Six Steps Down

by Mandi Greenwood

  'Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water,' chirped Mrs Cheeky Chops, beaming around at her class.

  'Oh god, why is she always so bloody happy?' Archie asked Aisley, leaning his head on his folded arms.

  'Ah, Mr Evans!' Mrs Cheeky Chops came waddling over to Archie. 'Repeat back to me what I just said please.'

  Archie sat up and squirmed awkwardly in his seat. 'Um … photosynthesis is the process by which … err, by which plants do some stuff … in the sunshine? Maybe?'

  Lots of chuckles from the class greeted this profound comment and Mrs Cheeky Chops, who was really quite a good-natured woman and suited her nickname well, laughed too. 'Good try,' she said, patting Archie on the head.

  Aisley stifled a laugh at the look of horror on Archie's face.

  Mrs Cheeky Chops turned to the class and raised her arms like she was about to conduct an orchestra. 'Say it with me, class. Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Yes! Wonderful! Oh, well done. Now, I'd like you to all write that statement out in your books. Then we're going to chat about it.' She bustled off to write it on the whiteboard.

  'Where's Chandra today?' Archie asked Aisley as they opened their workbooks.

  Aisley jumped like she'd been poked with a Taser. 'Err, how would I know?' she replied guiltily.

  'Just asking. Sheesh!'

  'Well ask someone who'd know.' Aisley looked about desperately. 'Like Lucan there.'

  Lucan was sitting across from them. He was chewing his lip as he meticulously copied out the words from the whiteboard.

  Archie gave him a sceptical look. 'I theenk he knows nutheenk,' he said, adopting a horrible Mexican accent.

  Aisley changed the subject. 'Listen, can you meet Cate, Freya, and I at the library after school?'

  'Sure signorina,' Archie said, tilting back on his chair. 'We do zee research, si?'

  'Si. Ask Lucan too.'

  'No problemo. I can do zis theeng.'

  'Maybe ask Chandra too … if you see him.' Aisley avoided Archie's eyes.

  'I'm theenkin' heez ditching zee school.'

  'Whatever.' Aisley tossed her hair back over her shoulder and pretended to not give a damn.

  Aisley didn't see Chandra all morning. When he didn't appear during lunch at the group's hang out area near the steps leading up to the art centre, she started to think Archie had been right. Chandra was ditching. Try-outs were happening for winter sports during lunch break. She'd seen Drew King and Brice Daly heading for the football oval earlier. While there was a tiny chance Chandra was with them, Aisley doubted it.

  Chandra surfed and swam exceptionally well. She'd also seen him once or twice with a skateboard under his arm. Nevertheless, they were solitary pursuits. He didn't mind getting involved in the odd game of cricket occasionally, but he wasn't a team player … in all sorts of ways.

  She started to get grumpy. Then she started to get annoyed that she was starting to get grumpy. After all, what was it to her if Chandra Sarin wanted to ditch school once in a while? She wasn't his mum, for goodness sake. It was just that … well, if she was going to be completely honest about it, it was just that after what had happened on Saturday she couldn't believe he wasn't looking forward to seeing her again as much as she was looking forward to seeing him. It seemed as if he'd rather ditch school, in fact, than spend time with her. She tried to tell herself she was overreacting, but her brain refused to listen to logic. So she just got grumpier and more annoyed with him.

  '… tell them now?' Cate was asking her a question.

  'Huh?' Aisley shook her head to clear it.

  'I said should we tell them now? About our visitor from the other dimension?'

  Aisley looked around. Lucan was sitting on the steps nearby, eating a sandwich and listening to Stewart Thomas talk about a You Tube video he'd watched that morning. Archie was listening to his iPod and doing a toned-down version of what he called his "manic gorilla" dance. Freya wasn't there at all. She was trying out for the hockey team.

  'No, not yet,' said Aisley. 'Freya and Chandra aren't here and Stewart is here.' She looked about. 'Plus, she's in earshot.' Aisley nodded her head in the vague direction of Bliss Anderson who was lounging against the railings not far away.

  Bliss was busy, flirting outrageously with a couple of year eleven boys. One of them kept pulling at her shirt, trying to look down her top. Bliss noticed Aisley staring and frowned, before turning her back on her and draping herself on the boy who kept playing with her shirt.

  She really is a bitter and twisted creature, thought Aisley.

  'At the library then?' Cate broke open a bag of Cheezels and offered Aisley one.

  'Yep,' Aisley replied. 'It's weird, isn't it? The more time that goes by, the more I think maybe we really did imagine it after all.'

  Cate nodded emphatically. 'I want to have imagined it. I don't want to live out The Ring movie every time I come to yours!'

  Aisley chuckled. 'Hardly The Ring.'

  'It was scary as hell, Ais.'

  'Not really. I felt quite calm afterwards. I went and looked in the cellar, you know, after you scuttled off in fright.'

  'No! Really?' Cate looked appalled. 'Why would you do that?'

  'To see if she was in there,' said Aisley, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. 'I want her to know it's okay.'

  Cate rolled her eyes. 'Honestly Ais, sometimes I think you'd be more at home living in Middle Earth … or at Hogwarts!'

  'Maybe I would be,' replied Aisley.

  'Where'd you suppose Chandra is today anyway?' Cate asked, looking around.

  'Probably ditching,' replied Aisley, studying her shoes.

  'Really?'

  'How would I know?' Aisley flung her hands out. 'Why do people keep asking me? I'm not his mother.'

  'No, but you are his …'

  'I don't know where he is!'

  'Whoa, settle. Just asking.'

  'Well ask someone else.'

  'Okay, I will.'

  'Fine.'

  'Fine,' retorted Cate, poking out her tongue. 'So nya!'

  Aisley blew a raspberry at her.

  Aisley got a text from Archie as she was walking to the library with Cate and Freya after school — "With Chan the man & Lucan. C u in 10". The thought that she'd see him again … that was all it took to start those damn butterflies flip-flopping in her tummy. Aisley bit her lip and tucked her phone back into her pocket. Well, at least it meant Chandra hadn't disappeared off the face of the earth.

  'Did you make the hockey team?' Cate was asking Freya.

  Freya winked at her. 'You bet I did,' she said. She preened herself and patted her frizzy, blonde hair. 'I mean, what's not to like.'

  'Congratulations,' said Aisley and Cate together.

  'Ta.' Freya dug about in her bag and pulled out a packet of Mentos. She opened them and shared them out. 'It's a bit of a laugh though,' she reflected. 'I might be small, but I'm fast and great in the centre. So what do they do? They make me goalie.'

  'Well, you still have to be fast to stop the ball going in the net,' said Cate helpfully.

  Freya burst out laughing. 'You don't use a ball in hockey, Cate! It's a puck.'

  'Puck?' asked Cate doubtfully.

  'Yes, puck. Good thing you didn't try out.'

  'Think I'll stick to Wii Sports,' muttered Cate. 'At least I know I don't need a puck.'

  The Seamere Public Library was situated in the same old building that housed the council chambers and town hall. It was at the far end of Main Street and on the opposite side of the botanical gardens to the Melba café. As the girls climbed the steps and entered the silent foyer, Aisley recalled the garden party photograph of Sheldon's Seat when it was new. That had been taken at a town hall benefit. She stared up at the old Victorian architecture and realised she was entering a building that Michael Sheldon
had helped fund.

  Once inside the library, they walked through the stacks and up a couple of steps to the reference room, which was situated at the rear of the building. The large room was unoccupied with the single exception of an old man who was sitting in one of the private cubicles. He had an enormous book open in front of him and was reading with his glasses parked on the very tip of his nose. His lips moved silently.

  Aisley sat down in front of one of the catalogue computers and Googled "Lord Michael Sheldon". It was time to get some more facts about the man himself. Cate and Freya shared another computer to locate books containing information about the history of Seamere and the coal mine in relation to Michael Sheldon.

  By the time Archie arrived with Chandra and Lucan, the girls had amassed a veritable stack of books and assorted information. The books were in a teetering pile in the middle of the table they'd chosen to sit at. Aisley looked up and found she was gazing straight into Chandra's brown eyes. She could almost feel the electricity in the air between them. She opened her mouth to speak, but Cate got there first.

  'Ah, the prodigal son returns,' she said. She pointed her pen at Chandra. 'You will get caught in the end, my friend.'

  He looked puzzled. 'Doing what?'

  'Duh, skipping school.'

  'Who, me?' said Chandra. He walked around the table and dropped into the seat beside Aisley. 'I was in biology all afternoon, wasn't I Archie?'

  'He sure was,' said Archie. He sat down between Freya and Cate, stretching out his long legs and crossing them at the ankles. Then he proceeded to deftly roll Freya's Mentos packet towards him without her noticing.

  'See. He can vouch for me,' said Chandra smugly.

  'So, where were you this morning then?' Aisley asked him.

  Chandra gave her one of his easy smiles. 'Two words,' he told her. 'Den and tist. These pearly whites don't just happen on their own, baby.'

  All of her doubts melted away in an instant and Aisley smiled her first genuine smile of the day. 'Probably costing your parents a fortune,' she said.

  Chandra shrugged cheerfully. 'Hey, but I'm so, so worth it,' he said. He reached for her hand under the table and squeezed it warmly.

  Aisley's spirits soared.

  'Isn't he modest?' Freya laughed. 'You need to be getting that head examined and all, 'cause it's so big.'

  'To be sure, to be sure,' piped Archie, imitating Freya's Irish accent.

  Freya mock-slapped him.

  Cate clapped her hands twice. 'People, people!' she barked. 'Concentrate now!'

  The reading man looked up and frowned.

  Cate dropped her volume a little. 'We are here to work on our presentation and work on our presentation we will,' she told them. 'Let's recap what we know so far. Over to you, Ais.'

  Aisley discreetly disengaged her hand from Chandra's and shuffled all her notes into a pile. She cleared her throat. 'Well, let's see,' she began, 'We know for a fact that Lord Michael Sheldon was born in Derbyshire in England in 1860. He grew up on the family estate and then arrived in Australia and started building Sheldon's Seat in 1900. Before he left England, he married Lily Bowen. He was forty and she was nineteen.'

  'Ewww! What a dirty old man!' muttered Freya.

  'No, not really,' said Aisley, 'They married for love. It happens, Freya. The gap in age I mean.'

  'My dad is eight years older than my mum,' agreed Lucan.

  'That's eight years. That's alright,' Freya was insistent. 'This is twenty-one years and it's disgusting.'

  Aisley managed to continue, even though she was aware that Chandra had shifted in his seat so that his leg was brushing against hers under the table top. 'Lily was born in 1881 in Wales. She stayed in England and Michael went on ahead to build their home. When the house was finished, she followed him to Australia. Michael had a huge investment in the Seamere coal mine and in the town in general. He was responsible for funding most of our big buildings plus the botanical gardens.' Aisley paused to clear her throat again. Chandra's close proximity was disconcerting. 'Sheldon's Seat was designed by a Melbourne architect, who was reputed to be the best in the business at the time,' she managed to go on. 'The house was named Sheldon's Seat for two reasons. One reason was because it was the family name, obviously. The other reason was that Sheldon is old Anglo Saxon for "the hill on the ledge", which makes it all quite neat. The house was almost an exact replica of the house the couple had left behind in England. Michael obviously wanted Lily to feel as at-home as possible.'

  Aisley shuffled her papers and searched for a particular one, which she picked up and read out. 'Sheldon's Seat originally had nine staterooms, all with bathrooms, three reception rooms, a ballroom, a library, a dining hall, and a vast kitchen. It also had deep verandas all around plus live-in servant quarters in the attic.'

  Archie whistled, 'Your parents really have their work cut out for them, Ais,' he remarked.

  Cate spoke up, 'You know, I found an entire box of doctor and chemist bills when we were searching the other day and they must've all been for Lily. Despite all the grandeur, she couldn't have been a very healthy person.'

  'I'm sure Michael would've hired the best doctors for her,' said Lucan.

  'Another thing Michael did for Lily was to name the hidden beach at the bottom of their cliff after her,' said Aisley. 'He named it Cariad Lili Bay. We found that invoice for the plaque the other day, but we still haven't found where the plaque is or was mounted. The fact remains that he did name the beach for his wife.'

  'That's so romantic,' Cate sighed.

  Archie sighed too and fluttered his eyelashes madly. He rested his head on Cate's shoulder. 'Why don't you ever do anything like that for me, snookie bum?'

  'Because you're a buffoon,' snapped Cate, jerking Archie off her shoulder.

  Archie hunched in his chair, hugging himself and trying to deal with his broken heart by sniffing loudly and pretending to sob.

  Reading man frowned again and harrumphed.

  'Shush Arch,' scolded Aisley. 'Where was I?'

  'Cariad Lili,' said Lucan. 'By the way, what does that mean?'

  'I don't know,' Aisley confessed.

  'You said she was Welsh, yeah?' asked Lucan. He got up and went over to one of the computers.

  He brought up Google Translate and, using the Welsh to English option, he typed in "cariad lili". 'Well whada'ya know,' he murmured. He turned to the others and did something very rare for Lucan Bevin, he smiled. 'It means, "love lily".'

  'Wow!' said Aisley.

  'Good job Lucan,' said Cate.

  'Love Lily Bay,' said Freya. 'But in Welsh, for her. Now that is romantic.'

  'It's a cute thing to do I guess,' said Chandra, leaning his elbows on the table. 'But it's sort of like receiving a birthday present you can never open.'

  'How do you mean?' asked Aisley.

  'Well, he practically gave her a beach that she couldn't even get to. We personally know there's no safe way down the cliff.' He raised his eyebrows questioningly at Aisley, 'Don't we?'

  'The less said about that the better,' she growled.

  'Ditto that,' Archie said, frowning at Chandra.

  Because the others knew nothing of Chandra's near miss on the cliff top, they looked a bit confused.

  'All through history, people have named things after people they've loved,' said Lucan. 'Rivers, mountains, towns … In this case he just named a beach after her instead.'

  'But she couldn't even see it,' Chandra persisted. 'I mean, it's not like she could even gaze out her window at it while she did her embroidery or whatever she was into in those days.'

  'Ye olde Xbox,' sniggered Archie, and they all laughed.

  'Oh my darling heart, I wish to play Halo with thee,' lisped Chandra in what he apparently considered to be an old-fashioned girlie voice.

  Archie clasped his hands to his heart. 'And I with you, beloved,' he breathed.

  After the general laughter had subsided, Aisley managed to go on. 'So, Michael named the beach a
fter Lily, but apparently she was still unhappy and homesick.'

  'But really, we don't know that for sure, do we?' asked Freya, tapping a rhythm with her fingernails on the book in front of her.

  'True. It's just local gossip, isn't it?' admitted Aisley. 'Personally, I've never seen anything written about whether she was happy or sad.' Aisley looked down at her notes again. 'In 1903, when Lily was twenty-one years old, she died in labour trying to give birth to a daughter. The baby was christened Millicent Margaret, after Lily and Michael's mothers.'

  'Millie Meg,' said Freya wistfully. 'That's probably what she was called.'

  Aisley smiled at her. 'That's very sweet Freya. It's very sad to think of that little baby never knowing her mother. After Lily died, Michael was reported to be utterly devastated.'

  'Well duh!' said Cate.

  'He booked passage for England and sailed home with his baby daughter within the month. He sold all shares in the coal mine and he also sold everything he owned here in town, including Sheldon's Seat of course. He lived out his life on his family's estate in Derbyshire and never remarried. He died in 1940, aged eighty, and was interred in the family crypt alongside his beloved Lily.' Aisley put down her notes and leaned back in her seat. Chandra's leg was still resting against hers and she had no problem with that at all. 'I might make Millie Meg my next research project,' she said.

  'I wonder who lived at Sheldon's Seat between the Sheldons and your family,' Lucan mused

  Cate selected a book called A Guide to Historic Gippsland Homesteads from the pile she and Freya had collected earlier. 'This might help if you're interested in following that lead,' she suggested, pushing it across the table to Lucan.

  'The house was an absolute dump when we moved in,' said Aisley. 'But as Lucan mentioned last week, it is listed as a heritage home. I suppose I'm assuming other people must have lived in it between the Sheldons and us. It seems weird to think of it empty for all those years, doesn't it?'