by Judi Curtin
‘Omigod! You’re here at last,’ I said.
Victoria’s mum laughed.
‘It’s only been a few days,’ she said, but Victoria and I were too busy hugging to answer her.
Victoria’s mum arranged to be back at five, and then she set off for her friend’s house.
Victoria followed me inside. She gazed around the room.
‘I know,’ I said. ‘It’s a dump. You’ll get used to it after a while.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s not a dump. It’s …quaint, and kind of cute.’
I tried to see it through her eyes, but failed.
‘Why didn’t you ring me this morning like you said you would?’ I asked.
Victoria made a face. ‘I couldn’t. My phone had an accident.’
I tried unsuccessfully not to giggle. Victoria’s phone is always having accidents.
‘What happened this time?’
‘Er …it fell down the toilet.’
This time I didn’t even try to hide the giggles. Victoria giggled too.
‘It’s not really funny though. It probably can’t be fixed, and Mum won’t buy me a new one until September. She says I’m too careless.’
‘Poor you,’ I said. ‘But look on the bright side, at least you’re not stuck in a weird dump like this for the summer.’
‘Speaking of weird,’ said Victoria. ‘We passed a girl on the road, just before we got here, and she was acting really weird.’
‘Weird how?’ I asked, not sure that I wanted to hear the answer.
‘It looked like she was crawling through the hedge or something,’ said Victoria.
‘That’s ………….,’ began Joey, who always seemed to be around when I didn’t want him.
‘Hey,’ said Victoria. ‘You must be Joey.’
Joey gave her his best gap-toothed smile.
‘So cute,’ said Victoria smiling back.
I was starting to agree with her, when he went on talking.
‘That girl you saw is Eva’s new best friend, Kate,’ he said. ‘She’s really funny. She doesn’t mind picking up earwigs or anything. She—’
I couldn’t take any more. I picked up a magazine, and lightly whacked Joey on the head with it. Then I raced out the door before he could go crying to Mum and Dad.
I ran down the road to safety, with Victoria laughing and running after me.
There was no sign of Kate, but unfortunately Victoria hadn’t forgotten about her.
‘Is that girl we saw really your friend?’ she asked. ‘If you don’t mind me saying it, she didn’t exactly look like your type.’
I hesitated. I knew I should be loyal to Kate, but I wasn’t brave enough. So I shook my head.
‘No. She’s not my friend. She’s just a girl who lives around here. Joey only made that friend stuff up to annoy me.’
‘Good,’ sighed Victoria. ‘We wouldn’t want you going all weird on us. Now what’s there to do in this place?’
It didn’t take long to tell her. My favourite place was The Island of Dreams, but I could hardly take Victoria there. For one thing, Kate might show up. It wasn’t just that, though. I’d betrayed Kate enough already, but taking my friend to her favourite place without her would have been totally mean.
So we decided to walk to the beach.
As usual, Cathy and Lily were sitting on the wall opposite the shop. It was almost like they were living statues, part of the scenery.
‘Who are those two girls over there?’ asked Victoria. ‘Do you know them?’
Yes, but they think I’m weird just like my friend Kate.
‘Not really,’ I said.
‘So let’s get to know them,’ said Victoria, who can make friends with anyone.
Maybe she was right. If Cathy and Lily saw me with my real friend, my cool friend, maybe they’d forget that Kate was my friend too. Maybe they’d like me. Maybe I was going to have a half-way normal summer after all.
As we walked towards Cathy and Lily, I fixed my hair and straightened my top.
Cathy and Lily gave us their usual bored looks as we came close.
‘Hi, Kate’s friend,’ said Cathy.
Victoria gave me a funny look, before Cathy continued. ‘Where’s Kate today? Digging potatoes? Eating worms? Swinging out of trees?’
I could feel my face going red. I should have known that this was a stupid idea.
And to make things even worse, I couldn’t think of a single smart thing to say back to Cathy.
‘Come on,’ I said to Victoria, pulling her by her arm. ‘Let’s hurry, I want to show you the beach before the tide comes in.’
Victoria followed me to the beach, but as soon as we got there, she made me stop and she stared me in the face.
‘What’s going on, Eva?’ she asked.
I took a step backwards. Victoria can be very intimidating when she wants to.
Then she continued, ‘Why are those girls being so mean? Why is everyone saying that Kate is your friend, even though you deny it?’ Now Victoria folded her arms, and put on her crossest face. ‘Tell me, Eva,’ she said.
I shrugged. ‘There’s nothing to tell. This place is full of weirdos. Didn’t I say that already? Now we only have a few hours, so let’s start enjoying ourselves.’
We had a totally fun day, and when Victoria’s mum came to pick her up, I felt like crying.
I gave Victoria one last hug, and then she climbed in to the front of her mum’s car and slammed the door.
I waved and tried to smile as they drove off. I felt like Victoria was abandoning me. Without her, Kate was the closest I had to a friend.
But how could someone be your friend if you were half-afraid of them?
It just wasn’t fair.
Summer wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Kate called over first thing the next morning.
‘Did you have a nice time with your friend?’ she asked.
I went red. ‘I’m sorry about … well you know … I’m sorry,’ I said.
Kate smiled. ‘That’s OK.’
She seemed so nice, and so forgiving, that for one second I felt like hugging her. Then I remembered that she wasn’t really a huggy kind of girl, so I just smiled back, and we set off for another day at the beach.
Chapter Fourteen
The next day, Kate and I were lying on the grass in the Island of Dreams. We were watching the clouds drifting overhead, and Kate was inventing stories about where they were going to end up.
‘Don’t you ever wish that you could know what’s going to happen in the future?’ she asked suddenly.
‘No,’ I said quickly, before I remembered. ‘Actually once I did,’ I said. ‘I even went to see a fortune-teller.’
Kate rolled over and lay on her stomach. She rested her chin on her hands and stared at me.
‘Tell me,’ she said.
‘I was going through a really hard time,’ I said. ‘Dad had lost his job, and we’d had to move to a much smaller house. I had to leave the school I loved and go to one where I didn’t know anybody. My life was a total disaster.’
Kate said nothing, but suddenly I realised that, compared to Kate’s life, mine had never been even close to being disastrous.
‘At the time, my life seemed like a total disaster,’ I corrected myself.
‘And?’
‘And I went to see a fortune-teller, Madame Margarita. And she told me that if I helped people, my life would get better.’
‘You needed a fortune-teller to tell you that?’
I smiled. ‘I was very mixed-up at the time. So I spent months helping people, and in the end it turned out that Madam Margarita was right. Things did start to get better.’
‘I’m glad,’ said Kate, and I knew that she meant it.
‘But the funniest thing is, there was a girl in my class called Ruby, and I helped her the most. So one day she invited me over to her place and it turned out that Madam Margarita was her mum!’
‘No way!’
�
��Yes way. Except she wasn’t a real fortune-teller at all. She was just an ordinary woman called Maggie.’
‘That’s totally amazing,’ said Kate. I could tell by her face that she was really interested.
I had a funny feeling that if I’d been friends with Cathy and Lily, I never could have told them this story – they’d have laughed or teased me about being so stupid.
I knew from the start that Kate was different, but now I realised that she was different in a nice way.
The next few weeks went by very quickly. Kate and I spent every day together. She didn’t know much about cool stuff like clothes or music, but she knew loads about plants and birds, and she knew all kinds of strange places to explore.
Kate didn’t mention her mum or dad any more, and neither did I. That whole thing was much too embarrassing for me. I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, so I decided it would be easier to say nothing at all.
I couldn’t say that I was loving my time in the country, but I was sort of getting used to it. Victoria still had no phone, and Ella was helping her dad run his summer camp on a remote island that had no mobile phone coverage. Ruby was too busy swimming to have time to text me. I was cut off from the outside world, and in some ways, it was almost like my old life didn’t exist. And then one day, everything changed.
Chapter Fifteen
Kate called early that morning, as usual. (Since that first day, I hadn’t dared to go near her house again.)
‘I’m going out,’ I called, but Mum raced after me.
‘You’re not going anywhere until you tidy your room,’ she said. ‘It’s like a pig-sty.’
‘How do you know?’ I asked. ‘Have you been in a pig-sty recently?’
I thought that was quite funny, but it didn’t help me much. It just made Mum crosser.
I made a face at Kate who was standing watching the scene. That made me feel guilty – she probably wished she had a mum to have rows with.
‘You go ahead,’ I said. ‘I might be a while.’
Kate grinned. ‘OK. See you in the Island of Dreams when you’re finished.’
Ten minutes later, I’d finished tidying my room. (Well, I’d finished stuffing everything under my bed.) I called good-bye to Mum and Dad and Joey, and set off for the field.
As I strolled along, I could hear a robin and a sparrow singing in the hedge. (Clearly I was spending too much time with Kate, if I actually knew what robins and sparrows sounded like.)
I walked around a bend to find Kate racing towards me. Her tracksuit was torn, her knee was bleeding, and she was crying so much I couldn’t hear what she was trying to say. Eventually she caught her breath and got some real words out.
‘There’s a … man …… a big man … with a …… with a … he’s got a … chain … saw and he …’
Now it was my turn to panic. This was like something from a horror movie. I grabbed Kate’s arm and tried to pull her down the hill.
‘So why are we hanging around?’ I gasped. ‘Let’s get out of here … quickly! Let’s get back to my place. Come on! Run! Someone needs to call the police.’
Kate shook her head.
‘You don’t understand. The man isn’t trying to hurt me.’
‘But what happened to your leg? And why are you crying?’
Kate looked at her leg, like she’d just noticed that it was bleeding.
‘That’s nothing. I fell when I was running down the hill. And I’m crying because …’ at that she started to cry again. ‘I’m crying because … because … the man … is trying to cut … he’s trying to cut down …… Jeremy.’
I was glad to know that our lives weren’t in immediate danger, but this was still terrible news.
‘He can’t do that,’ I said.
‘But he is.’
Now I turned around and tried to pull her back up the hill.
‘We’ve got to stop him,’ I said.
Kate shook her head.
‘How? He’s got a chainsaw, and he says he’s got orders from the man who owns the tree. There’s nothing we can do.’
I made a face.
‘There’s always something you can do. Now are you coming with me or not?’
Kate didn’t answer, but she followed me back up the hill to the field.
There was a jeep parked in the laneway, and there were three men in the field. They’d put long spike things into the ground all around Jeremy, and they’d looped yellow tape from one spike to the other, making a low fence. The tape was official-looking, and said stuff like Danger and Tree-felling and Keep Out. One of the men was busy pouring petrol into the tank of a huge chainsaw.
‘What are you doing?’ I shouted.
The man stopped what he was doing and stared at me.
‘Guess,’ he said.
Great. An adult who thought he was smart.
‘I’m a bit too big for guessing games,’ I said.
The man shrugged. ‘I’ll tell you, then. We’re cutting down this tree – not that it’s any of your business.’
‘But you can’t do that,’ I said.
‘Actually we can,’ said the man. ‘And I told your friend that already.’ As he spoke, he pulled a cord and the chainsaw engine started with a huge roar.
‘Now run along out of here,’ he shouted. ‘Tree-cutting is a dangerous business, and we don’t want anyone getting hurt.’
I turned to look at Kate. She was standing still – almost like she’d been turned to stone. She was pale, and tears were streaming down her face.
I knew I had to do something.
But what on earth could I do?
Kate was too shocked to be any use, and there was no time for me to run and get Mum or Dad or anyone else.
I was on my own.
And how could one girl be a match for three men and a chainsaw?
‘Hey, what’s that?’ I said suddenly, pointing towards the sea.
As the three men turned to look, I ducked under the yellow tape, and ran over and stood with my back to Jeremy. After a second, Kate followed me, and we stood there, giving Jeremy a kind of backwards hug.
The man flicked a switch, and the chainsaw stopped its ferocious noise. He laid it on the grass and walked over to us. The other two men came and stood next to him, like he needed to be protected from Kate and me.
The man with the chainsaw spoke. ‘I suppose you think you’re very clever,’ he said.
I didn’t answer, and Kate gave a sniffly sob.
‘Look kids,’ he said in a gentler voice. ‘I don’t know what’s going on here, but it’s time for you to stop this messing about. We’ve got a job to do, and you’re getting in the way. Now run along and play, and let us get on with what we’re paid to do.’
Suddenly Kate spoke. Her voice was quiet, but fierce.
‘I won’t allow you to hurt Jeremy.’
The man sighed. ‘Who’s Jeremy, when he’s at home?’
‘Jeremy is the tree,’ said Kate.
The man was foolish enough to laugh, but he didn’t laugh for long. Kate stepped forward and glared at him so hard that he actually took a step backwards. Then he recovered himself.
‘That’s enough nonsense, girls,’ he said. ‘Now run along. Please.’
We didn’t move.
For a few minutes nothing much happened.
The wind rustled the branches over our head.
A cow in the next field mooed loudly.
Kate and I stared at the men and they stared back at us.
One of the men took off his hard hat and scratched his head.
Another man yawned.
Finally Chainsaw Man gave a big sigh. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a phone. He dialled a number, and then spoke.
‘Hi, Jason, it’s me, Chris. We’ve run into a bit of a problem, I’m afraid. There’s these two crazy girls here, and they seem to be having some kind of love affair with your tree. They ……’
Then he walked away and I couldn’t hear any more of the convers
ation.
A few minutes later he was back. He spoke to the two men, without even looking at Kate and me.
‘Seems like there’s a change of plan,’ he said. ‘We’re to go on to do that job in Newtown. It’s going to take the rest of the day, so we’d better get a move on.’
Then, without another word, he packed the chainsaw into the jeep, the three men climbed aboard, and seconds later they were gone.
The field seemed strangely silent, with just Kate and me left behind.
‘You’re so brave, Eva,’ she said in the end. ‘You were clinging on to Jeremy like nothing would ever make you let go.’
I laughed. ‘That was just to keep my hands from shaking. I was really scared.’
It was the truth. Now that the men were gone, the seriousness of what I’d just done was beginning to hit me.
‘What are we going to do now?’ I asked, as I looked at the tyre-tracks on the grass, and the yellow fence that the men had left behind.
Kate sighed. ‘I don’t know. But we’ll have to think of something. Those men aren’t going to give up that easily. They’ll be back.’
‘But not today,’ I said. ‘Didn’t you hear them? They’re going to spend the rest of the day in Newtown. That means we’ve got at least until tomorrow to come up with a plan.’
Kate nodded slowly. Then she turned around and patted the tree. ‘Don’t you worry, Jeremy,’ she said. ‘Eva and I will take good care of you. We won’t let them hurt even the smallest of your branches – we promise.’
For a second I agreed with her, and I almost reached out and patted Jeremy too.
Then I remembered that Kate was talking to a tree, and making promises to it.
I sooo didn’t want to be part of this.
It was just too weird.
And if Victoria and Ella ever got to hear about it, I would never, ever be allowed to forget it.
Chapter Sixteen
I was up and dressed early the next morning. There was no sign of Kate, and I still didn’t dare to call for her. So, feeling slightly nervous, I set off for the Island of Dreams.
When I got to the field, Kate was already there, sitting on an old, faded rug. She looked tired.