samantha pants.

  ‘I did,’ Leo complains, as he gets into the front seat AGAIN.

  We clamber into the car, stop at the pie shop, have another quick look at Kirra Beach. Wish Rob had let us bring our surfboard from Sydney, but he said there was no room. Hope Nanna is awake when we get back to the apartment.

  We’re back. I jump over the balcony and open the doors. Nanna waves at me. Everyone races inside to get their swimmers and towels. ‘We’re going to the beach, Nanna. Come on.’

  ‘Oh good. I’ll just be a minute, Jack.’ It takes her ages to get her orthopaedic shoes on.

  ‘Ready now, Nanna?’

  ‘Nearly.’ Come on. She has to find her bag and her walking stick.

  Nearly out of the door. Great. Oh, no.

  ‘I forgot to take my medicine.’ I moan. Nanna will be getting ready forever. She waddles back to the kitchen bench. She takes her medicine, then has a cookie.

  We pile into the car. Rob puts on the yellow cap Nanna bought him.

  ‘Let’s go. Beach, beach, beach,’ we yell.

  It is boiling hot and we wind down the windows. The wind blasting through is great. Anna’s hair tangles into curls and Samantha’s ponytail bobs. (She gets sick of pigtails sometimes.) ‘Can you close the windows please, children?’

  ‘It’s hot, Nanna.’

  But she just puts her hands in front of her face. ‘It’s too blowy.’

  Mum makes us close the windows. ‘That’s fine,’ Leo says. What a crawler. Rob has turned on the air conditioning. It’s all right for Leo, since he’s in the front seat where the cold air blasts into his face. It will take ages for the air to get into the back seats. Nanna wants us to suffocate. Air, air. It’s so dumb. We can never ever have the car windows rolled down, all because of her hair. Nanna and her stupid hair. It’s hard, like a rock. The wind won’t move her hair. Not even a hurricane will. It is solid.

  How long
is the air conditioning going to take to get to the back? Air, air. I look at Nanna and her hard head. She is nearly unconscious from the heat.

  But no, as long as her hair is stuck together she’s happy.

  ‘Are we nearly there, Rob?’ I am hot and sticky.

  Samantha sees the name Mermaid Beach. ‘Please can we go there, Rob? I think it has a lovely name.’ That is the stupidest reason I ever heard for going to a beach, but Rob is a sucker for Samantha. I bet if I asked him, he wouldn’t. Who cares? We have to stop or die. Rob wheels into a car spot. I pour myself out of the back seat into a pool of sweat.

  Beach umbrella, fold-up chairs, pies from Samantha’s pie shop. They are a bit cold, but still delicious. Mermaid Beach looks good, even with that pathetic name. We finish lunch quickly, then race for the water. It’s warm. We jump under waves, over waves. Samantha dives between my legs. I stand on my hands in the water. Then I jump up and carry Anna on my shoulders. ‘Hey Leo, you carry Samantha. We can have a game. See who knocks over the other first.’ Samantha scrambles onto Leo’s shoulders. Anna climbs onto mine. Then it’s on. We charge and scream. The girls wrestle until Anna crashes into the sea.

  ‘Are you okay, Anna?’ Leo calls out, but Anna has already surfaced and is climbing back onto my shoulders.

  ‘You’re not bad at this Leo, but watch out.’ I charge him.

  Samantha crashes in the water, then Anna, then I lose it. Crash. Anna and I look like drowned octopuses. (I don’t dare even mention the FISH word.) I spurt a mouthful of sea water into the air, and we end up in a mouth spurting competition. Samantha’s spurt is the highest until she swallows, choking on salt water. ‘Need a drink,’ she splutters.

  Me too. ‘Drinks, drinks.’

  We splatter and splash out of the water. When we reach Mum, I do a doggy shake and drips fly everywhere. Mum wags her hand at us. Her face is red. ‘Sorry.’ I must have splashed Mum. Nanna’s face is red too. Rob folds his newspaper in half.

  Mum tells us to take the lemonade. ‘It’s hot today.’ She ties on her yellow sun hat. One of Nanna’s famous special buys. ‘Samantha, put on your sun hat.’ She ties the ribbon under Samantha’s chin.

  Nanna plops her yellow sun hat on carefully because she doesn’t want to wreck her hard head. When Anna puts hers on, Nanna’s face creases into a huge crinkly smile. ‘Everyone looks beautiful in their sun hats.’

  ‘From Susie’s Splendid Discount Store.’ Samantha giggles. We stare at each other for a second. Then Samantha points to Rob’s yellow cap and we burst out laughing.

  I rub my head. I put on my yellow cap. ‘We’re the yellow family. Looks like we have growths on our heads.’ My fungus comes straight into my mind. It’s going to be a monster by the end of this holiday. My secret.

  Everyone is looking the other way when Leo kicks sand in front of him. It hits Samantha’s back. ‘Hey, watch out, Leo,’ I rumble at him as I stand in front of Samantha.

  ‘Sorry, Samantha. Accident.’ Leo is lying. ‘Haven’t got a hat,’ he announces.

  Rob looks up, then throws Leo his yellow hat. Why did Rob do that? Leo can live without a hat.

  We drink lemonade under our beach umbrella listening to the waves crashing onto the sand. ‘The beach. The sun. Aren’t we lucky to live in Australia?’ Mum’s eyes are soft like melting butter. She blinks, and a little butter seems to drip out of the corner of her eyes.

  ‘You’re right.’ Rob’s face is getting sunburnt. No hat.

  Mum is reading the newspaper. ‘I’m sick of bullies. People who want to force you to think the way they do.’ She looks at us. Oh, this must be one of Mum’s world peace talks. Rob takes the newspaper and flashes the headlines and photos of destroyed buildings and shell-shocked people.

  I dig my big toe into the sand. I have thought about this for a while. I just know there will always be fighting somewhere, somehow. There will always be bullies and George Hamels, with dumb idiots who follow them. ‘We won’t let them, Mum.’

  ‘No, we won’t let them.’ Mum holds up the newspaper. ‘If everyone does just something small to stop it, then it mightn’t happen.’ She pushes back the blonde fuzz escaping from her sun hat. ‘There is a march in Sydney next week. “Say NO to Terrorism.”’ She looks at each of us, then asks, ‘Can we walk in that march together?’

  Samantha nods so hard that her sun hat flops to over her eyes. ‘Yes. Yes, Mum.’ Anna nods. Rob nods. Even Nanna says that she will march, and she can’t walk.

  ‘Dad, I don’t live in Sydney. I can’t go.’

  Dad. It feels weird when Leo calls Rob that. Anyway, it is Mum’s idea. Leo should talk to Mum.

  ‘Why don’t you stay with us for that weekend?’ Rob looks at me. ‘We can put a mattress on the floor in Jack’s bedroom.’

  What? My room? There is no space. My scientific experiments can’t be moved. Leo won’t fit. I can’t believe Rob just gave my room, or the floor, to Leo.

  ‘That would be good, Dad.’

  But it’s MY bedroom. Rob is smiling. This feels awful. ‘It’s okay with you, Jack, isn’t it?’

  ‘Sure.’ What else can I say? Maybe it won’t happen. That makes me feel a bit better.

  We pack up our gear. Leo gets into the front seat. Mum sees a fruit market on the way back from Mermaid Beach. Tropical Queensland has the best fruit. Drippy mangoes, sweet pineapples, fat bananas, bumpy-lumpy custard apples that are the best. Mum buys some spiky red rambutans as well. She also buys oranges of course, for Rob.

  ‘Don’t bring sand inside.’ Mum swirls into the apartment, making the daisies on her skirt look like they’re flying. I am carrying a heavy bag of fruit. Samantha is biting into a banana. Oh, that reminds me. I must check my fungus.

  Mum cuts up a plate of fruit for us and we head towards the girls’ room. It is a private feast. ‘Coming, Leo?’ Anna smiles at him.

  ‘Don’t you want to play your computer games, Leo?’ The ones you haven’t let Samantha or Anna or me try? I don’t even care about playing the games. I care that Leo can’t seem to share them.

  ‘Later, Jack.’

  What an unexpected answer. He never misses out on anything he wants. I shake my head.

  Anna throws a rug on the floor in the girls’ bedroom, then lays out the tropical feast in the middle of it. I slump onto the rug. Samantha grabs Floppy and lies on him. By the end of this holiday, he’s going to be flatter for sure. I take a rambutan and throw it to Samantha. She loves the sweet white fruit inside even more than I do.

  ‘Can’t wait to see the dolphins tomorrow.’ Samantha dribbles her rambutan over Floppy. Poor dog. Now he’s flat, and sticky too.

  ‘I’m glad we’re walking against terrorism. Your Mum is amazing.’ Anna’s chocolate drop eyes are serious. ‘It’s great that we’ll be walking together.’

  Leo leans on his elbows. He glances at Anna, then me. ‘Thanks for letting me stay in your room, Jack.’

  ‘I’m sure Jack doesn’t mind.’ Anna bites into a piece of banana.

  ‘It’s okay.’ Sort of.

  Chapter 9

  Nanna’s Underpants Save the Day

  I sleep like a log. Sun blares through the curtains, which were left half-open last night. It’s morning, bright and early. I jump out of bed. Leo is asleep. I head for the girls’ room. ‘Hey Samantha, get up.’

  Grumble. ‘Get lost, Jack.’ She squeals when I pull off her blanket, but I’ll torture her later. Don’t want to wake up Anna.

  There is a bowl of frangipanis on the lounge room table. Mum must be up already. Yep, I’m right. Sandwiches are laid out and drinks are lined up on the kitchen bench. Mum dances into the room wearing her sunflower blouse and matching sunflower skirt. ‘We’re going to have a great day, Jack.’ She finishes packing the sandwiches.

  I check out Rob’s thermometer in the kitchen. Thirty-three degrees already. It’s going to be a hot one.

  ‘Hi, Nanna.’ She is eating her breakfast of porridge. She has made a special effort to get up early so tha
t we won’t be late for the dolphins. I check out the beach through the full-size lounge room window. Surfers are waxing their boards on the beach. Lifesavers are watching from their tower for undertows and swimmers caught in rips. I gulp. I was caught once in a rip.

  ‘Nanna, do you want some orange juice?’ She nods and I squeeze. I’ll make some for everyone.

  I hate remembering that rip. Tried to swim across it. That’s like swimming against cement. In the end I let the rip take me. Looked like I was heading for Antarctica, except the lifesaver didn’t let me get to Antarctica. My life flashed in front of my eyes. How would Mum cope without me? Samantha too. The lifesaver reminded me of Rob. ‘Are you all right, son?’ the lifesaver had asked. I felt like crying when he called me that. I didn’t cry, of course. I’ve never told Mum about it.

  I drink juice and eat porridge with Nanna. I blink twice when Anna enters the room. She is wearing hot pink board shorts and a white T-shirt with ‘Angel’ written on it in silver. She does a pirouette like a ballerina. There are silver wings on the back. ‘How do I look?’

  ‘Gorgeous,’ Samantha yawns, straggling after her. She is so right. Rob sticks his thumb up at me.

  Anna sits next to me and I start teasing her about her wings. ‘You’re really a bird now. A chirpy bird.’

  ‘Hilarious, Jack.’

  Leo rumbles in, scratching his neck. Then he stops. He just stands there like a stuffed emu staring at Anna.

  ‘Hey, haven’t you seen wings before, Leo?’

  ‘Not ones like those. You look terrific, Anna.’

  She blushes. ‘Thank you, Leo.’

  Oh, I meant to say that. Now I can’t. Anna does look terrific.

  ‘Dolphins, dolphins,’ Mum hums around the table.

  ‘I love them,’ Samantha cheeps. She holds up her dolphin necklace for Rob to see. Firstly, everyone knows she loves dolphins and secondly, Rob bought her that dolphin necklace. ‘I love this. I really do.’ She hugs Rob. She’ll do anything for attention.

  I have to get out of here before my orange juice regurgitates. I grab my camera and scramble through the front door. ‘Just going to take a few pictures.’ Outside. Fresh air. Good. What is that tweeting? I look around. There’s a lot of noise. Well, squawking. What is it? I see them. Oh wow. There have to be at least twenty in that eucalyptus tree. I leave my camera on the front step and walk carefully towards them. Hey, they’re not scared. A couple look up at me. These rosellas are used to visitors for sure. I dig into my pocket. I am in luck. A half-eaten left-over cookie is still there. It’s a bit crunched up and crumbly, but they like it that way. I hold out my hand. Two bright red and green rosellas land, pecking at the crumbs. Their parrot beaks tickle, but I don’t move. Oh no, one has landed on my head.