Marly and the Goat

by Lucia Masciullo

  ‘Wah? I don’t need to go to hospital!’ protested Grandpa. ‘Take me home, now!’ He tried to sit up but fell back, exhausted. He went to pull the needle out of his arm, but Marly’s mum slapped his hand away.

  ‘Don’t do that!’ she said. ‘You’re dehydrated, Dad. You need it to deliver your vital fluids!’

  When they reached the hospital, the doctors did more tests on Grandpa, including asking him his name, the day and year, all of which Marly had to translate.

  ‘These are silly questions,’ said Grandpa. ‘Do these doctors think I am a fool?’

  Marly didn’t translate the last part.

  While they checked Grandpa’s eyes and ears, a nurse asked Marly to help her fill in a form for Grandpa. Marly didn’t know all the answers, and so translated for her mum.

  ‘We might keep him here for a couple of days for observation,’ said the doctor. ‘He seems to be very weak at the moment.’

  Grandpa wasn’t happy when Marly told him that, but he wasn’t strong enough to get out of bed, so he complained but allowed them to wheel him and his drip to a room with four other patients, each blocked off by a blue curtain. Marly and her mum sat by Grandpa’s bed, but Grandpa just slept.

  Marly was starting to feel fidgety, and hungry, when she heard Grandma’s voice coming down the corridor. Grandpa must have heard her, too, as he opened his eyes.

  ‘Stupid old man!’ cried Grandma when she saw Grandpa. ‘Going out in the sun without wearing a hat!’

  Marly’s dad followed Grandma into the cubicle and sat down next to Marly. All of a sudden, Grandpa got angry.

  ‘If you hadn’t taken away my goat and chicken, they would have prepared the soil for me!’ rasped Grandpa. His hand was shaky, but he pointed his finger at Marly’s dad. Marly didn’t think it was fair that Grandpa was blaming her dad for things.

  ‘This girl here,’ Grandpa said, pointing to Marly now. ‘She has been superb, translating for me and the doctors. She is the only one who’s been on my side all along. None of the rest of you care about my happiness.’

  Marly felt pretty chuffed with Grandpa’s praise. When her mum and dad complimented her, she always felt a bit resentful because she knew that they just wanted her to do things for them, like make phone calls or translate electricity bills. But she knew that Grandpa truly appreciated and needed her, and that her life did have an important purpose.

  The house feels different without Grandma and Grandpa, thought Marly, as she stood in the backyard watering Grandpa’s vegetables. Grandma had caught the bus to visit him in hospital, and she stayed all day. Marly smiled as she imagined Grandma driving him nuts with her endless complaining. But at least he had company.

  Marly missed Agnes. The garden seemed empty now without her and Chooky.

  ‘Hey, Mum, do you want any help?’ she shouted as she wandered over to the garage.

  Marly’s mum seemed surprised. Marly could see there were dark puffy circles beneath her eyes, and she felt bad for her mum. She knew she was worried about Grandpa and everything that had happened.

  ‘Well, since your aunt is sick this week, I’m running a bit behind. Could you put two buttons in each small bag for me?’ Marly’s mum asked.

  Marly sat on the garage floor, putting the buttons in the bags so they could be attached to the shirts that her mum was sewing. Marly felt peaceful while her hands were busy, and it was nice to work alongside her mum.

  Later that day, Dad drove them all to the hospital. As they walked into Grandpa’s room, they found him playing chess with the patient in the bed next to him while Grandma sat in a chair reading. The patient looked younger than Marly’s dad, and one of his arms was in a sling.

  ‘G’day! I’m Tom. Your grandpa is a pro at this game,’ he said and winked at Marly. ‘We’d better stop here while I’m winning.’ He smiled at Grandpa then, and drew the curtain back across.

  While the adults were talking, Marly drifted over to Tom’s side of the curtain.

  ‘Hi,’ she said. ‘What happened to your arm?’

  ‘Hello! Oh, stupid me, I broke it at work.’

  ‘Are you a builder?’ asked Marly.

  Tom told her he was a journalist who wrote stories for a local newspaper. Marly nodded, but something didn’t quite add up.

  ‘But how did you break your arm writing?’ she asked him.

  Tom laughed. ‘I’ll tell you how, young lady. I was writing a story about some very shonky people who were stealing from charity clothing bins. I hid in a tree to catch them in the act, when I slipped and fell down. But I should be out of hospital by tomorrow. Why is your grandpa in here?’

  ‘He stayed out in the sun for too long without a hat and water,’ Marly said.

  ‘That was a silly thing to do,’ said Tom.

  ‘It wasn’t his fault. He was trying to save his vegetables. The ground wouldn’t have been so hard if his goat and chicken were still there, but we had to send them away.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Tom.

  Marly wasn’t sure about telling a stranger everything that had happened to her grandpa. Especially after everyone seemed to be so angry with her family. But Marly realised that Tom wasn’t angry. She liked him, and liked how he’d kept Grandpa company, so she told him the whole story, about Agnes and Chooky and Nolene and the rock through the window.

  ‘That’s outrageous!’ Tom said. ‘It seems like your neighbour is a troublemaker. How terrible for the community to turn against your grandpa like that, and his harmless pet.’

  Marly nodded, and they sat in silence for a little while. Marly was pleased that someone understood at last.

  Suddenly, the curtain parted and Dad’s face appeared. ‘Marly!’ he said, ‘Are you disturbing this man with your endless talk?’

  ‘No,’ replied Tom. ‘Your daughter here is an excellent storyteller. I’m sorry to hear about the trouble you have had with your neighbours. Marly told me what happened and, if you will allow me, I’d like to write an article in the local paper, about Grandpa and his goat and what’s happened to your family. I think it might help stir up sympathy in some of the more reasonable locals who live around here. What do you think?’

  Marly thought this was the best idea ever! She knew she was right to have trusted Tom, and hoped her dad would trust him now, too.

  The next week whizzed by. Before he left the hospital, Tom took pictures of Marly and Grandpa, to go in the paper with his story, he said. Grandpa was allowed home from hospital after a few days, and Grandma made sure he always had a glass of water to hand, and wouldn’t let him out the door without his hat.

  ‘I don’t want to waste any more days sitting in a hospital,’ she told him.

  Marly reckoned that Grandpa agreed, as he did as he was told and drank so much water that he was always having to go to the toilet.

  On Tuesday morning before school, Marly found her dad at the bottom of the stairs, holding up a newspaper. Marly saw herself and Grandpa looking back at her from the open page. It was the photo Tom had taken of them in hospital. Marly grabbed the paper and ran into the lounge to show Grandpa.

  ‘Grandpa! Look! Our story’s in the paper,’ she screeched, jumping on her grandparents’ bed.

  ‘Let me see,’ said Grandpa.

  Marly’s mum, dad and grandma all crowded around the bed, and Marly’s dad translated the article.

  ‘Neighbours torment old refugee man over goat, written by Thomas Valdez,’ he read.

  As her dad continued reading, Marly saw a smile spread across Grandpa’s face. Marly hugged herself and smiled, too. Tom had written their story, and people were going to read it. She hoped it would make a difference. She knew now that she wasn’t the only one in her family who felt unhappy and lonely, and she really wanted Grandpa to be happy.

  Marly was feeling so joyful that she didn’t even mind Grandma putting her hair up this morning. She made it to school just in time to answer her name for the roll.

  Mrs Louden now stood at the front of the class, holding
up a copy of the newspaper.

  ‘Today, we are going to read a story from our local newspaper,’ she told the class, and then she read Marly’s article from start to finish. The class all turned and gawked at Marly. Marly didn’t like them staring, but she felt proud that her story was in the paper and that Mrs Louden had decided to read it out.

  Mrs Louden asked Marly to stand up and tell everyone about the article, so Marly did. She told them everything.

  ‘It seems very unfair, doesn’t it?’ Mrs Louden asked the class. ‘How would you all like it if your grandad was bullied for enjoying his garden or keeping a pet?’

  Marly noticed that Kane didn’t have anything to say anymore. Instead, he was staring down at his feet and playing with his shoelaces.

  Looking around the room at her classmates, Marly knew that Mrs Louden had got most of the kids on her side by making them think about how they’d feel if their families were bullied.

  Mrs Louden thanked Marly for sharing her story, but Marly was enjoying the attention and didn’t want to go back to boring maths, so she decided to tell everyone about the roundtable meeting, and how she was going as her grandpa’s translator.

  ‘That’s very impressive, Marly,’ Mrs Louden said. ‘It sounds like you have a very important job to do next week, and we look forward to hearing all about how it goes, don’t we class?’

  Marly smiled as all the kids around gawped at her.

  ‘Aren’t you scared?’ Kimberley asked her. ‘You’re, like, going to court!’

  ‘No, I’m not scared,’ Marly said. And even though that was a bit of a lie, Marly realised that she felt more proud than scared. Proud to stand up for her family. Proud to be herself. She was a star in the local paper, after all.

  At lunchtime, Marly was surprised when some of the kids asked her to play with them. She was too busy looking around for Yousra, though, and so they soon got annoyed and left her alone.

  Marly went and sat on the bench where she always used to meet Yousra. She was just unwrapping her chicken nugget sandwich when a shadow made her look up. It was Yousra! Marly was so pleased to see her, but pretended not to be and coolly bit into her sandwich. She watched Yousra’s face, but couldn’t read what she was thinking.

  ‘I saw you in the paper,’ Yousra said.

  Marly shrugged, trying to appear modest but feeling excited that Yousra had read her story.

  ‘That’s really cool.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Marly replied. She bit her lip, wanting to apologise to Yousra and make everything right again between them, but she didn’t know where to start.

  ‘Is your grandpa better now?’ asked Yousra.

  ‘He’s a bit weak still,’ said Marly. ‘Yousra, I’m sorry . . .’ she started, just as Yousra said the same words at the same time. They both laughed, and Marly felt relieved. A tightness in her chest that she hadn’t realised was there suddenly relaxed, and she took a deep breath.

  ‘I know I was being a real pain,’ she continued. She needed to get the words out. She didn’t want to be arguing with Yousra anymore. She wanted her to know why she’d reacted the way she had, but also how sorry she was. And how much she’d missed her. ‘It’s just that, you never gave me a chance to talk about the things that I wanted to.’

  ‘I know I talk too much sometimes!’ said Yousra. ‘Man, I’ve hated being alone these few weeks. It’s sucked. So I thought I’d better come get my best friend back, before you become a big star and everyone wants to hang around you.’

  ‘Ha!’ laughed Marly. ‘As if.’ Marly sat there, feeling awkward in the silence that followed, hoping that Yousra would ask the question she really wanted to ask.

  ‘So, are we friends again?’ asked Yousra, shuffling from foot to foot.

  Marly wanted to jump up and down with happiness. But she decided to keep playing it cool, just for now. ‘You bet,’ she said.

  ‘Now, tell me about this council meeting,’ Yousra said.

  And Marly did. She told her friend everything, and it felt good to have somebody who understood exactly how she felt. Yousra was the only other person who knew what it was like to have to do adult things for adults because they didn’t speak English. Marly knew Yousra understood how frustrating and embarrassing it could be, having to explain adult decisions to other adults when you didn’t understand why they made those decisions in the first place. Like getting a goat. Like putting gnomes in your front garden but yelling at people when they looked at them. Like having to go to court . . .

  Marly lay awake in her parents’ bed. Tomorrow morning was the council meeting, and she was feeling sick with worry.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ murmured her mum, sleepily. ‘Are those dogs across the road keeping you awake, too?’

  ‘No, I just really don’t want to go to the council tomorrow!’ Marly said.

  ‘But, Marly, you have to do this for Grandpa. He needs you.’

  ‘I know,’ said Marly, turning her face into her pillow and screwing up her eyes. ‘But I hate doing these things, Mum! I’ll make a mistake and stuff up.’

  Marly felt her mum’s hand on hers under the covers. Her mum gave it a gentle squeeze.

  ‘You’re the only one in this family who can represent Grandpa, Marly. It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake. All I ask is for you to try your best. Your best will be good enough.’ Marly’s mum gave her hand a little pat. ‘We are proud of you, no matter what.’

  Marly sighed and turned over in the bed. She listened to the dogs as they barked. The more she listened, the louder they seemed to get. She must have fallen asleep at some point as the next thing she knew, Mum was shaking her gently, telling her to get up.

  ‘Remember, Marly. We are proud of you, no matter what,’ her mum whispered.

  Marly nodded and got out of bed. It was time.

  MARLY stepped out of her dad’s car in front of Sunshine Council City Hall. It was a big, old building down Alexandra Avenue. She was so nervous, she felt like throwing up.

  ‘Good luck, both of you,’ Dad said to Marly and Grandpa before he drove off to work. As she watched the car pull out into the traffic, Marly felt a little surge of anger towards him. She wished that he could have taken a day off to do this for Grandpa. She knew he was saving his work leave for when the baby came. But what about me? Marly thought bitterly.

  ‘Wah!’ exclaimed Grandpa, when they walked into the building. ‘Look how beautiful this place is. Who are the people in all those paintings on the wall?’

  Marly looked around. They were the only two people there, except for the woman at reception. Marly walked up to her and said, ‘We’re here for the roundtable meeting. This is my grandpa, and I’m Marly. Grandpa doesn’t speak English, and so I’m translating for him.’

  ‘Oh, I know who you are,’ replied the woman. ‘I think I spoke to you over the phone. I’m Cathy. I also read about you in the local paper. I’m not supposed to say this, but I wish you both good luck for today.’

  ‘Thanks,’ muttered Marly, thinking that they were going to need all the luck they could get. She pointed to the paintings on the wall. ‘My grandpa was wondering who all these people dressed up like kings are.’

  ‘Those are the mayors of Sunshine through history,’ said Cathy. ‘You won’t get to meet the Mayor today, but he is the leader of the council. Now, I’ll show you to the meeting room.’

  Marly and Grandpa followed Cathy down a long hallway and into a bright room with a table in the middle. The table wasn’t round, though. It was just an ordinary, brown, square table, with six chairs set around it.

  ‘Help yourselves to a Mintie,’ Cathy said, pointing to a bowl on the table before leaving.

  Marly took one and sat down next to Grandpa. Neither of them spoke. Marly guessed Grandpa was feeling as nervous as she was. She gave in to a yawn, and realised how tired she was after not getting much sleep last night.

  Marly heard a man’s voice in the hall. ‘Oh dear. Not Nolene again!’ it said, probably to Cathy, Marly thought. ‘Let�
��s try and make this a quick one.’

  Shortly afterwards, a tall man with a grey moustache walked in. He was wearing a brown suit, and introduced himself as Councillor Jim Thompson.

  ‘G’day,’ he said, shaking Grandpa’s hand. ‘You’ve come nice and early.’

  Grandpa smiled, not understanding a word.

  The Councillor winked at Marly. ‘Saw your face in the paper, young lady. You’re a real troublemaker, it seems.’

  Just then, Nolene walked through the door. Marly always felt like she needed to wear sunglasses when she saw Nolene. Today, Nolene was wearing the brightest red lipstick Marly had ever seen, and her eyeshadow was blended in the colours of a peacock’s feather. Her maroon dress had white flowers on it, and shoulders that puffed up in a massive way.

  Marly watched Nolene as she glanced around the room, and her eyes settled on Marly. Marly had to stop herself from laughing as Nolene’s entire face went as red as her lipstick.

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ Nolene said. ‘This whole thing is a joke. You’ve got a kid here? This is an outrage! First you don’t take my complaints seriously, and now this.’

  ‘The young lady is her grandpa’s translator,’ explained Councillor Jim without looking up from the papers in front of him. ‘Let’s get started in our discussions and not waste time, shall we? Take a seat, Ms Fryer.’

  Marly noticed that Nolene sat as far away from Marly and Grandpa as she could. That was fine by Marly. When Councillor Jim began to talk, Marly translated for Grandpa.

  ‘Now, it seems you have a problem with this gentleman’s pet. Has the goat ventured onto your property any time?’ Councillor Jim asked.

  ‘No,’ replied Nolene.

  ‘Has this goat left waste on your property?’

  ‘No, because the grotty old man collects the waste in a plastic bag for some filthy reason.’

  Marly couldn’t believe this woman. How dare she call Grandpa names. Instead of translating, Marly turned to Nolene.

  ‘My grandpa is not grotty! He uses the poos as fertiliser!’ Marly wanted to make that clear.