by SR Silcox
“Oh,” Tess replied. She knew Lonny’s wife had been diagnosed with cancer but didn’t know the extent of it. “I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“It’s not,” Lonny said. “She just wanted to make sure, that's all.”
“You didn’t answer the question,” Pete said.
“Mary said once she’s over everything and has the all clear, she’s going to get a new set that would remind me of when she was in her twenties," Lonny said.
Tess almost spit out her pudding. Gran said, “I’m glad Mary’s doing well Lonny, but I don’t think breasts are appropriate dinner table conversation.”
“Sorry,” Lonny said. He turned to Pop. “Mary says you’re still waiting on the cheque.”
“Barry’s supposed to drop it off this week,” Pop replied.
“Did they give you what you wanted?” Lonny asked.
“Half,” Pop said.
Pete shook his head. “Bloody council.”
“Language,” Gran said and Pete apologised. There were two rules at her table; no singlets and no swearing.
“They’re not helping with the advertising either from what I’ve heard,” Pop said.
“Idiots,” Pete said. “Montgomery’s probably siphoning of money for his campaign next year. Corrupt bast—” He stopped mid-sentence. “Sorry. Corrupt so-and-so,” he said instead.
“It’s not going to matter though, right?” Tess asked. “I mean, we still get a piece in the paper. Lizzie’s dad puts something in every year for free, so that’s something isn’t it?”
“We can’t just keep relying on the locals to come, Tess,” Pop said. He tipped his bowl up to scrape out the last of his pudding. “People around here are all still suffering from the drought. They haven’t got money to spend. The council was supposed to get us some advertising on the radio this year but I doubt that’s gotten any further than a brain fart."
“Jack!” Gran said, and Tess had to stifle a giggle.
“Idiots,” Pete said again, this time shaking his head to emphasise the point.
Pop sighed. “We’re missing a lot of stallholders this year too. No-one seems to be interested anymore.”
“Will and Lizzie and I will talk to everyone we know. We’ll get through this year and then next year we’ll—”
“There might not be a next year,” Pop said, pushing himself away from the table and standing up. “I’ll wash up,” he said to Gran and walked into the kitchen.
“But—”
“Tess,” Gran warned. When Tess looked at her she just shook her head.
Tess couldn’t believe Pop was thinking about not having the festival anymore. Stupid council. We’re just going to have to work out a way to make heaps of people come this year, she thought. If they made more money from it, they wouldn't have to rely on the council for grant money next year, and the council couldn’t have a say in it. She’d talk to Lizzie and Will when they got back to see if they could come up with some ideas to take the pressure off of Pop.
“You should take that stuff over to Maddie before it gets too late,” Gran said. She took Tess’s empty bowl and placed it on top of hers. “I’ll clean up.”
“We should probably get going too,” Lonny said, helping Gran stack the plates.
Tess pushed away from the table. Maybe a visit with Maddie might pick her up a bit.
SIX
Tess wasn’t exactly sure why, but she was feeling nervous walking up the stairs of the McGregor house. She couldn’t decide whether it was the thought of seeing Maddie again that was making her feel like that, or the thought that the woman who Maddie said wasn't her mum didn’t like her for some reason. She knocked on the screen door and stepped back. The woman she’d seen earlier that afternoon answered the door. “Yes?”
“Hi. I’m Tess,” Tess said, trying not to sound nervous. “I brought some stuff to give to Maddie. If that’s okay.” She held out the containers in her hands.
The woman narrowed her eyes and for a moment, Tess thought she might not let her in. Eventually, she stepped aside, held the door open for Tess and said, “Maddie’s in the lounge room.”
“Thanks,” Tess said and stepped inside. It had been a few years since Tess had been at the McGregor’s, but she remembered her way around. She walked straight down the hall past the front two bedrooms and took the third door on the right, where she found Maddie laying on the lounge in a t-shirt and shorts, her left leg resting on a pile of cushions. She sat up when she saw Tess.
“Hey, Tess.”
“I just came to see how you were doing,” Tess said.
“I’m good,” Maddie replied. “My ankle's a bit swollen, but otherwise I’m okay.”
“What about your graze?”
Maddie’s eyes widened and she said, “Hurt like hell when I had a shower but it’s not too bad now. I just have to stop bending my knee so much so it stops weeping.”
Tess nodded. “I brought some paw paw ointment over for it. Gran didn’t know if you’d have any.” Tess offered it to Maddie, who took it and peered at the container.
“What else have you got there?” Maddie asked, stretching up to see.
“Oh, Gran made me bring some washing powder for your clothes. She makes some special blend that gets the red dirt out.” Maddie took the container of powder, gave it a shake and placed it on the floor.
Tess continued, “And there’s some chocolate pudding as well. I guess she was hoping it would be a good apology for me almost running you over today.”
Maddie smiled and said, “So she made you come over?”
“Yeah, I mean, I was happy to come over. I was going to anyway, to see how you were, but she made me bring all this stuff.”
“Uhuh,” Maddie said. “Chocolate pudding?”
“Yeah. It’s the best you’ve ever tasted,” Tess said, handing Maddie the last container.
Maddie popped open the lid and breathed in. “It smells amazing.”
“I could get you a spoon, if you want to try it?” Tess asked. Maddie grinned and nodded, and Tess headed out into the hallway and down to the kitchen at the back, where she found the woman who wasn’t Maddie’s mum sitting at the table tapping away at a laptop. She looked up when Tess entered. “I’m just after a spoon,” Tess said.
The woman pointed to some drawers and Tess muttered a thanks. She could feel the woman’s gaze on her as she left.
Tess handed Maddie the spoon and Maddie patted the lounge beside her. “Sit here,” she said. Tess eased down beside the pile of cushions at the far end of the lounge so she didn’t accidentally bump Maddie’s foot.
“Are you in witness protection or something?” Tess whispered.
Maddie laughed. “Sometimes it feels like it.” She dug into the pudding and sighed as she ate a spoonful. “Oh. My. God. That is so good.”
“I know, right? Gran is the best baker in town. Wait til you taste her cupcakes. She’s making a heap for the festival.”
“What is the festival anyway?” Maddie asked around a mouthful of pudding. “I asked Jo but she said she couldn’t remember much about it. Is it a music festival or something?”
Jo must be the woman in the kitchen, Tess thought. “It’s to officially close the cane crushing season,” Tess replied. “Gran and Pop have been having it for as long as I can remember.”
“Every year?”
“Except for one year when the rains came a month early and flooded it out, but that was before I was born.”
“What does it involve?”
“We have a few local bands come and play and sometimes one or two from Brisbane. There are food stalls and a jumping castle and rides, a side show alley, and Cow Pat Bingo. And when it’s all over, the grand finale is burning the last block of cane.”
Maddie ditched the spoon and ran her finger around the inside of the container. ‘Fingers are not cutlery’ Gran would have said if she’d seen Maddie do that, Tess thought.
“Wait,” Maddie said. “Cow Pat Bingo?”
�
�Yeah. You’ve never heard of it?”
Maddie shook her head as she sucked the pudding and custard from her fingers.
“You mark out squares in a paddock, people buy the numbers and then wait for Bessie, she’s the cow, to poo on one of them.”
Maddie laughed. “Really? People bet on where a cow will poo?”
“Of course. I can’t believe you’ve never heard of it before. I thought all school fetes had it.”
“I was home schooled for the last part of high school.” Apparently satisfied that she’d eaten every last bit of pudding and custard, Maddie snapped the lid back on the container and handed it to Tess.
Tess wondered what it would’ve been like, not having to go to school every day like everyone else and just do it at home. She couldn’t imagine not seeing Will and Lizzie every day at school. “Well, you have to come to the festival on the weekend. You’ll love it.”
“I will.” Maddie smiled.
“Or you could come and help set up. If you’re not doing anything else.”
Maddie’s eyes lit up. “Yeah. I think I might.”
“You shouldn’t be going anywhere on that ankle.” The woman who Tess assumed was Jo, stood in the doorway, her arms crossed.
Maddie glanced up at her and then back at Tess. “I’ll see what the doctor says. Can I let you know?”
Tess nodded. “Definitely see how you feel. Don’t want you to hurt your ankle again.”
“Can you give me your phone number?” Maddie asked. “So I can text you in the morning?”
“Okay.” Tess wished that she found it so easy to ask girls for their phone numbers.
Maddie turned to Jo. “Can you get me my phone from my room? Please?”
Jo sighed and walked away. Tess got the distinct feeling she wanted Tess to be gone.
Tess leaned toward Maddie and said, “She’s not going to shoot me, is she? I feel like she’s just waiting for the right time to pop me off.”
Maddie laughed. “Jo’s harmless. She’s just overprotective.”
“So is she your, um, sister? Or something?”
Before Maddie could answer, Jo had returned with Maddie’s phone. Maddie entered Tess’s number into her phone and then gave Tess her number. “Just so you know it's not some random stalker texting you,” she said.
“Thanks.”
“It’s late,” Jo said. She raised her eyebrows.
Tess guessed that was her cue so she stood up, shoved her phone into her shorts pocket and said, “I should get going. I have to work tomorrow morning anyway.” She glanced over at Jo, who seemed to be the only one not smiling. She looked back to Maddie and said, “I guess I might see you tomorrow.”
“I hope so,” Maddie said.
Tess squeezed past Jo, who didn’t move from her spot in the doorway and headed to the front door. As she closed the door behind her, she could hear Jo and Maddie talking in raised voices. She hoped she hadn’t gotten Maddie in trouble, because she thought she'd really like to see her again tomorrow.
∞
Later that night, Tess was lying in bed reading when her phone buzzed. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought that it might be Maddie. When she picked up her phone and saw that it wasn’t her heart dropped a little. It was a text from her best friend Lizzie, who was in Brisbane to see a concert.
Met the band OMG so cool! Indiana Rose MIA Maybe sick Hope she’s better for the concert xx
Tess text back.
Have fun xx
SEVEN
Jo had somehow managed to sweet talk a receptionist into getting Maddie in to see the doctor early on Monday morning before any other patients arrived and it turned out that she did just have a sprain. A day or two on crutches and she should be fine according to the doctor. All that might change though when Jo saw what Maddie had done with her hair. She’d probably freak out about her getting it cut rather than just the colour change they’d discussed, but Maddie didn’t care. The hairdresser had thought Maddie had been through a particularly bad breakup because she wanted such a drastic change, and Maddie had let her believe it. It was kind of true. Maddie also thought she'd felt sorry for her being on crutches, because when she’d gone to pay, the hairdresser had told her the foils were on the house. Regardless of what Jo thought, Maddie felt a lot less like the girl everyone thought they knew and a lot more like she used to be.
Since she had half an hour to kill before she had to meet Jo at the post office, Maddie decided to call into the bakery to see if they had any more of those delicious and dangerous cream buns she’d discovered the day before.
The bell on the door tinkled Maddie’s arrival as she opened it and the smell of fresh bread and sugar engulfed her as she pushed her way in. She was struggling to hold the door open with her shoulder as she manoeuvred her crutches up the single step into the shop when all of a sudden, the door was pulled back. Grateful for the help, Maddie muttered a thanks and when she looked up, she was surprised to see it was Tess. “Hi,” Maddie said.
Tess took a moment to recognise her and when she did, she grinned broadly and replied, “Hey, Maddie. I like your hair.”
“Thanks,” Maddie replied, smiling in return.
“Short really suits you,” Tess said. “What made you change it?”
Maddie followed Tess over to the counter. “I just felt like something different and decided to go back to my natural colour.”
Tess nodded and said, “I’ve never been anything other than my natural colour.”
“If I had your colour, I don’t think I’d change it either,” Maddie said. Tess had a nice shade of dark blond with what Maddie assumed were natural sun-bleached streaks. Probably from being outside a lot, judging from the limited amount Maddie knew about her.
Tess touched her hair and made a face. “Really?”
Maddie shrugged. “Yeah. That was the look I thought I was getting when I went blond but it didn’t turn out that way.”
“Well, not that I didn’t like it before, but I prefer the new look.”
“Thanks.” The fact that someone liked her new look might make Maddie feel better when Jo said she hated it. She shifted her weight forward to get a better look at the display cabinet. Before she could catch herself, the left crutch slipped out from under her arm on the tiles and she stumbled sideways.
Tess rushed from behind the counter and caught her. Again. “Careful,” Tess said, picking up the fallen crutch and handing it to Maddie.
“Thanks. I’m still getting used to them,” Maddie replied.
“They take a bit of getting used to but you’ll be right. Just stay away from stairs.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“No plaster,” Tess said. “No break?”
“Just a sprain. The doctor said to stay off it for a few days and I should be okay.”
Tess nodded. The way she looked at Maddie, a small smile on her lips, made Maddie’s stomach flutter. Maddie looked away and made a point of scanning the display cabinet.
Tess walked back around behind the counter and asked, “What can I get you?”
“Do you have any of those cream buns?” Maddie asked. She couldn’t see any in the cabinet.
“Sorry. Just sold the last one. The next lot won’t be ready for a while. I’m the only one here until Mrs Brannigan gets back.”
“Oh.”
“What about a cream donut? Same thing except more sugar,” Tess suggested.
“Like I need more sugar,” Maddie replied, trying to decide if there was anything else she felt like. She hadn’t thought past the cream bun.
“Like you don’t,” Tess said.
Maddie looked up. “What makes you say that?”
Tess shrugged. “You just don’t look like you eat much sugar at all.”
Maddie cocked her head.
“I mean, you just look too fit to eat too much junk food,” Tess said.
Was Tess flirting? Maddie couldn’t be sure. It had been a while since she’d been flirted with, but the thou
ght that Tess might be flirting made her arms tingle. Or it could just be the loss of blood flow from leaning on her crutches. “I eat junk food,” Maddie countered. “I’m just not supposed to eat it all the time.”
“You’re not one of those girls who are always on a diet?” Tess asked.
“You don’t diet?” Maddie asked.
“My diet consists of anything I feel like eating,” Tess said.
Maddie felt a little defensive and replied, “Well, some of us just try to eat well. Most of the time anyway.”
“Except for cream buns,” Tess said, raising an eyebrow.
Maddie relaxed. “Anything sweet really, but cream buns are my kryptonite.”
“You probably shouldn’t say that too loud,” Tess whispered from behind her hand, looking around the shop.
Maddie leaned in and whispered back, “Why not?”
“Because once someone knows your weakness, it’s easy for them to take advantage.” Tess smiled.
Definitely flirting, Maddie thought. Two can play at that game. “Too bad you’ve got none left then,” Maddie replied.
Tess laughed. Before Maddie could say anything else, the door bell tinkled.
“Sorry I took so long, Tess,” said the woman who entered. She was wearing an over-sized straw hat and was carrying an armful of bags. Tess hurried over to help her and the woman swept her hat off her head, letting loose a mop of grey curls and strode around behind the counter. “Oh,” she said, noticing Maddie for the first time. “Hello.”
“Mrs Brannigan, this is Maddie,” Tess said, placing the bags on the back counter. “She’s staying up at the McGregor’s.”
“Hi,” Maddie said.
“Maddie’s a fan of your cream buns,” Tess said.
“Is that so?”
Maddie nodded.
“We should have some more out shortly,” Mrs Brannigan said. She turned to Tess. “I’ll just drop this stuff in the office and be out so you can get back to the buns. Nice to meet you, Maddie.” She rushed into the back and out of sight.
“Do you want to wait?” Tess asked. “They shouldn’t be too long.”
Maddie checked her watch. “It’s okay. I have to meet Jo anyway.” She turned to leave and Tess walked around the counter and held the door open for her. Maddie safely negotiated the one step down onto the footpath and steadied herself.