‘I have to go too,’ I said, pretending to be upset. ‘It’s nearly five o’clock and I promised Mum I’d be back in time to help clean up.’
I often helped Mum and our barista, Zoe, at the cafe after closing time on Friday afternoons. Mum paid me some pocket money to clear the tables, wash up and do any odd jobs.
‘Okay,’ said Cici, ‘but we still need to do lots of practice over the weekend.’
‘Somewhere quiet where we won’t bother anyone,’ said Charlie. ‘Or be bothered. So clearly my place is out!’
‘You could come to our yacht,’ said Meg doubtfully. ‘But it’s a bit squishy for all of us with Mum, Dad and Jack there.’
Cici looked at me with raised eyebrows. Clearly she hadn’t quite forgiven me for my lack of enthusiasm.
‘The caravan’s no good either,’ I said. ‘But perhaps we could rehearse upstairs, above the cafe. The builders won’t be there on a Saturday, and we shouldn’t disturb the customers if we close the door.’
Cici smiled at me. ‘Perfect. Let’s meet at ten o’clock at the Beach Shack.’
The three of us said goodbye to Charlie and her family, and set off to walk back down to the cove. A long flight of steep stone steps led from the plateau, down to the beachfront of Kira Cove. The steps were shaded with tall mango trees, palms and a riot of hot-pink bougainvillea vines. We walked on the paved esplanade towards our cafe.
As we strolled along we saw a group of girls practising gymnastics on the lawn that ran beside the path.
There were five of them doing a complicated routine that involved lots of somersaults, backflips, splits and cartwheels. All five of them rolled around in a perfect circle.
As we came closer I recognised them. It was Olivia Gray and a group of girls from our class – Tash, Willow, Sienna and Jemila. They were wearing matching purple-and-black leotards and had perfect high ponytails. Tash broke out of the circle and cartwheeled right over to us on the path.
‘Hi, girls,’ she said, then kept cartwheeling back onto the grass. Tash was an outstanding gymnast and could do sixty-seven cartwheels in a row. Sometimes I thought she was happiest when she was upside down.
Olivia landed gracefully on her feet and walked over to us. The other girls crowded around too.
‘What are you guys up to?’ asked Cici curiously. ‘You don’t normally do gym on Friday afternoons.’
‘We’re practising for the talent quest auditions,’ explained Olivia. ‘We’ve been working on a new routine at gymnastics for the last couple of weeks, so we want to make sure we can all remember it.’
‘Normally we practise in the gym at school with music,’ said Sienna. ‘But the hip-hop class is in there on Friday, so we thought we’d just practise on the grass.’
The girls didn’t look like they needed any practice to me. Their routine was perfect. Maybe that was a good thing. If the gym girls had an amazing routine then we were less likely to be chosen for the VIP performance.
‘You all look brilliant,’ I said. ‘I think the judges will love it.’
‘Thanks,’ said Tash, beaming at me. ‘We want to do really well. Our teacher, Miss Ashleigh, thinks if we keep working hard, we could go and compete at the regional championships on the mainland.’
‘What about you guys?’ asked Willow. ‘Are you going to enter the quest?’
Cici glanced at Meg and me. ‘We’d like to. But we haven’t quite worked everything out yet.’
‘We’d better get back to it,’ said Olivia. ‘We’ve only got until Tuesday to get it perfect.’
Cici, Meg and I waved goodbye and walked on until I peeled off at the Beach Shack.
‘See you tomorrow at ten,’ said Cici. ‘I’ll bring my guitar.’
‘Hi, Pippa,’ called Zoe, as I walked through the front door. She was making a ham-and-brie sandwich at the kitchen bench.
Zoe was our red-haired barista from Sydney, who was staying on Kira Island for a working holiday before she started university. She smiled at me and wiped her hands on a tea towel. ‘Your Mum’s just taken the mail to the postbox.’
‘Hi, Zoe,’ I replied. ‘Would you like me to clear the tables?’
As I spoke I thought I saw something move in the shadows under the tables to my left. I looked again but there was nothing there. It must have been my imagination playing tricks on me.
‘That would be great. Thanks, Pippa,’ said Zoe, cutting her sandwich in half. ‘It’s been so busy today I’ve hardly had time to eat anything. Would you like something?’
‘No, thanks,’ I replied. ‘We ate at Charlie’s house.’
Zoe carried her plate over to a table next to the long window seat that ran along the wall. Just then the phone rang and Zoe dashed to answer it.
‘Hello, the Beach Shack Cafe. Zoe speaking. Can I help you?’ she said in her bright, friendly voice. Zoe paused, listening to the person on the other end. ‘No. I’m sorry. Jenna’s not here now. Can I take a message? No? Okay. Well, she should be back in a few minutes. Goodbye.’
I began clearing up in the bookstore part of the cafe. There were several low coffee tables and comfy armchairs with plump feather cushions. The tables were crammed with dirty teacups, side plates and a teapot covered in roses. I carried them to the sink then went back to wipe down the tables.
Zoe poured herself a glass of pineapple juice and took it over to her table by the window. She stopped and looked down then all around.
‘Pippa. Did you take half my sandwich?’ she asked with a puzzled tone.
‘No,’ I said. I came over and stood beside Zoe. On the table was the apple-green plate with half a sandwich on it. The other piece was gone.
‘I put my sandwich down on the table, went to answer the phone and now half of it’s disappeared,’ said Zoe. We both looked around the cafe. There was no one there.
‘Maybe a seagull came in and stole it?’ I suggested. The seagulls could be a nuisance. They often hung around the jetty, stealing scraps and leftovers.
‘Could a seagull fly off with half a sandwich?’ asked Zoe. ‘Maybe a crust but not the whole thing. And I didn’t see any gulls come in.’
I shrugged and picked up a small piece of brie that had fallen on the window seat.
Zoe sighed and cleared away the remaining sandwich. ‘I’m not that hungry anyway.’
I carried the empty milk bottles outside to throw in the recycling bin. Beside the bins was a stack of timber fruit crates. Our fruit and vegetables were delivered from the mainland in timber crates to protect them on the ferry crossing. I picked up one of the crates. It was rustic, but felt strong and sturdy. My mind started ticking over as I wondered whether I could make something useful with these crates. I had seen a photo in one of Mum’s design magazines of display shelves made from old boxes. Maybe I could do something similar.
Just then Mum arrived with Bella and Harry.
‘Mum, do you think I could use some of these wooden crates?’ I asked. ‘I have a project they might be good for.’
‘Sure, Pipkin,’ she said, giving me a hug. ‘Are you making something for school?’
I was about to explain my idea to Mum when Bella interrupted.
‘Did you hear there’s going to be a talent quest, Pippa?’ asked Bella. ‘I’m going to sing a song, all by myself. I’m going to wear my dinosaur suit and sing the dinosaur romp.’
Bella opened her mouth wide and began to bellow, miming the actions as she sang.
‘Crash. Crash. Stomp your feet.
Gnash. Gnash. Bare your teeth.
Chomp. Chomp. Slash your claws.
Dance the dinosaur romp. ROARRRR!’
I put my hands over my ears. It was truly terrible. Harry and I exchanged dismayed glances.
Bella danced away through the cafe, stomping, gnashing and chomping at the top of her voice.
I looked at Mum in horror. ‘Mum, she can’t. You can’t let her do that in public!’
Mum looked rather worried. ‘Well, Bella-boo is rather a performer. With the background
music playing and a costume, I’m sure she’ll be adorable.’
So it looked like the talent quest was going to be humiliating on several fronts. Not only was I going to be mortified when Olivia and her gang gave a stellar gymnastic performance while our singing was awful, but now I was going to have my sister the Tyrannosaurus rex terrify the whole school.
Harry helped me stack the dishwasher, while Zoe cleaned the coffee machine. Mum emptied the cash register and tallied up the receipts.
I grabbed the broom and began to sweep the floor. Under the window seat in the shadows, I discovered a mess. There were two half-slices of mangled bread and a smudge of soggy brie. I fetched the dustpan and broom to sweep it up.
‘Yuck,’ I said to Zoe as I dropped the mess in the bin. ‘Some people are disgusting! Who’d throw their sandwich scraps on the floor of the cafe?’
Zoe shook her head in disbelief. ‘You wouldn’t believe the bad manners of some of them. Most of our customers are lovely but when I worked at the cafe back in Sydney, I met some absolute horrors.’
When everything was clean and tidy, Zoe said goodbye, grabbed her bike and cycled home to her flat. Mum locked up and then the four of us walked home along the beach to Mimi and Papa’s. I always loved this walk – breathing the salty air and hearing the sound of the waves crashing on the sand. Kira Beach must be one of the most stunning beaches in the world. As we walked we called hello to lots of people we knew. Many of them were customers at the cafe.
Mimi and Papa’s cottage is half-hidden by a lush tropical garden of frangipanis, hibiscus and palm trees with a curling wisteria vine dangling purple flowers over the front veranda. Our caravan is parked out the back. Mum went inside the caravan to start making dinner. Bella went to help Mimi feed the chooks. Harry and I went inside the cottage to fetch Summer the Wicked. Harry brought a bundle of paper clutched in his hand.
Our twelve-week-old puppy galloped towards us as soon as we opened the back door. Mimi and Papa look after Summer while Mum is at work and we’re at school. Anyone would think we’d been away for six months instead of just a few hours. She was so excited – yipping and whining with relief that we were back.
We’d finally trained her not to jump up on us, so she gambolled around in circles instead, chasing her tail. She raced faster and faster, around and around, until she fell over her own feet, rolling on her back with her paws in the air.
We all laughed and I scratched Summer on the tummy. ‘She’s been sleeping all afternoon, so now she’s bursting with energy,’ said Papa. ‘You’d better take her for a run.’
Harry waved his bundle of paper around. ‘Papa, I was wondering if you could help me, please? In the work shed? I have a special project I need to do.’
‘What is it?’ I asked Harry, trying to see what was printed on the paper. It looked like some sort of building plan.
‘Just something for school,’ he said, as he folded the paper in half so I couldn’t see.
‘Sure, Harry,’ said Papa. ‘I’d love to help.’ The two of them headed out to Papa’s work shed in the back garden.
‘Come on, Summer,’ I called, as we raced into the back garden. ‘Let’s play.’
Summer still wasn’t allowed to go outside the garden just in case she met another dog who could make her sick. Our vet, Caitlin, who is Willow’s mum, had said she couldn’t go outside the garden until a few days after her third vaccination, just to be safe.
I threw the ball for Summer to chase. I ran so she could chase me. We played tug-of-war with her rope toy. Then, when Summer had burned up some energy, we started our training.
‘Summer, come,’ I called. Summer raced to my foot and plonked down on her bottom.
She was much better behaved now. Most of the time she would walk to heel, sit on command and come when she was called. Although she was still super-naughty at times and had an absolute passion for chewing shoes. Harry, Bella and I had all become very good at putting our things away, otherwise they ended up gobbled. Mum wouldn’t let us get too cross with Summer because she said it was our fault if we left our things lying around where a puppy could eat them.
Despite her wickedness, we all loved having our very own puppy. I’d wanted a dog for years back in London, but it had still been a surprise just how much fun it was have an animal of your very own to play with and look after.
I clipped Summer’s red lead onto her collar.
‘Summer, walk on,’ I commanded. At first Summer tried to fight the lead – chewing it and tangling herself up until she was like a Christmas present tied with ribbon. I made her sit. Once she was untangled we started again.
This time she did it properly, walking perfectly at my heel as we circled the garden. As we worked on her sit, stay and come commands, I could hear sounds of sawing and hammering coming from Papa’s work shed. From the caravan I could hear the sound of Bella roaring out the words to her dino romp song. I had the feeling it was going to be a very long weekend.
Normally I liked to sleep in on Saturday mornings, but I was woken bright and early by Bella digging around in the cupboard. Bella’s favourite dress-up costume was a green dinosaur tail, but she also had another one that she only wore on special occasions. It was a furry green dinosaur onesie with claws on the hands and feet, a long tail which swept along the ground and a hood with a ferocious-looking dinosaur head on it. It was too hot to wear in the tropical heat of Kira Island, which is why it was mostly packed away in the bottom of the cupboard.
Bella clambered into it and began humming her new favourite song. I decided it might be best to escape to the cafe with Mum.
When we left, Harry was busy with Papa in the work shed and Mimi was looking after Bella. It was nice to have Mum all to myself as we walked along the beachfront in the fresh morning air. We chatted about what had been happening at school and I told Mum about my afternoon at Charlie’s yesterday.
‘I can’t wait until the tower room’s ready and we can meet there,’ I said.
‘It won’t be too much longer,’ said Mum. ‘The builders have fixed the floor up there now and the roof doesn’t leak anymore.’
‘Does that mean the builders are nearly finished? Can we move in soon?’ I asked with great excitement. I couldn’t wait to have my own room again.
‘Sorry, Pipkin,’ said Mum. ‘Not quite. The builders still have a few weeks’ work. And then we have to paint it all.’
‘Oh,’ I said, drooping with disappointment. We’d painted the downstairs cafe with Mimi and Papa’s help and it had taken ages. Upstairs would take even longer because there were so many more walls.
‘Mimi and Papa are going to help us start painting tomorrow. It should only take a few weekends to get it all done.’
A few weekends? That could mean months!
Mum’s phone rang as we arrived at the cafe. She checked the caller name and pulled a little face. For a moment she looked sad, then she squeezed me tight.
‘I think I’ll deal with that later,’ she said, as she switched the phone off.
Mum unlocked the front door to the cafe and we went inside. But instead of the beautifully clean cafe that we had left last night, someone or something had made a mega-mess.
Cushions had tumbled from the window seat to the floor. A small vase had been knocked over and the roses were scattered along the refectory table, leaving puddles of water.
‘Goodness me,’ said Mum. ‘Whatever could have happened here?’
Zoe arrived and joined us. We all stood in the centre of the cafe, staring at the mess.
‘I hope the table’s not ruined,’ wailed Mum. Papa had built her a beautiful table out of hundred-year-old timber as a cafe-warming present. Zoe, Mum and I began mopping up the spillage on the table top. Zoe gathered up the wilting flowers and put them back in the vase. I replaced the cushions.
‘Do you think someone could have broken in?’ asked Zoe, as she filled the vase with fresh water from the sink. Mum checked all the doors and windows, looking worried.
‘No. Everything’s safely locked.’
‘Perhaps we have a resident ghost,’ joked Zoe. ‘A poltergeist who enjoys throwing flowers around!’
Mum and I laughed. Then we forgot about it as the first of the day’s customers arrived. It was Nigel, the Kira Beach lifesaver, picking up some coffee and a banana muffin on his way to work. He grinned at me. ‘And when are you joining my surf lifesaving patrol, young lady!’
Nigel said this every time he saw me, ever since I’d helped Meg and Jack rescue a young family who had been swept into a rip. I grinned back at him and told him I could start tomorrow.
The girls arrived at about ten o’clock, Charlie and Cici both carrying their guitars. After saying hello, we went upstairs. As always, the girls were keen to see what progress our builders, Jason, Dan and Miguel, had made during the week.
The living room and kitchen was a large open-plan area, with sliding windows that opened onto a veranda overlooking the cove. This room was now finished, except for the unpainted walls and the missing appliances. The kitchen had a teal-blue tiled splashback, a pale-grey benchtop and glistening white cupboards with gaps for the oven, dishwasher and fridge.
‘We’re going to start painting tomorrow,’ I said.
‘What colour?’ asked Charlie. ‘Mum’s chosen a coral-white because she says that will set off the blues of the view.’
Mum had everything for the painting project stacked in the corner. There was a pile of neatly folded drop sheets, paint tins, clean brushes, rollers and paint trays.
We checked all the other rooms, then finished up in my bedroom.
‘Ooh,’ said Cici. ‘They’ve built your window seat.’
The girls raced over and sat down on it. There were no cushions yet but it was a perfect place to sit and read or draw or just admire the gorgeous views out the window. I was rather proud of my window seat, as I had designed it myself based on a photo I’d seen in a magazine. It had deep drawers underneath it to store all my treasures and was extra wide.
On the wall was my mood board where I’d stuck up magazine photos, images from the internet and a collection of my doodles and designs. There were lots of gorgeous beachy rooms in shades of turquoise, sea-green and white. The mood board was Cici’s brilliant suggestion so I could create my perfect bedroom.
Kira Dreaming Page 2