‘That she’s some society princess and her husband’s divorcing her. Mrs Parker didn’t think village life would suit her very well.’
Millie’s smile dropped and she gulped as Alice-Miranda stared at her in shock.
‘Do you think that could be true?’ Millie asked.
‘I suppose anything’s possible,’ Alice-Miranda replied. She looked at Billy Boots. ‘I think it’s best not to repeat anything Mrs Parker says. I’m sure that she gets things wrong sometimes.’
‘I think you’re right there.’ Billy smiled, saluted the girls with his forefinger, then strode off towards the stables.
‘Poor Jacinta,’ Millie said. ‘I wonder if she knows about her parents.’
‘I doubt it,’ Alice-Miranda replied, hoping that Ambrosia would at least tell her daughter herself instead of letting Jacinta find out from some awful magazine article.
Millie opened the front door and the two girls walked down the hallway to their bedroom. Jacinta and Sloane’s door was open and the sound of laughter was coming from within the room.
Alice-Miranda poked her head inside and Millie followed.
‘Hello,’ Alice-Miranda said.
‘Oh, hi Alice-Miranda,’ Sloane replied. ‘Hi Millie.’ She was lying on her bed with her feet pointed in the air and Jacinta was on her bed doing the same thing.
‘We’re turtles.’ Jacinta burst out laughing and swivelled around on her bed, flailing her arms and legs in the air. ‘Upside down, of course.’
Alice-Miranda giggled. ‘Why?’
‘We were at drama and Miss Reedy did this activity where she would say an animal and then we had to be it, but when she said turtle that’s what I did and everyone thought it was hilarious, so we’ve been practising some more for next week.’
‘I know, I know,’ said Sloane, still laughing. ‘I’m a cockroach.’
Millie shook her head. ‘You’re both crazy.’
‘You should try it, Millie,’ Sloane suggested. ‘It’s fun.’
‘I’ll take your word for it,’ Millie replied.
Jacinta rolled over. ‘Hey, did you hear that there were some robberies in the village today?’
‘What’s been stolen?’ Millie asked. ‘Billy Boots mentioned something when we were walking back up to the house but he didn’t give us any details.’
‘Howie’s been in a right flap because apparently Mr Munz had a whole box of chocolate bars disappear from the shop.’ Sloane rolled over and propped her hands under her chin.
Millie put her hands on her hips. ‘Chocolate bars? Is that all?’
‘And Mrs Parker’s favourite gnome has come home,’ Jacinta said.
‘So a box of chocolate bars has gone missing and a missing garden gnome has been found. It’s hardly time to call in the sniffer dogs,’ Millie giggled. ‘Otto Munz is probably sitting in the woods stuffing his fat face as we speak. Everyone knows he loves sweets and his mother has put him on a diet. And whoever took that garden gnome clearly did it as a joke. Anyway, I feel sorry for the gnome. He was probably having a great time tripping around the place and now the poor thing’s back with Mrs Parker.’
‘I think you’re wrong, Millie. You wait. The chocolate will be just the start. It always is when the show’s on,’ Jacinta replied.
‘I’m not accusing Otto but really Millie’s quite right – it’s just as likely to be some local kids who know that every year when the show comes to town they can go on a little spree and never be caught because the poor children from the carnival will get the blame. I think it’s terrible,’ Alice-Miranda said decidedly.
‘No, first it will be sweets, then anything else that’s not nailed down,’ said Jacinta.
Sloane agreed. Millie thought about it. Maybe Alice-Miranda was right.
Alice-Miranda couldn’t believe how quickly time whizzed by. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, it was already the weekend. The whole school was buzzing about the show and everyone seemed to be busy getting ready for this and that. Susannah had baked a cake every night for a week, testing different recipes and trying to work out which one would be just right. Of course she had no shortage of willing tasters. Millie was heard loudly complaining that her jodhpurs were getting so tight she’d have to buy a new pair before the show.
Ashima and Ivory were busy perfecting their blackberry jam recipe too. The first batch proved to be somewhat of a disaster when they used salt instead of sugar. And even the teachers were getting in on the act. Miss Wall was apparently an expert at needlepoint, and was seen in the back row of assembly finishing her handiwork. Mr Plumpton brought some giant vegetables in for the girls and Miss Reedy to admire. Even Miss Grimm had been inspired to finish a watercolour painting she’d started months ago.
As they had agreed, Mrs Smith had driven Alice-Miranda over to Chesterfield Downs on Tuesday and Thursday so she and Bony could train. Mrs Smith was baking for the lads over there each day and made sure that she timed her run to take Alice-Miranda with her. Alice-Miranda didn’t have nearly as much fun riding alone, but there just wasn’t enough time for Millie to walk Chops over to Chesterfield Downs in the afternoon. Millie was working him on the dressage arena near the stables at school instead.
Rockstar had made fantastic progress and he and Bony were getting on better than ever. Wally was having a ball riding track work and Miss Pepper had telephoned each day to get a progress report. Bonaparte only needed to stand beside the track and whinny and Rockstar seemed to get faster and faster.
On the weekend, Millie and Alice-Miranda had spent both mornings riding at Chesterfield Downs.
The carnival trucks had moved from Gertrude’s Grove to the showground and on Sunday afternoon Alice-Miranda, Sloane, Millie and Jacinta decided to go for a walk into the village and see how it was all taking shape. Alice-Miranda was rather keen to find Fern too. She had hoped to see her during the week but the girl had apparently acquired powers of invisibility since the previous weekend.
Alice-Miranda and her friends walked around the perimeter of the showground looking at the rides in their various stages of construction. A mass of metal structures and worn signs were spread around the ground. Men worked all over the contraptions with wrenches and drills, putting pieces together and pulling some apart.
‘Oh cool, I love that ride,’ Sloane said as they passed a somewhat battered-looking machine with eight metal arms. The dented carriages were sitting beside it on the ground.
Jacinta curled her lip. ‘Looks a bit dodgy to me.’
‘My favourite is the pirate ship, over there.’ Millie was admiring what really amounted to a giant swing with a rather suspect-looking ship attached to the sides.
‘Look! Isn’t that a gorgeous carousel?’ Alice-Miranda called to the girls as she raced ahead. It truly was the showpiece of the carnival. A chubby girl with mousy hair tied in two bunches was sitting on top of one of the beautifully restored horses while a man Alice-Miranda assumed must be her father hammered away further around the circle.
‘Hello Ivy,’ Alice-Miranda said to the girl. ‘Is that your carousel?’
‘Yup. It’s ours and it’s the best thing here,’ the child replied.
‘It must be fun living in a carnival,’ Alice-Miranda said.
‘It’s okay.’ The child slipped down off the horse and jumped from the platform onto the ground. ‘Have you got any chocolate?’
‘No, I’m sorry,’ Alice-Miranda answered.
Ivy looked annoyed.
Millie, Jacinta and Sloane had finally caught up.
‘These are my friends. Do you remember Millie? And that’s Jacinta and Sloane.’ Alice-Miranda pointed to her friends in turn.
Ivy waved. ‘Hi.’
‘Ivy, do you know where Fern and Tarquin are?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
She shook her head. ‘No.
They’re probably doing jobs for Alf.’
‘What sort of jobs?’ Millie asked.
‘I don’t know.’ Ivy stuck out her lip. ‘Just the stuff that the big kids have to do.’
‘Where are Fern’s parents?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
‘Her mother’s in the graveyard,’ said Ivy.
‘Oh,’ Alice-Miranda said sadly. ‘What about her father?’ Alice-Miranda had begun to wonder if perhaps Alf was Fern and Tarquin’s dad.
‘She hasn’t got one, except for Alf. That’s what my mum says and she knows everything.’
‘Well, if you do see Fern, could you please tell her that we were here?’ Alice-Miranda looked at her friends. Jacinta was pulling on Sloane’s arm and giving Alice-Miranda a ‘hurry up’ look.
‘If you bring me some chocolate when the show’s on, I’ll let you have a ride for nothing,’ the girl offered. ‘But don’t tell my mum or dad.’
Millie and Alice-Miranda exchanged grins. ‘It’s a deal.’
‘Bye Ivy,’ the girls chorused, waving as they walked away.
‘Bye,’ the child called.
‘She’s special,’ said Jacinta, once the girls were out of earshot.
‘Jacinta, that’s unkind,’ Alice-Miranda rebuked. ‘But I wonder if what she said about Fern and Tarquin’s mother was true?’
Millie could almost hear Alice-Miranda’s overactive brain ticking away. ‘What are you thinking now?’
Alice-Miranda frowned. ‘Nothing, really. I . . . I don’t know.’
The girls walked out of the showground and into the village, where they stopped at Mr Munz’s shop to buy some ice-creams.
While the girls were crowding over the freezer, the shop bell tinkled. Jacinta looked up and spotted Lucas and Sep coming through the door. ‘Hi there,’ she called out.
‘Oh, hi.’ Lucas grinned and approached the group.
‘I thought you were on camp again this weekend,’ said Sloane.
‘No, we have another one the weekend after the show,’ said Sep.
‘What have you been doing?’ Lucas asked the girls.
‘We went for a walk around the showground,’ Millie said. ‘Alice-Miranda’s been making some new friends.’
‘Of course she has.’ Lucas smiled at his younger cousin. ‘Hey, I heard it was your birthday the other week. What are you now? Twenty-six?’
‘Ha ha, Lucas,’ Alice-Miranda replied. ‘I’m eight.’
‘Yeah, a twenty-six-year-old trapped in the body of an eight-year-old,’ he teased.
‘Are you entering any events at the show?’ Jacinta asked.
‘Sep here will be playing the bagpipes,’ said Lucas, slapping his friend on the back. ‘And I’m going to set a new record for the most number of rides.’
‘And he’s entering a painting in the art show,’ Sep added. ‘It’s really good. Who’d have thought – handsome and talented.’
‘Me!’ Jacinta sighed.
The rest of the group laughed.
‘Are you kids buying ice-creams or having conference up there?’ Herman Munz called. ‘I am busy man. Hurry up.’
‘Busy watching Winners Are Grinners, more like it,’ Sloane whispered.
The kids selected their treats and hurried to the counter where the Winners Are Grinners theme song blared out of the ancient television set on the end of the counter. Otto Munz was standing next to his father and rang the items through the till.
Outside, the children peeled the wrappers from their ice-creams and deposited them in the bin.
‘We’d better go or Professor Winterbottom will send a search party,’ Sep said.
‘See you on Friday at the show,’ Alice-Miranda said.
‘Yeah, see you then,’ Lucas and Sep chorused before heading off towards Fayle on the other side of the village.
On their way back to school, the girls had to walk past the church and its little graveyard. Sloane took a deep breath and held it in as they reached the boundary.
‘Can we have a look inside?’ Alice-Miranda asked, pointing at the gate.
Sloane exhaled. ‘I thought you were supposed to hold your breath when you walked past the cemetery. It keeps the evil spirits out.’
‘That’s just a silly old wives’ tale,’ Millie said. ‘You might make it past a small cemetery like this one okay but imagine trying to do that if you were walking past some of the giant ones in the city. If you held your breath that long, the cemetery’s where you’d end up.’
‘Come on, we’ll go with you to the cemetery,’ said Jacinta. ‘But only if you come with me to Wisteria Cottage afterwards. It’s just down Rosebud Lane, and seeing as my mother hasn’t been anywhere near me this week, I think I’d better go and look for myself or the lease will be up and I’ll never have been there. I’ve been wondering if it’s all a figment of Mother’s overactive imagination anyway.’
Alice-Miranda reached out and slipped her hand into Jacinta’s. ‘Your mother’s probably been very busy, that’s all.’
‘I don’t know why you’re always defending her, Alice-Miranda. I thought she might be getting better, but you know what they say, leopards really don’t change their spots,’ Jacinta frowned.
‘But you’ve changed heaps, Jacinta. Don’t you remember when we used to call you the school’s second best tantrum thrower?’ Millie reminded her.
‘That’s different,’ Jacinta said, with narrowed eyes.
‘I don’t see how,’ Millie argued.
Sloane looked like she wanted to say something too but thought better of it.
‘Come on,’ Alice-Miranda urged. ‘We’d better get going.’
The group crossed the road and entered the churchyard. They took the path that led to the cemetery at the side of the church.
‘Look,’ Millie called out. ‘Here’s a Weatherly. “Thomas Charles Weatherly late of Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale”. That must be Charlie’s father who was the gardener at school before him.’
‘And here’s a Smith,’ Jacinta called out. ‘I wonder if he was Mrs Smith’s husband.’
While her friends were studying the headstones, Alice-Miranda walked to the back of the plot to the newer graves. Mostly marked by shiny marble monuments, these were the most recently deceased members of their small community. But one stood out because of its small timber cross.
Alice-Miranda stopped to read the inscription. ‘“Gina Sharlan 1966–2011.” I wonder why they haven’t put a proper headstone on her grave. She’s been gone for a little while,’ Alice-Miranda noted.
Millie caught up to her friend. ‘Sharlan, I’ve seen that name before somewhere. Oh, I know! It was on the side of one of the caravans at Gertrude’s Grove. Sharlan’s Carnival.’
‘Of course,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Tarquin said that his full name was Tarquin James Sharlan. I wonder if what Ivy said was true then. Maybe Gina was Fern and Tarquin’s mother,’ Alice-Miranda said.
‘Come on,’ Jacinta yelled. ‘I’ve had enough of all these dead people and if we don’t go to the cottage now it will be too late.’
Millie gave Alice-Miranda an exasperated smile. She grabbed her friend by the hand and the two girls ran through the maze of headstones to the gate.
Jacinta and Sloane led the way along Rosebud Lane. It was a pretty street with quaint cottages and the odd post-war bungalow dotted between, noticeable for their plain Jane looks. Wisteria Cottage was so named for the giant purple plant that had wrapped its tendrils around the veranda posts at the front of the house, lending shade and colour to the attractive facade.
The property opposite had none of the same charm. It was so overgrown with weeds that the house could hardly be seen.
‘Well, this is it,’ Jacinta said as they arrived at the gate. ‘Mummy said that there’s a key around the back.’
The girls followed their friend across the lawn to the driveway where Jacinta stopped suddenly.
‘She’s here.’ Jacinta pointed at her mother’s shiny sports car parked beside the house, far enough back that you couldn’t see if from the road. ‘I can’t believe it!’ she fumed.
Alice-Miranda gave her friend a worried look. ‘Don’t be upset, Jacinta,’ she urged. ‘Perhaps she’s just arrived and was planning to come and visit you in a little while.’
‘Really? We’ll see about that.’ Jacinta stormed around to the back veranda and raced up the steps. ‘Mother! Where are you, Mother?’
The tall girl barged her way through the screen door into a gleaming new kitchen. While the outside of the cottage was clearly in need of further renovation, the inside was breathtaking.
‘Mother? I know you’re here somewhere!’ Jacinta flew down the hallway with Alice-Miranda, Millie and Sloane close behind.
‘Hello, Mrs Headlington-Bear,’ Alice-Miranda called, trying to soften Jacinta’s impending attack.
Jacinta stormed in and out of the rooms along the main hall until she finally found her mother. Ambrosia Headlington-Bear was sitting on the floor in the master bedroom amid a veritable warehouse of clothes and shoes, sobbing her heart out.
The woman looked up. ‘What are you doing here, Jacinta?’ Mascara trails lined her face and the white dress she was holding was streaked with black.
‘You told me I could come and see the cottage. I haven’t heard from you all week so I didn’t think you were here,’ Jacinta snapped.
‘I was hoping it would be finished and you’d get a lovely surprise,’ her mother sniffed. ‘But now that’s ruined too.’ She began to bawl again.
‘What do you mean, ruined too?’ Jacinta looked around and wondered why her mother had brought so many clothes to a house that was only a weekender. ‘I don’t understand why you’re making Daddy spend so much money on a place that you’re renting, either,’ Jacinta fumed. ‘You could feed half of Africa for all the money you spend on stupid things.’
Ambrosia’s sobs finally died down and she regained some composure. ‘I’m not renting the cottage, Jacinta.’
Alice-Miranda Shows the Way Page 15