Take a Chance

by Simone Jaine

  Jeremy appeared on the patio in time to hear the news. He put his arm around Daisy and Jem was touched to find him being nice to his sister. Then he opened his mouth.

  “Does your head itch yet?” Jeremy asked. “If it does then that’s because they’re sucking your blood.”

  Daisy cried harder.

  “That’s enough Jeremy,” said Eben as he came outside and plucked Daisy up to give her a hug.

  Jem noticed Eben made sure he kept his head clear of hers.

  “We’d better check everyone else’s hair while we’re at it,” Jem sighed.

  A short time later in the kitchen Daisy wasn’t at all happy to wait for the smelly treatment on her head to work. Jem set the oven timer to follow the pack directions then tried to think of something she could get Daisy to do so she wouldn’t wander off.

  “Would you like to help me make some dip and salsa for the presentation tonight?” Jem asked, figuring they could use it if the caterers got low on supplies and became desperate.

  “Yes. Can I make cheese dip? I know how. Mummy let me make it last time we had friends over.”

  “Sure,” said Jem. “I’ll put the ingredients over here and you can mix them up.”

  Daisy pulled a little apron out of a drawer and put it on then climbed onto the kitchen stool as Jem assembled the ingredients on the bench. Jem looked at the block of cheese.

  “Do you want me to melt the cheese for you?”

  “No. I’m good,” said Daisy.

  She started pouring ingredients together in a manner which indicated she may actually have done this before. Even so, Jem made a mental note to taste the dip before offering it to anyone.

  While Daisy mashed her concoction together, Jem, unwilling to trip again, squeezed her feet into Jess’s gumboots and went into the garden. She snapped off a few heads of parsley, some chives and used Jess’s trowel to loosen the dirt from several carrots.

  You can’t get fresher than this, she thought.

  It was lovely out in the sun after all the gloomy days of rain and Jem was tempted to stay put. She wouldn’t let herself though because she had work to do and people depending upon her to finish everything in time. Reluctantly, she stood up and went back inside.

  Jem heeled off the gumboots at the door and replaced them with her ugg boots. Back in the kitchen she dropped the carrots in the sink to wash and cut up later then started making guacamole. She had just wrapped the bowl and put it in the fridge when the oven timer went off.

  She pressed the timer off and looked to see Daisy stirring a smooth creamy yellow mixture.

  “You’ve done a great job there. Now it’s time to comb your hair.”

  Jem covered Daisy’s dip and put it in the fridge while Daisy took off her apron. Jeremy heard the timer and came running into the kitchen with a piece of paper from the printer tray.

  “Wipe the comb on this,” he said. “That way I can do a body count.”

  As Jem wiped the comb after clearing the ends of Daisy’s locks Jeremy gleefully kept a tally of the little dark specks accumulating on the paper. Then he put his thumbnail on the paper and twisted it back and forth.

  “What are you doing?” Jem asked.

  “That one was still wiggling,” said Jeremy.

  “You play far too many violent games on the computer,” Jem said. “You need to play more games involving cute things.”

  “Can I shoot them?” asked Jeremy.

  “No,” said Jem.

  Eben appeared just as she was finishing a few final strokes of Daisy’s hair for good luck. He glanced at the paper that was attracting Jeremy’s attention then looked at Jem.

  “I’ve taken care of the bedding and stuff,” he said.

  Jem threw him a grateful look.

  “Can I go play now?” asked Daisy.

  “After you wash your hair and put on clean clothes,” Jem told her.

  “Can I take the lice to school for news?” asked Jeremy as Daisy quickly disappeared up the stairs.

  “No,” said Eben and Jem.

  “Why not?” asked Jeremy.

  “Because then everyone will want them,” said Eben.

  Giving up, Jeremy returned to the computer game he had paused. Jem started cleaning up and caught Eben scratching his head as she was scratching hers. Seeing each other do it, they laughed. Then she sighed.

  “I still have so much to do,” she said.

  “Like what?” asked Eben.

  “Finish setting up the chairs, tables as well as the projector and screen. I want to see Jess and then I still have to set up the portable cot, clean the bathroom, vacuum, wipe the handprints off the windows, make sure the heaters in the marquee are on, mff”

  Eben put his hand over Jem’s mouth. When she stopped talking he took his hand away and kissed her.

  “Don’t worry about the windows,” Eben said when he pulled back. “It’ll be dark and the blinds and curtains will be closed.”

  “Okay,” Jem said and pulled him close for another kiss.

  When they came up for air they were both breathing heavily.

  Eben smiled, his dimple winking seductively at her.

  “One of us had better leave for a while,” he said. “Otherwise I’m going to start something that will make us run very late.”

  “Hold that thought until later then,” Jem advised, a little breathlessly.

  “How about you visit Jess now and when you get back I’ll take the kids to the playground so you can finish setting up in peace?” he suggested quickly. “That will keep them from inadvertently destroying anything and hopefully make them more inclined for an early night.”

  “I like your thinking,” said Jem. “They’ve been very good about staying out of the marquee so far but it is better not to tempt fate.”

  “Why don’t you get going and I’ll keep this lot under control,” suggested Eben.

  “You’re wonderful,” she told him as she picked up her shoulder bag.

  “I know,” Eben admitted as he stole a goodbye kiss and pulled back “but I never get tired of hearing it.”

  In the hospital as Jem approached her sister’s bed she noticed that the top of bed was propped up so instead of lying flat Jess now lay semi-reclined. Jem dragged the chair from the wall closer to the head of the bed and noticed Jess was following her movements with her eyes. The bruises on her sister’s face were going interesting shades of blue, purple and yellow and Jem felt relief at the sight of visible healing taking place.

  “You’re beginning to look quite colourful,” she told Jess and sat down, feeling overwhelmed by the thought of what her sister had survived. “It’s a pretty dumb question but how do you feel?”

  “Like I was hit by a truck,” Jess said and smiled weakly.

  Before Jem had gone in, the nurse had told her that Jess had no recollection of the accident and possibly never would. Jem decided that seeing the accident site afterwards was enough for the both of them.

  “Then I hope they’re giving you the good stuff,” Jem said to her sister cheerfully.

  “Yep. Just before you arrived they set up this gadget with a button and I just have to press it when it hurts.”

  “I wish I had been here when you woke,” Jem said, silently chastising herself.

  “You haven’t missed much. I keep going back to sleep. This is the longest I’ve been awake. Besides, you’ve been busy looking after my babies.”

  Jess turned her head to face Jem and winced.

  “Do you want a nurse?” Jem asked.

  “No. I’ll be okay. I just want to apologise for how I left the house. I know it was a mess, the beds…”

  “It’s all taken care of, don’t worry,” Jem told her. “That’s what big sisters are for. But enough about that. Look what I have for you.”

  She held up homemade cards the children had made the evening before with Eben while she and Cherie had been doing the dishes. Jem passed them individually to Jess so she could admire the pictures and read what had be
en written inside. Eben had written inside Daisy’s and Aidan’s cards for them.

  Daisy’s card had a painting from kindy glued to the front and the sentiment had obviously been dictated to Eben as the message inside Daisy’s card read “I love you Mummy. Can I use your i-phone?” followed by her name painstakingly written in uneven and reversed letters across the bottom of the card.

  Aidan’s card was covered in scribble. Inside it read “Me and Mummy, love Aidan” then underneath in smaller print it read “I asked Aidan to point you out in the picture on the front but when he looked at it he told me “she’s out to lunch”.

  Jeremy had drawn a red cross on the cover of his card. Inside, his message read “Get well soon Mummy, Love Jeremy” followed by “Can I use your i-phone?” Then in a different coloured ink below, bold letters read “I asked first”.

  Jess put the cards down and laughed briefly before putting her hands to her ribs.

  “Ow. It hurts worse when I l do that,” she said.

  “Then I won’t tell you what mischief they’ve been up to.”

  “I can imagine. Best not to tell me so I can plead ignorance.”

  They both smiled at that.

  Jem kept the visit short, knowing that Jess was very tired and also because the number of things she had to do before the presentation was weighing heavily on her mind.

  Pleased with her sister’s progress, she planned to return with all the children next time. Although the children hadn’t said much, she knew they were all worried about their mother, especially Jeremy because he was that little bit older and understood more.

  Arriving back at the house, Jem began to feel inwardly frantic over how much she needed to do before people started arriving. As promised, Eben told the children they were going to the park and as they scattered to get ready Jem decided to cut a few corners in her preparation. She found the cupboard under the TV didn’t have much inside so stuffed the ironing pile into it while Eben hunted down the children’s missing gumboots and socks. She gave marks to him for not giving into the frustration he must be feeling when Daisy and Aidan took off their jackets while they were waiting and forgot where they had left them.

  Finally the front door closed and she heard the children’s noisy chatter fade as the moved down the driveway. Suddenly the house was too quiet so Jem turned on the radio and listened to music as she finished straightening the lounge and family room.

  Once that was done she moved out to work in the marquee. In her absence Eben had set up the projector and screen but after last night’s debacle she didn’t blindly trust him so connected her laptop and switched everything on. She slid one of Jase’s DVDs into her laptop, set it going and was rewarded with the sound of a helicopter flying around her as the onscreen movie trailer advertised surround sound.

  Wow! I’m sure this isn’t standard issue. Cherie must have paid a premium for this set up.

  Impressed, Jem disconnected her laptop and returned it to her bedroom. When she returned to the marquee she opened the nearest box and pulled out a handful of tablecloths. Cherie had told her how many people had confirmed but had said that Mark had invited more so Jem decided to set up everything she had with her. It would be easier to whip away extra seating than awkwardly have to set up something on the spot.

  Thinking of Mark, she wondered what his excuse was for not showing up today to help set up. Usually on joint projects they worked well together but this time it seemed that this whole presentation was his idea yet she and Cherie seemed to be doing the most running around for it, something she did not appreciate.

  Jem spent a while aligning tables and chairs then laid out the snowy white tablecloths, napkins, cutlery and glassware. Once that was done she admired her handiwork but decided the tables needed a finishing touch.

  With a sudden burst of inspiration she raced to Daisy’s backpack and pulled out the bag of playdough. She moulded small handfuls onto coloured card from the children’s craft table then went outside and snipped lengths of ivy from the fence. After arranging the ivy with paper whites from the garden over the mounds of playdough and adding a few leafy cuttings, she thought they looked good but felt they needed a bit more colour.

  Glancing at a pen drive sitting on top of a pile of papers Jem had another idea. She phoned Cherie at work and arranged for Cherie to bring multi-coloured pen drives loaded with the presentation on them. Although a little chagrined to have more work to do, Cherie thought Jem’s idea was original. The pen drives would make a colourful addition to the centrepieces and the clients could take them home and review the presentation at their leisure.

  Pleased with her idea, Jem took the centrepieces out to the marquee and laid them on the tables. Once that was done she collected up the boxes that had contained the table ware and discovered one was heavier than the others. It had already been opened so she lifted the flap to find a couple of speakers and a receiver of moderate quality.

  Surprised, Jem looked around the marquee and realised the speakers attached to the marquee frame looked familiar. She quickly ferried the boxes and glass crates to the garage then went to Jase’s office to see if her suspicions were correct.

  Bare wires protruding from the office walls and an empty shelf in a cabinet confirmed what she had worked out. Eben had upgraded the sound quality by using the speakers and receiver from Jase’s office. She was touched that he had gone to that effort on her behalf. And he hadn’t even pointed out what he had done either.

  Jem returned to the marquee to give it a final once over. Satisfied with her efforts she returned to the house and checked items off her list as she did them.

  Later as she put the mop away after cleaning the floors, she suddenly felt exhausted and could barely remember what else she had to do. Feeling decidedly grubby from all the cleaning she decided to have a shower and hoped that it would help make her feel more alert.

  It didn’t help. When Jem tiredly came out of the ensuite a short time later she couldn’t decide what to wear so put her dressing gown on over her lacy black bra and matching bikini briefs. She sat on the end of the bed and her eyelids felt very heavy.

  I’ve almost done everything. It’ll be okay to close my eyes for a few minutes.

  She pulled a blanket over herself, lay back and was asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.

  “We’re baaaack!” Eben announced as he opened the front door.

  There was no answer.

  That’s odd. I wonder where Jem is?

  He blocked Aidan trying to get past him and into the house.

  “Uh uh,” he said. “It smells very clean in here so you all need to take your gumboots off outside.”

  Once they had all followed his instructions Eben put on a movie for them to watch in the family room. Then he went looking for Jem and was unsurprised to find her fast asleep in their room. He left her in peace and checked the lists she had set out on the kitchen bench.

  You always know where you are with Jem, he thought as he saw the only things left to do involved turning on the gas heaters and something about adding pen drives to ivy that didn’t make sense to him.

  He had a quick look in the marquee and was impressed by how much Jem had accomplished in his absence. She had to have worked flat out to get it all done.

  Eben went back to the family room and was pleased to see that Jeremy and Daisy were engrossed in the movie and that Aidan had fallen asleep on the couch. He told them that Aunty Jem and Aidan were sleeping so to play quietly when the movie finished. He took a blanket from the guest room wardrobe and draped it over the toddler.

  Eben checked the clock. There were a couple of hours before the heaters needed to be switched on. He set the alarm on his cell phone to remind him and headed to the office. He knew how he planned to spend this free time.

  When the movie ended, Jeremy moved to the computer in the family room while Daisy decided to look inside the marquee even though she knew she wasn’t supposed to go near it.

  She used the ba
ck kitchen door so Jeremy wouldn’t notice her going and ducked across the patio to the marquee door. After making a final check that no one was watching she slipped inside the unlaced door flap.

  Seeing all the tables made her clasp her hands in delight. The way everything was arranged reminded her of her Uncle Eben’s sister Liana’s wedding. She knew that no one was getting married but it looked as though there was going to be a party and even a movie. Perhaps it was supposed to be a surprise. If it was, she planned to be ready.

  Daisy raced back to her bedroom where she changed into her party dress. After zipping it most of the way up her back, she decided to show Aunty Jem. She skipped down to the guest bedroom and saw her aunt curled up on the bed.

  “Hello, Aunty Jem,” Daisy said quietly.

  Jem didn’t budge.

  “Are you looking forward to the party tonight? I am. I am already wearing my pretty party dress. See?”

  Daisy stood up on the bed and twirled around so that her dress spun out. When she stopped she spied Jem’s cosmetic bag, just visible on the side of the handbasin in the ensuite.

  “What’s that?” Daisy asked and jumped off the edge of the bed to get it.

  “Oooh! Make up!” Daisy said in delight. “I’m going to make myself look beautiful for the party.”

  She put on lipstick and heavily rouged her cheeks then put on eyeshadow with a heavy hand. When she finished Daisy looked in the mirror. To her four year old eyes she looked pretty good.

  She took the cosmetic bag into the bedroom and set it on the bedside table beside her aunt.

  “Shall I make you look beautiful too?” Daisy asked Jem in a whisper. “Don’t say anything for yes and say no for no.”

  Daisy held her breath as Jem lifted her head.

  Chapter 14

  Jem turned her head then rested it back on the pillow. She continued to sleep quietly so Daisy took that to be a “yes” to make-up.

  Daisy found a nice bright red lipstick and applied it to Jem’s lips. It was trickier than she thought it would be with her aunt’s mouth closed and she went over the edge of her lips in several places.