She was crying and trying to smile at me all at the same time. Her eyes were very wide and frightened, just like the open eye of Harley’s doll. For a moment I could see her walking down the dark raining street to find her brother in the smashed phone box. ‘It’s all right,’ I said. ‘We’re okay, Harley and me.’
‘I’m not doing another group hug,’ Harley said. ‘The last one punched my belly.’
‘Oh, Harley,’ Jazzi said and squeezed my shoulders as though I knew what she was sighing for, and she was right, I sort of did.
Coco
Dad didn’t even know I’d gone and Jazzi asked me not to tell him because she thought he’d think badly of Harley for not coming straight home with me.
‘I was so scared,’ she said. ‘I thought, if anything has happened to Bee, I’ll never ever ever forgive myself. I’m so sorry, Bee, so very sorry, about the box and you seeing Harley like that and everything.’
‘It’s okay,’ I said, over and over again. ‘It’s really okay, Jazzi.’
‘He can’t help it.’
‘I know. But we were okay. We were just going to walk back to you, slowly and calmly. The way you have to with anything scared.’
‘Oh, Bee, you are so brave and you have so much uncommon sense. I wish, I wish you could like me better. I wish I could be someone you wanted as a ... you know...’
We were sitting at the back of Maxi’s Cafe where no one could see us. Jazzi had rung Dad on her mobile phone and told him we’d be back by lunch, that the shopping was taking a bit longer than she’d expected. She’d sounded all bright and breezy on the phone, but she didn’t look like that. She had cried all her make-up off and then she’d had to go to the Ladies to clean up the smudges. She looked naked and prettier, as if all the crying had washed away more than the make-up.
‘I think,’ I said, putting my hand on hers and noticing for the first time how our fingers were nearly the same length, ‘that we’ve misjudged each other. I think maybe we should have told each other more.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The story about Pepi made me so sad,’ I told her. ‘The way he died when the car hit him and Harley was scared to come out of the phone box. That’s a real story.’
‘I don’t like to talk about it.’ Jazzi twisted up the paper napkin so it was a spiral. ‘I like things to be perfect.’
I remembered her dinner party and the glasses glowing in the candlelight. ‘You can make some things look beautiful,’ I said, ‘but other things are just different. Like Harley’s doll. You made that and the dress is perfect but he had to paint on the face he wanted. Just like my Bee box had stuff in it that didn’t look good to anyone else.’
‘I’m sorry about your Bee box. If I’d known. Or if I’d paid more attention. It’s all my fault. I want so much for Nick and me and you to be happy together.’
I knew that one day I’d tell Dad what happened, because it was a true story and you have to tell those when you can. But for the time being I was content to do it Jazzi’s way. When we got home we didn’t talk about me running away or calling Tony, Harley’s doctor, and getting Harley to take his pills. We didn’t talk about Pepi, who ran on to the road and got killed. I didn’t tell Dad that Jazzi had written the guinea pig letters to me, but I read them all again because they were like seeing Jazzi without her make-up on and I liked that.
‘You know how it’s Jazzi’s birthday soon,’ I said to Dad that night when he tucked me into bed.
‘Is it? Oh, Bee, what would I do without you to remind me about these things!’
‘Well, I’ve thought of a present,’ I said. ‘I know she’d really love it.’
‘Yes?’
‘A dog. A little kind of dog. Not too little and not yappy but not a big dog either. Something medium-sized with soft fur.’
‘Are you sure this isn’t a Bee present dressed up to look like a Jazzi present?’
‘Honest, Dad. I love puppies, of course, but this would have to be Jazzi’s dog. I’ll help look after it but it would belong to her.’
‘Well, I suppose all kids should have a dog in their lives at some stage and you are old enough.’
I rolled my eyes but I didn’t say anything because in the end it didn’t matter. Jazzi and I and the dog would know who really owned it and if we all loved it, well, isn’t that better anyway?
I chose the dog, of course, because I knew exactly what I was looking for. She was little but not too little. She wasn’t a complete breed of anything but she looked as though she could have been. She had the kind of fur you wanted to stroke. It was soft, not hard, and it was kind of grey and kind of brown. She had long eyelashes and floppy ears and a little curled tail that she wagged all the time.
Jazzi named the dog Coco, after Coco Chanel who designed dresses years ago and also to fit in with Fifi and Lulu who were guinea pigs with a French accent.
I woke up on the morning after Jazzi’s birthday to find, written on my mirror in Jazzi’s plum lipstick: ‘Coco, Fifi and Lulu, ze three musketeers, rule the world!’ I didn’t clean it off for ages, because it made me smile every time I read it.
OTHER CHILDREN’S FICTION
by UQP
* * *
STAR OF THE SHOW
Nette Hilton
Serena Sweetmay is perfect.
Serena Sweetmay is beautiful and clever; she’s good at school, is always chosen for the best part in any activity, and so when Aimee’s class is selected to perform the school’s Christmas play, everyone knows exactly who’s going to be the star of the show.
But for once, just once, Aimee wants to shine, and to do that she has to out-angel the perfect Serena Sweetmay.
Luckily though, she has a plan, so nothing can go wrong.
Can it?
LICKING LIZARDS
Toni Risson
Something strange is happening down at the river...
When Luke and Alex discover a creepy man catching purple licking lizards from the river in the middle of the night, they think it’s a bit weird.
But when the members of their football team begin mysteriously disappearing, they realise that there might just be more to this than meets the eye.
This action-packed adventure about reptiles, rivers, hideouts and stolen jewels, will grab your attention when you least expect it...
...just like a lizard in your lunch box...
THE LEGEND OF BIG RED
James Roy
Bailey’s Swamp is a lot of things. Beautiful. Secluded. Creepy.
It’s also thought to be the home of Big Red, a giant and elusive fish, a true legend of the local area. And Barney and Liam are determined to find him. And when they find him, they’re going to catch him.
But they’re about to discover that there’s much more to be found at Bailey’s Swamp than some big old fish.
In this exhilarating adventure story, James Roy will take you on a journey more electrifying than camping in a thunderstorm, and more thrilling than a Nantucket sleigh-ride.
TO THE LIGHT
Pat Flynn
Shortlisted CBCA 2006
Being inside the wave is the ultimate for a surfer. A place where, once you’ve been, you’ll never forget. A place where time and space are squeezed and bent like in another dimension. But once you’re in you have to make it out.
You have to make it to the light.
WHAT THE SKY KNOWS
Nike Bourke
Illustrated by Stella Danalis
Shortlisted CBCA 2006
A book of wonder, curiosity and imagination. This story invites you to fly with birds and angels, float with clouds and balloons, to change colours, blow breezes and stir up storms.
Stunningly illustrated by Stella Danalis, What the Sky Knows follows a dreamer’s journey through the vibrant landscapes of a child’s world.
‘It’s a truly captivating and original work of art.’
Magpies
LOKU AND THE SHARK ATTACK
Deborah Carl
yon
Loku said, ‘I’m going to have an adventure, too!’
Nul laughted and replied, ‘No you’re not. You always do the right thing. You’re a Responsible Boy.’
Loku is determined to prove that he is just as brave as his twin brother, so he sets out to find his own adventure. But how can a mere boy survive alone in a world of men? How can he make the right choice when the choices are so difficult – his own life or that of his tribe’s sacred totem?
Loku must draw on all his courage and determination in this fast-paced fable set on the coast of Papua New Guinea.
ON COUNTRY: THE STORIES OF NYRLOTTE
Fiona Doyle
Was that Torithor, Granny? Did we really see Torithor? But Granny said nothing, for she knew that there were some things children should not speak about...
Nyrlotte lives with her family on their land in the West Cape York region of Northern Queensland. Her Granny is a powerful woman, who knows all the stories and can sing a cyclone away and Nyrlotte knows that she should listen always to her Granny’s warnings.
Because, as beautiful as it is, the land is also old and sometimes old things are the most dangerous of all.
But listening isn’t always Nyrlotte’s strong point, and some lessons can only be learnt the hard way...
On Country: The Stories of Nyrlotte is a beautiful and sensitive journey to another culture, another Australia – a journey of discovery, love, and just a little naughtiness.
First published 2006 by University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
This digital edition published 2014
www.uqp.com.au
[email protected]
© Catherine Bateson 2006
This book is copyright. Except for private study, research, criticism or reviews, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
Typeset in ll/16pt Minion by Peripheral Vision, Brisbane
Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group
Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
National Library of Australia
Bateson, Catherine.
Being Bee.
For children.
I. Title.
A823.3
ISBN
978 0 7022 3566 0 (pbk)
978 0 7022 4020 1 (epdf)
978 0 7022 4023 2 (epub)
978 0 7022 4021 8 (Kindle)
Being Bee Page 9