by SR Silcox
“What? Too cheesy?”
“No,” Maddie said, shaking her head. “Everyone has to have their happy place.”
“Where’s yours?” Tess asked.
Maddie turned away and looked out the window. She sighed and said, “You know, I’m not really sure anymore.”
Tess thought back to their text conversation from earlier. She wondered what could be weighing so heavily on Maddie’s mind that she couldn’t talk about. “I'm happy to share my happy place,” Tess said.
When Maddie turned back, she was smiling. “I’d like that.” She sipped her drink and said, “You know, I asked a lady at a cafe when I was in town about the festival.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. She kinda said it wasn’t worth going to.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry.”
Tess shrugged. “Don’t be.”
“What’s the deal with that?”
“The locals? It’s been the same every year I guess. Same rides, same stalls, same Cow Pat Bingo.”
“I can’t wait to see how Cow Pat Bingo works,” Maddie said.
“There’s nothing to it,” Tess replied. “You just pick a number, pay whatever ransom Lonny is asking for and wait to see if Bessie poos on it.”
Maddie laughed.
“What number would you pick?” Tess asked. “Between one and a hundred.”
“My favourite number is seven,” Maddie said.
“Not a bad number. Seven figures highly in Bessie’s pooing patterns.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Except she prefers numbers like twenty-seven or fifty-seven.” Tess sipped her drink.
“I’ll have to think about it and get back to you on Saturday.” Maddie chewed on the side of her cup and said, “What about bands? Didn’t you say you had bands that played at the festival?”
Tess snorted. “Yeah. Well. Will’s band is headlining this year, because they’re the best we have.”
“What are they called?”
“The Trojan Kings.”
“Cool name,” Maddie said.
“Dexter, their drummer, came up with it. He saw the name on a condom packet.”
Maddie tossed her head back and laughed. It was loud and spontaneous and hearing it made Tess smile. “I’ve heard some funny stories about band names but that one’s pretty good,” Maddie said.
“Will didn’t like it to start off with but it just seemed to stick.”
“What type of music do they play?” Maddie asked.
“Rock and a bit of metal,” Tess said. “Covers mostly. They tried playing some of their own stuff last year, but it didn’t go down so well.”
“Tough crowd.”
“Yeah.”
“So no big name acts this year?”
“We haven’t got the money to pay the bigger bands from the city to come up. We used to, but not anymore.”
“Pity,” Maddie said. “Small music festivals are the best to go to.”
“Do you like music festivals?”
“I love them,” Maddie said. She missed being able to go to them whenever she wanted to. “There tends to be a lot where I’m from.”
“And where’s that?”
“Sydney mainly.”
“Mainly? How can you be mainly from Sydney?”
Maddie sighed. “I travel around a lot.”
“Your parents move for work?”
Maddie looked across to the window again and Tess wondered if she’d touched a nerve. “Sort of,” Maddie said finally, after a long silence.
Tess felt like Maddie wasn’t telling her everything, but she didn’t want to push her. She was curious about Maddie and her life and where she’d come from and why she was in Chesterfield, but maybe Maddie would tell her when she was ready.
“I bet that sucks,” Tess said. “Moving around a lot.”
Maddie smiled and said, “Yeah. It does.”
Tess got the feeling that she should change the subject, so she said, “I have a surprise for you. Do you want to see it?”
Maddie’s eyes lit up and she said excitedly, “Of course!”
Tess handed Maddie the container she’d brought in when she’d gotten the drinks. Maddie took it and peeked under the lid. She took in a sharp breath and said, “You stole a cupcake.”
“I wouldn’t have done it for anyone else.”
Maddie took the lid from the container and lifted the cupcake out like it was something precious. “Only one though?”
“You have no idea how hard it was to just get that one,” Tess said.
“We can share it if you like,” Maddie said. She gently pulled the paper wrapper from the side of the cake.
“You have it,” Tess said. “I got it for you.”
Maddie took a bite and giggled when cake crumbs dropped onto her lap. “I’ve been waiting to eat one of these all day,” she said. “It was so worth the wait.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
Maddie waggled the uneaten half in front of Tess and said, “Last chance.”
Tess shook her head. “It’s all yours.”
Maddie grinned as she devoured the rest of the cupcake and then licked the icing and crumbs from her fingers. “That was so good,” she said, leaning back against the tree house wall with a contented sigh.
The sun had started to go down, throwing orange light in through the window. From where Tess was sitting, it looked like Maddie had the slightest hint of a halo on the top of her head. Maddie turned and looked back at Tess. When she saw Tess looking at her, she smiled back. It made Tess’s heart leap. She swallowed hard and they sat there for what felt like ages. Then something flickered over Maddie’s face and she sat up. She looked down and played with the cuff of her shorts. When she looked up, it seemed like she was about to say something, but whatever it was, she was interrupted by Will thudding up the tree house ladder. “Fire,” he said, breathing hard.
“What?”
“There’s a fire near the house. We have to go.” He disappeared back outside.
Tess leapt up and when she reached the door she looked toward the farm house. In the distance, black smoke was curling up into the sky on the southern side of the house. “Oh no,” Tess said.
“What?” Maddie asked, peering over Tess’s shoulder.
“That looks like the festival block.” Tess turned and climbed down the ladder. She helped Maddie down and they raced over to Chitty.
Will and Lizzie were waiting on one of the farm bikes. “We’ll meet you there,” Will called over the roar of the engine and he took off up the track, red dust billowing out behind him.
Maddie climbed into the passenger seat beside Tess, who turned the engine over. Chitty spluttered to life and Tess tore up the track after Will.
FIFTEEN
By the time they’d made it back to the house, the cane field that had been saved for the festival was well alight. There were people everywhere trying to get it under control and when Tess went to see if she could help, Will stopped her. “It's gone, Tess.”
Tess knew he was right. She slumped against him for a moment and then together, they trudged up the stairs to stand on the veranda next to Gran, Maddie and Lizzie. Tess watched in horror as the fire roared through the cane and over the noise, she heard Pop yell, “Let it go. It’s gone.” Gran sighed and turned and walked inside.
“That was pretty spectacular,” Maddie said.
“Yeah,” was all Tess could manage to say in reply.
“That’s what was supposed to happen on the weekend?” Maddie asked.
“Yep,” Tess said. She wasn’t sure what they’d do now. With no big-name bands and hardly any stall holders, the cane fire was the last big thing they had to draw in crowds to the festival.
Maddie curled her fingers into Tess’s and squeezed. “I’m so sorry, Tess.”
“I’m going to see if Gran needs a hand inside,” Lizzie said.
“I’ll go and see if Pop needs anything,” Will said. He gave Tess’s shoul
der a squeeze as he walked past and headed down stairs. Tess watched him as he climbed over the fence and walked over to where Pop and a few of the other locals had gathered in a group. She tried desperately not to cry.
Maddie leaned into Tess’s shoulder and they watched as Pop, Will and the others mopped up and put out the small grass fires around the block. One by one, they walked up the driveway and onto the veranda, kicked off their blackened boots and went inside.
Pop and Will were the last ones to come up. Pop, exhausted and his face covered in black soot, patted Tess on the arm and said, “Come inside and get something to eat.”
“In a minute,” Tess said.
Pop gave her a tired smile and said, “Don’t be too long.”
“I won’t.”
Pop trudged inside after Will. Normally, the conversation from inside after a fire was loud and raucous. Normally, it was exhilarating and exciting, but not this time. This time, it was quiet.
“We should get inside,” Maddie said.
“You don’t have to stay,” Tess said. “We'll all just be down in the dumps anyway.”
“That’s okay,” Maddie said. Her phone rang and when she pulled it out of her pocket, she said to Tess, “It’s Jo.” Tess nodded. “Hi Jo,” Maddie said. “I’m at Tess’s, why?” She sighed. “No, I’m fine. It was the cane near the house… Well, what time will you be home?” She pulled a face at Tess, and Tess smiled. Maddie sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. I'm staying with Tess for a bit and then I’ll be home... I’ll get something to eat here so don’t worry about me... Okay. Sure... Yes. Okay, okay, I won’t be late. Bye.” She hung up and said to Tess, “She heard about the fire in town. Does news always travel that fast around here?”
Tess nodded and said, “Yep. You have no idea.” She took Maddie’s hand and led her inside.
∞
Though Gran had piled the dining table high with food, not much of it was getting eaten. Even Pete’s nephew didn’t seem to be hungry. Tess wasn’t hungry either, but she nibbled on a ham sandwich, because there wasn’t anything else she felt she could do. Finally, Lonny broke the silence. “Looks like it started down the bottom corner,” he said.
Pop grunted in reply.
“Any idea what started it?” Will asked. He poured himself a glass of water and had a long drink.
“Doesn’t matter,” Pop said. He bit into a sandwich and brushed the crumbs from his chin.
“Why not?” Tess asked.
“Because the festival’s not going ahead,” Pop said quietly.
“What? No!” Tess dropped the remains of her sandwich on her plate.
“Tess,” Gran warned, but Tess wasn’t listening.
“Just because the block’s gone doesn’t mean we have to cancel the festival.”
“It’s not just the block,” Pop said. “There's no money to pay for it.”
“But the council—”
Pete scoffed. “Bloody council don’t want to know about it.” He dipped his biscuit into his tea and bit off the end.
Tess was confused. She knew the council weren’t going to give them as much as last year, but they were at least going to give them something. Weren’t they?
“The council are giving us some money, aren’t they?” Tess asked.
“There is no money,” Pop fumed. “There’s no money from the council, and we haven’t got any spare. So that’s it. The festival’s done.”
Tess pushed herself away from the table so hard that her chair fell over backwards and clattered to the floor. “That’s crap,” she said. “You can’t just cancel it. What about all the people who are coming?”
Pop’s face reddened. “There are no people,” he said. “We've got no stalls and now we’ve got no reason for people to come.” He stood up, placed both his hands on the table, looked down at the floor and took a deep breath. “The festival’s cancelled, and that’s that.” Before Tess could protest any more, Pop left the dining room and went out to the laundry. She wanted to race after him and plead with him to reconsider, but when she heard the back door slam, she knew it would be useless. He was doing what he always did when he needed to calm down which was to go and tinker in the old shed, and if she tried to change his mind while he was still angry, she’d only make things worse.
Gran stood up and said, “Thanks everyone for helping out tonight at short notice. Maddie, you should probably get home. You too,” she said to Will and Lizzie.
“Come on,” Lizzie said, taking Tess’s arm. “Walk us out.”
Tess let Lizzie lead her back out to the front veranda with Will and Maddie trailing behind.
“I can’t believe it’s over, just like that,” Tess said. She leaned on the veranda railing and covered her face with her hands.
“I’m sure Pop’s just angry,” Will said, giving Tess a rub on her shoulder. “Let him cool off a bit and we’ll see what he says tomorrow.”
Tess wasn’t so sure, but Will was right about one thing. It was useless trying to talk to Pop now when he was upset and being totally unreasonable. Lizzie wrapped Tess in a hug and said, “We’ll catch up tomorrow.”
Tess nodded.
“I should probably get home too,” Maddie said. “Do you want to walk me back?”
“Yeah,” Tess said. They waved to Lizzie and Will as they left in Will’s Ute and watched as the tail lights disappeared around the corner. Maddie took Tess's hand and said, “Come on. Some fresh air will do you good.”
The fact that Maddie held Tess’s hand on the walk to the McGregor house dulled some of the pain Tess felt over the cane fire. They stopped at the bottom of the steps and Maddie turned to face Tess. She glanced at the ground and when she looked back up, her face was half in shadow. Tess thought she looked like a photo taken in soft focus.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been on such an eventful date,” Maddie said quietly.
“I didn’t realise it was a date,” Tess said.
Maddie looked down at the ground. “Well, you know what I mean.”
Tess didn’t know what Maddie meant, but she didn’t question it.
“I’m sorry about the festival,” Maddie said. She took Tess’s hand and held it, rubbing her thumb over the back of Tess’s hand, sending shivers up Tess’s arm.
Tess blew out a breath and said, “Yeah. I’m not sure what we’re going to do now.”
“Well, I know it’s probably not much of a consolation, but if Pop does cancel the festival, maybe we could do something. Just you and me.”
“I’d like that,” Tess said. She wiped her hand across her face and said, “I’m sorry you had to hear all of that stuff back at the house.”
“What stuff?” Maddie asked.
“Me and Pop arguing.”
Maddie squeezed Tess’s hand and said, “The festival obviously means a lot to you both.”
“Yeah,” Tess said. She looked down at the ground, unsure what else there was to say.
Before either of them could say any more, the downstairs light flicked on.
“Jo,” Maddie sighed.
“I should go,” Tess said.
“And I should go before Jo comes down, guns blazing.”
“Would she do that?” Tess asked, glancing nervously up at the doorway.
Maddie laughed and leaned in and kissed Tess on the cheek. Tess desperately resisted the urge to reach up and touch the spot where Maddie’s lips had touched her skin. “At least I got to eat that cupcake,” Maddie whispered into Tess’s ear as she pulled away. Her breath on Tess’s cheek gave her goosebumps. Maddie squeezed Tess’s hand and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Tess waited until Maddie had walked up the stairs. When she reached the top she turned and waved. Tess waved back and walked back to the farm, feeling better than she should about the way the day had ended up.
SIXTEEN
Maddie was up earlier than usual the next morning after tossing and turning the night before. She went out and stood on the front veranda to look out on the cane fie
ld that had burned last night. Yesterday, when she and Jo had been out there after Maddie’s argument with her father, the cane field was thick and green and swished in the breeze. Today, it looked like a blackened wasteland.
This morning Maddie had watched as Tess trudged down the steps of the veranda, walked over to the cane field and sat down on the grass. She leaned against the corner fence post, picking at the ground. Maddie was wondering whether she should go and talk to her when Jo came out and handed her a cup of tea. She stood beside Maddie and sipped on her coffee.
“Pretty devastating,” Jo said.
“Yeah.”
“Any idea what happened?”
Maddie shrugged. “I didn’t stay around long enough to find out.” Maddie cupped her hands around her tea cup and watched as Tess threw something into the cane.
“You should go and talk to her,” Jo said.
“I don’t know what to say,” Maddie replied. What did you say to someone whose festival just got ruined last night?
“Just go and see how she is,” Jo said.
“She probably doesn’t want to talk to anyone,” Maddie said, sipping on her tea. “She was pretty upset last night. Besides, what can I do? I can’t bring the cane back.”
“She might feel better having slept on it last night,” Jo said. “Anyway, sometimes just knowing you have someone to make sure you're okay is enough.”
Maddie knew Jo was right. She handed Jo her tea cup and said, “I’ll be back soon.”
“Don’t forget you’ve got that Skype call in an hour,” Jo said as she opened the screen door. “And we should probably get there a bit early. I’m not sure what the internet’s like out here.”
Maddie nodded and headed down the stairs.
∞
Tess shielded her eyes when she looked up and was pleased to see it was Maddie. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” Maddie said and sat down on the grass beside Tess. “How are you doing?”
Tess shrugged. “Okay.”
“Any idea what happened?”
Tess shook her head. “Lonny reckons it was Barry Montgomery or someone else from the council.”
“Really? They’d sabotage you like that?”
“I don’t know,” Tess said. She threw a rock into the cane. “It doesn't matter now though, does it?”