The Unforgettable What's His Name
Page 8
Mum was there. Riding a bike. I couldn’t believe it. She was dressed in tight leather trousers and a worn leather bomber jacket with the word FIREBIRD on the back. Her belt was covered in silver studs.
She gave me an amused grin.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I can ride a bike too.’
She looked at the gang and then added, ‘Better than any man.’
‘You tell ’em, girl,’ said Granny.
Everyone was so happy.
Mum and Maggot got off their bikes and walked towards me. Holding hands. I shook my head at the unbelievable sight. Mum and Dad hand in hand.
‘This is so good,’ I said.
Mum rushed forward and hugged me. And then Dad. The three of us just hugged, not talking. Everyone was smiling. None of them had noticed my new mate.
‘You wanted me to get a friend my own age,’ I said at last. ‘And I have.’
They all looked at Stone Boy. Who wasn’t made of stone anymore. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
Especially Mum. She shook her head and stood there with her mouth hanging open. She looked at me. She didn’t know which one was her son.
‘Me,’ I said.
Silence filled the air. Thirty-three pairs of eyes bugged out as they tried to make sense of two boys who were exactly the same.
All those eyes looking at us. I started to pant. I went cold. No, I didn’t. I whacked a hand on the shoulder of the boy who was an exact copy of me.
I pointed at Maggot and whispered to my new friend. ‘This is going to be fun,’ I said.
He nodded his head.
‘Let’s do it,’ he said.
Poor old Maggot.
You should have seen his faces.
All three of them.
Well, that’s just about everything that happened on that weekend.
After the second day things got better and better.
It was terrific having Magg — , er sorry, Dad back home. He was a great guy. And Mum was happy that she had her man back. Dad had proved himself by catching a spider with his tongue. But even if he hadn’t we would still have loved him.
And Granny and the boys had come back with him. Me and Dad rode out to the caravan park and visited them every weekend. And Sand—, er, sorry, I mean Fearless was always waiting for us at the gate. After that we would get back on our Harley and go out to the zoo to visit Banana Boy, who was the best leader of monkeys in the world. The bikies, the family, and the animals. All of them are my friends.
It is a strange tribe. But it is my tribe.
And another thing. I can’t believe this. Dad is a great cook. He can do a sausage on the barbie. And boil an egg. And make toast without burning it. And he hates stir-fry. But he pretends to like it and serves it up once a year on Mum’s birthday.
Bad Bear still sleeps with me. And I still love him. And I don’t care who knows it.
At school I put up my hand now and then. And I sit in the front with my new friend. We hang out together all the time. Stone Boy has gone through the same thing as me. But he started developing his powers before I even knew about mine. And he is better at it. I will tell you his story one day.
He can copy anything in a flash. Just by thinking about it. He is teaching me how to handle my powers. We keep them secret and only use them for good.
Well, mostly for good.
If you know what I mean.
And I did go to see a doctor at a clinic. He was a nice bloke and talked to me about my problems and had some good ideas. I told him about my abilities to change and all that but I could tell he didn’t believe me. After about a year I got a bit sick of it and I copied his cat. He ran out yelling something about a tiger. Anyway, after that he told Mum and Dad that I didn’t have to visit him anymore.
Gertag goes to see that doctor now. And it is doing her a lot of good. I saw her coming out of his office one day. It gave me quite a shock.
‘Hi,’ she said. ‘It’s nice to see you …
… Jeremy.’
Paul Jennings has written over one hundred
stories and has won every Australian children’s choice
book award. Since the publication of Unreal! in 1985,
readers all around the world have loved his books. The
top-rating TV series Round the Twist and Driven Crazy
were based on a selection of his enormously popular
short-story collections such as Unseen! In 1995 he was
made a Member of the Order of Australia for services
to children’s literature and he was awarded the
prestigious Dromkeen Medal in 2001.
Craig Smith is one of Australia’s most prolific children’s
book illustrators, with over 380 books published
including Paul Jennings’ Cabbage Patch Fib series. Craig’s
work over the last thirty years has been acknowledged
in the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA)
Book of the Year awards, as well as in children’s choice
awards around Australia. In 2011, Craig was awarded
the biennial Euphemia Tanner Award, which recognised
his distinguished services to children’s literature and his
encouragement of the joy of reading in children.