by Penny Tangey
Penny Tangey’s first young adult novel, Loving Richard Feynman, was shortlisted in the 2010 CBCA Awards (Book of the Year for Older Readers), 2010 Western Australian Premier’s Awards and longlisted in the 2010 Inky Awards. Clara in Washington was published in 2011. Penny grew up in central Victoria and now lives in Melbourne.
Also by Penny Tangey
Clara in Washington
Loving Richard Feynman
1
Dream Horse
I love horses. I would like to have a horse but Mum says we can’t afford a horse because I don’t have a dad at the moment. My best friend Charlotte is getting a pony. Charlotte is away on Queenscliff camp with the rest of Grade 5. I couldn’t go on camp because it cost too much money.
Anyway, I don’t care. It is raining and they’ll all have to wear ponchos.
Because I’m the only one in Grade 5 not at camp, I have to be in the Grade 3/4s class. They are so immature. Some of them still play with dolls. During maths Mrs Carol let me go to the library because the Grade 3/4s were doing baby stuff like times tables. I already know all my times tables, except for 7x8.
I’ve been going to the library at lunchtime too, even though kids aren’t allowed in the library at lunchtimes except on Fridays. Today is Wednesday but I was allowed because Mrs Baker, the librarian, says there are special circumstances, but don’t get used to it.
It’s very peaceful in the library, and I can read my favourite book, How to Draw Horses. I’ve been practising. Today I did my best horse ever. I’m going to decorate a frame and give it to Mum for her birthday, but that’s ages away. Mum says she liked horses too when she was my age. When she was in Grade 5 they didn’t have the internet, which must have been really weird, like being camping every day. We went camping once with Dad Ben and there was a dead cow in a paddock and it smelled really bad. Rhys poked it with a stick and then I did too.
I borrowed How to Draw Horses from the library so I can read it at home. It is such a good book. I get a bit more out of it every time. The thing about drawing horses is that it can be hard to keep track of their legs. One time I accidentally drew a horse with five legs.
Tonight it is fish and chips for tea and we’re allowed to eat in front of Home and Away. There’s supposed to be a potato cake each but Rhys doesn’t want his so I get two. Our dog Angel sits beside me on the couch because she knows I will give her chips when Mum’s not looking. Mum tries to get Rhys to eat more, but he just has a few chips. Maybe he is pretending to be sick so he can get out of school tomorrow. He is always doing that lately. He’s probably trying to get out of a test or something. They do lots of tests in high school. I can’t wait.
Mum just has a can of Diet Coke and a spring roll because of her diet. I’m not allowed to go on a diet until I’m twenty-one, but I am allowed to have Diet Coke.
My friend Charlotte doesn’t like canned food. Not even peaches. I think that’s silly because they are delicious.
Charlotte and I have been friends for ages, since Prep. We both love horses but we haven’t always. It started when Dad Ben bought me one of the Saddle Club books, Horse Crazy, for my birthday. In the Saddle Club there’s a girl called Stevie, but her real name is Stephanie just like me. In the books, Stevie loves horses and that made me realise that I love horses. Charlotte borrowed Horse Crazy and she started loving horses too. Now we are both horse crazy. We draw pictures of horses, and write stories about horses and I collect horseshoes.
The phone rings just after tea – it’s Dad Ben! Dad Ben is in Toowoomba at the moment because Mum decided it would be better for her headspace if he went away for a while and anyway it’s easier for him to get a job in Toowoomba. It’s just special circumstances though, I am not getting used to it.
Dad Ben goes everywhere on his motorbike. One day I will be the same with my dream horse, Atta Girl. I wish I could have gone to Toowoomba with Dad Ben, but Grade 5 is a very important year. Also, Mum needs me at home because I’m the only one who knows how to work the washing machine.
I tell Dad Ben that the rest of Grade 5 is in Queenscliff and how I have to be in the baby 3/4s class. Dad Ben says Queenscliff is full of yuppies and it’s lucky I didn’t go. He might be right.
On Monday the next week everything is all back to normal. The rest of my grade has finally come back from Queenscliff and at lunchtime everyone in my group sits at our table next to the basketball court. But then April and Charlotte say I can’t sit at the table anymore because I’m not in the group anymore because to be in the group you have to have a Point Lonsdale fridge magnet, and I don’t have one.
Brianna says that rule isn’t true because she doesn’t have a Point Lonsdale fridge magnet either. Brianna spent all her camp money on Cheezels.
April looks at Charlotte. Charlotte says they were only joking.
April says, ‘Remember when Brendan James threw Jenna’s ice-cream off the cliff and it hit a seagull?’
They all laugh and laugh.
I say, ‘On Tuesday there was a big fire in the Grade 3/4s portable classroom and the fire brigade came.’
Charlotte says, ‘That’s not true.’
‘It is true. We all got evacuated and had to do the spelling quiz in tents on the oval like the refugees.’
Charlotte doesn’t believe me. Sacha Gerversoni from Grade 3 walks past and Charlotte asks her about the fire and Sacha tells her there was no fire. Sacha has no imagination.
The bell rings.
On the way to class Charlotte calls me a liar. She’s the liar. She said a penguin sat in her lap. Brianna told me the only penguin they saw was dead on the beach.
We do multiplying in maths, which is easy for me.
After maths we are supposed to do sport but it starts raining. We all say we don’t care about getting wet. What’s the difference from having a shower? But Mr Parks makes us come back inside. I like Mr Parks but he is a wimp.
We play Dead Fish but that is not sport. It is just lying on the carpet. No-one likes dead fish, but Mr Parks makes us play because he says he has a headache.
While I’m on the floor I have time to do some thinking. I think about my plans for great adventures. I am going to ride my dream horse, Atta Girl, bareback across Russia.
*
After school on Thursday I have to go to the doctors with Rhys and Mum because I’m not allowed to stay home by myself. It is a dumb rule. Having Rhys at home with me is way more dangerous than being there by myself. He tries to set fire to things.
We are on time for our appointment but we still have to wait for ages. I am sitting next to a pot plant with big shiny dark-green leaves. It looks fake. I try to pick a small bit off one of the leaves but a whole strip comes off. I want to pick off another bit but Mum kicks me and gives me a look. There’s a pile of magazines on the table in front of us. I lean forward to get a New Idea that is all about best bikini bodies.
‘Not appropriate, Stevie,’ says Mum. ‘You can read Australian House and Garden if you’d like.’
‘Boring,’ I say.
Mum says, ‘Why don’t you play with the toys?’
They are all little-kids toys. ‘I’m not a baby,’ I say.
‘Well don’t act like one then.’
The nurse calls Rhys’s name and Mum says, ‘Stay here, Stevie.’
So now I won’t get a chance to ask the doctor why I can’t breathe properly near cats.
I get out my pad and pencil and draw a picture of me and Atta Girl riding bareback across Russia.
The office lady looks over at my pad and says, ‘That’s a great picture. Do you want to tell me about it?’
I shrug. ‘It’s just a
horse,’ I say.
She asks, ‘Would you like a glass of juice?’
‘No, thank you.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes.’ I can’t be cheered up with juice. It is not that simple.
The office lady starts typing again. She is wearing lots of bangles and they clank on the keyboard as she types. The phone rings. She answers it by saying, ‘Hello, Dr Rodger’s surgery, this is Elena. How can I help you?’ She keeps typing even when she’s talking.
After she hangs up the phone she rolls her eyes at me. ‘Heavens above!’ she says.
‘What?’ I say.
‘Nothing, love. Thank the Lord it’s Friday tomorrow. That’s all I’m going to say.’
Then Mum and Rhys are back. We had to wait for an hour but they were only in there for five minutes.
We go to the chemist next door to get the antibiotics, which the doctor said should clear it up in a couple of days. Mum doesn’t say what is wrong with Rhys, but it could be anything. Rhys is always getting sick, maybe because he doesn’t wash his hands after he goes to the toilet.
That night I can’t get to sleep. I have too much to think about from the day.
I wish I had said yes to the juice at the doctors. We don’t have juice at home because it’s more expensive than Coke. It was a wasted opportunity. Having regrets is hard.
Also, I know it is all in the past now, but I still wish I’d gone to Queenscliff with the others. I’ve never seen a penguin before. Obviously seeing an alive penguin would be best, but a dead penguin would be better than nothing. Maybe one day I will go to Queenscliff too. I am going to add it to my list of dreams.
I can hear Mum talking to Rhys in his room. I don’t think he is feeling any better. Those antibiotics were a waste of money.
I go out to the laundry where Angel is lying in her basket asleep. She is curled in a ball with her face tucked under her paw. She looks more like a shaggy brown blanket than a dog.
‘Come on, girl,’ I say, picking her up. Angel is like a sack of potatoes to carry but I like having her in the bed with me, even if she does take up a lot of room.
The next day I am late for school. The best time to arrive is twenty-five minutes before the bell because that’s when Charlotte gets there and April doesn’t come till later. That way I can see Charlotte before April turns up and it is just like the good old days before April came to our school last term. But this morning Mum couldn’t find a clean shirt. When I got impatient she said, ‘Stevie, stop following me like a little lost sheep with your schoolbag. I’ll be ready when I’m ready.’
Heavens above!
So I am late and all the others are already sitting at the table when I walk through the gate.
We have a lot to talk about because Charlotte’s pony is being delivered tomorrow in a float. April is going to Charlotte’s house to help her welcome him home because April already has a horse. Brianna and I aren’t invited because we don’t have appropriate horse-handling experience.
I am disappointed, but on the weekend I will ride my bike to visit Star instead. Star lives in a paddock near my house. Good old Star.
Brianna says, ‘There’s going to be a new girl in our class today.’
‘Really?’ says Charlotte. She sounds like she doesn’t believe Brianna, even though Brianna is not the one who lies about penguins.
‘My mum told me,’ says Brianna. Brianna’s mum is the school principal, but you can’t tell from looking at her.
‘What’s her name?’ says April.
‘Morgan,’ says Brianna. ‘She’s from Wagga Wagga and her mum’s a nurse.’
I wonder if the new girl Morgan will join our group like April did. When April first came to school she got teased because instead of a schoolbag, she carried a lunch box with a handle. Then Charlotte realised that April was really nice after she found out that April had a horse. So April joined our group and everything changed.
There’s still five minutes before the bell so we stand on the table and jump off holding our jumpers over our heads like parachutes. We are pretending to invade East Timor like we saw in that film we weren’t allowed to watch.
Mr Parks sees us and makes us stop because he is a wimp.
The bell goes anyway, so we walk to class. That’s when we see it. There is a girl walking out of the boys toilets. She has two long black plaits and I have never seen her before in my life.
‘It must be the new girl, Morgan,’ says Brianna.
‘Do you reckon?’ says Charlotte. She is being sarcastic because it is obvious.
April yells out, ‘Gross, why were you in the boys toilets?!’
Morgan looks startled and turns around to face us. She says, ‘I didn’t mean to. It was a mistake.’
‘Come on, girls. It’s time to line up,’ April says to us.
We stand in a row at the portable door.
Morgan stands behind us. ‘I went in by mistake,’ she repeats. ‘I didn’t know it was the boys toilets. I didn’t see the sign.’
It is true that the boys toilet sign is half hidden by a big bush.
‘Couldn’t you tell from the smell?’ says April.
‘No,’ says Morgan.
April leans forward and sniffs Morgan’s jumper and then jumps back. ‘Foul! You smell like the boys toilets!’
‘Yuck!’ says Charlotte.
April and Charlotte turn their backs on Morgan. ‘Maybe she likes the smell,’ says April.
‘Yeah,’ says Charlotte. ‘She probably went in there deliberately just to sniff it.’
When we get into the classroom Mr Parks puts Morgan in the empty seat between April and me. The seat is empty because Jasmin is travelling around Australia in a caravan with her parents for six months. Charlotte’s mum said they are neglecting Jasmin’s education and Grade 5 is a very important year. My mum said she couldn’t give a stuff.
April asks Mr Parks if she can move seats because Morgan stinks of the boys toilets. Mr Parks says no. April says she’ll complain to the principal.
Mr Parks says, ‘Honestly, April, I don’t care what you do.’
He gets Morgan to stand up so we can all see her, and tells us we have to make Morgan feel welcome and answer any questions that she may have.
When Morgan sits down everyone starts talking except me. I can tell Mr Parks wants us to be quiet because he’s not saying anything and his eyebrows are going up and down. Everyone keeps talking though. Mr Parks rubs his forehead and says, ‘It’s going to be a long day.’
We do silent reading first thing. I am happy to do silent reading because I have a new book called, The Phantom Stallion.
Afterwards, we get two marbles in the jar because Mr Parks was very satisfied with our silent reading, to his great surprise. We were completely silent. We have never done that before. Last week we nearly got to twenty minutes of silent reading but then Kaylee did a fart and we all laughed and so we got no marbles in the jar.
When we have thirty marbles in the jar the class will get a treat. I hope Mr Parks doesn’t choose the treat because he would pick something really dumb, like having a Dead Fish Marathon or kissing Miss Ellis, who he loves even though he says he doesn’t.
Morgan sits on her own near the preppies’ area at lunchtime. No-one wants to have her in their group because she smells like the boys toilets, according to April.
I’m guarding the table while Brianna, Charlotte and April go to the tuckshop. You have to guard the table or the boys put mud on the seats. One time Charlotte didn’t notice and sat down in her new jodhpurs. They got all dirty and she cried but they would have got dirty eventually anyway.
I can see Mr Parks talking to Morgan in the preppies’ area.
Then they both start walking towards me!
Mr Parks says, ‘You’ve met Morgan haven’t you, Stevie?’
�
�Yes,’ I say.
‘Could Morgan sit with you today?’
It isn’t really a proper question. It is a question like, ‘Would you like to stop leaning back in your chair?’ or ‘Do you want to pick up the chip packet you just walked past?’
So I say yes, Morgan can sit with us.
Morgan sits down.
The others will be mad. I make a decision. I tell Morgan that there won’t be room for her at the table when the others get back. I say there are some nice Grade 3/4 girls near the sandpit.
Morgan gets up and goes away. She looks sad, which I don’t want, but it is her own actions that have caused this situation. You have to take responsibility for your own actions. That’s why my big brother Rhys can’t have access to batteries anymore.
Charlotte, April and Brianna come back. They forgot to get me my Samboy.
Thank the Lord it’s Friday. That’s all I’ll say.
*
Even though it’s Friday night we are not going to the pub for tea because stupid Rhys is still sick. So I am in my room with not much to do.
When the phone rings I run to the hallway and answer it in my new way, ‘Hello, this is Stevie. How can I help you?’
‘It’s me.’
Dad Ben! I tell him all about Charlotte’s pony arriving on the weekend. I tell him I’m not allowed to be there when the pony arrives, because I don’t have appropriate horse-handling experience, but I’m going to visit Star instead.
‘Well, that’s something,’ he says.
I tell him ever since April arrived at school Charlotte acts like I don’t even exist.
‘Not to worry, everyone has the odd existential crisis,’ he says, and then laughs.
I don’t know what he means but I laugh anyway.
‘Seriously, though,’ says Dad Ben, ‘that April sounds like trouble. Don’t let her make you feel bad. Just ignore her.’
I suppose I just have to ignore April, even though she has all the horse-handling experience and that is all Charlotte cares about these days.
Then Mum wants to speak to Dad Ben so I have to get off the phone. She takes the phone into her room and I lie on the carpet outside and listen. Angel lies down beside me and puts her head on my tummy.