The January Stars

by Kate Constable

  ‘Ah!’ Pa gave a sudden cry, and Clancy jumped.

  The train was slowing down, and an announcement crackled over the PA. The next station is Quoll Creek.

  ‘We’re here!’ cried Clancy.

  Tash leapt up, slinging the backpack onto her shoulder. ‘I’ll get Pa, you grab the door.’

  With an excruciating squeal of brakes, the train slowed to a halt. Clancy jabbed at the button on the door until it slid open.

  ‘How’s the gap?’ demanded Tash.

  ‘Not too bad.’

  Expertly Tash spun the wheelchair to ease Pa through the doorway. They’d learned by now that it was best to take steps and gaps backward wherever possible, so Pa wouldn’t tip out. ‘Hey, hey!’ protested Pa as the chair jolted onto the platform.

  Clancy gasped. ‘My book!’

  ‘Jeez, Clancy!’ Tash let go of the wheelchair, jumped back onto the train, and darted to where she and Clancy had been sitting.

  ‘Tash, quick!’ shrieked Clancy.

  ‘Sp-sp-sp!’ Pa shouted. The wheelchair was slowly rolling down the platform.

  Clancy raced after him and grabbed the handles. ‘I’ve got you.’

  ‘Phew!’ Pa mopped his forehead, and thrust out his hand toward Tash, visible through the window of the train. ‘Sp-sp-sp?’

  ‘Come on, Tash!’ yelled Clancy.

  A whistle blew, warning signals beeped. Tash dipped out of sight, bobbed up and sprinted to the end of the carriage. She jammed her foot in the door just as it was closing.

  Clancy screamed, ‘Tash!’

  Just in time, Tash managed to force the doors apart and hurl herself out onto the platform. Someone on the train yelled at her and she jauntily showed them her finger as the train roared out of the station.

  Clancy’s knees were shaking. She clutched at the handles of Pa’s chair for support as Tash strolled up and thrust the book of star stories at her. ‘Do you want this? Or should I look after it?’

  Clancy pressed the book to her chest. ‘No! I mean, I want it. I’ve got it.’

  Tash shrugged. ‘It’s just, you know, first the phone, now the book … You’ve still got those photos of Nan, right? And Bee’s address? Or have you lost them, too?’

  Clancy’s hand flew to her shorts pocket. But the envelope was still there, safe and sound. ‘No! They’re fine!’

  ‘Okay. Chill.’ Buoyed by the triumph of escaping from the train, and perhaps also by her success in upsetting her sister, Tash gave her smuggest, most irritating smile.

  But Tash wasn’t smiling for long. A railway employee, a stocky, red-faced woman in a dark uniform, came hurrying up to them.

  ‘That was extremely dangerous, jumping out of a moving train. If I decided to report you, you’d have to pay a fine.’

  ‘It wasn’t even moving yet!’ Tash was on a high, flushed and ready for a fight.

  The railway woman looked the three of them up and down. ‘On your own, are you? Someone coming to pick you up?’

  Clancy groaned inwardly. Not this again!

  Tash said, ‘We’re not on our own. This is our grandfather.’

  The woman folded her arms. ‘You don’t look related.’ She leaned over, right in to Pa’s face. ‘Do. You. Know. These. Kids?’

  Pa stared at her, mystified. ‘What?’

  ‘He’s our grandfather,’ said Tash. She didn’t actually add you idiot, but the words were clearly implied. She started to wheel Pa away.

  But Clancy almost sympathised with the woman for being suspicious; they did all look pretty feral. She and Tash were sweaty and bedraggled, Pa had a stain on his shirt, and Clancy had spilled half a cup of cold coffee over her shorts while they were cleaning up Alex’s flat.

  The woman held up a hand. ‘Hold on a minute. I want to hear it from the gentleman himself.’ She planted herself solidly in front of the wheelchair. ‘Excuse me, sir. Are these really your grandchildren? Adopted, are they?’

  Pa stared at her in bewilderment. ‘Nah, nah. Yeah, no.’

  Clancy and Tash exchanged a glance. Uh-oh.

  ‘He’s had a stroke,’ said Tash. ‘You have to be really clear with your questions. He sometimes gets yes and no mixed up.’ She knelt to peer into Pa’s worried, confused face. ‘Pa? This – lady – wants to know if me and Clancy are your family. We are, aren’t we?’

  ‘Yes!’ Pa glared at the woman and clenched his fist.

  She raised her hands and stepped back. ‘Okay, okay, no drama.’

  But when Clancy looked back as they left the station, she was still watching them.

  ‘Interfering b— busybody,’ muttered Tash.

  ‘Pfft!’ said Pa.

  Quoll Creek was an old goldfields town. The broad main street was lined with terrace cottages, and shops selling boiled lollies and lace and patchwork quilts to tourists.

  ‘Sp-sp-sp,’ groaned Pa suddenly.

  ‘Toilet?’ chorused Clancy and Tash, who both recognised the signals by now.

  Tash marched the wheelchair swiftly along the street, scanning for cafés without steps, or a pub that might have a disabled toilet inside. Pa was wincing and clutching the arm of the chair by the time they finally found a toilet in a courtyard. A sign on the door read Patrons of the Neptune Café only.

  ‘Neptune!’ cried Clancy. ‘It’s a sign!’

  Tash ignored her. ‘Go and get the key. Quick, Clance!’

  Clancy’s delight turned to horror. ‘Go to the café?’

  ‘Yes! Quick!’

  ‘Ask them for the toilet key?’

  ‘Yes! And hurry! Do you want Pa to wet his pants in the street?’

  ‘Can’t you go?’ But when Clancy saw the expression on her sister’s face, she turned and fled from the courtyard, back onto the street. Frantically she swivelled left and right, ran a little way up the street then down again.

  ‘You right? Lost someone?’

  Clancy jumped, though the voice was friendly. A tall, gangling teenage boy with curling dark hair, pale skin and high cheekbones was smiling down at her.

  ‘I’m okay,’ squeaked Clancy. ‘But – do you know where the Neptune Café is?’

  ‘Just up there.’

  As the boy pointed, Clancy noticed an oversized wooden tag dangling from his hand, with a blue planet painted on it …

  ‘Is that the toilet key?’ she gasped.

  ‘Yeah, it is. You need it?’

  The boy tossed it over and by some miracle of hand-eye coordination, Clancy managed to catch it. ‘Thank you!’ She sprinted back to where Tash and Pa were waiting.

  Tash grabbed the key. ‘Did you have to buy something?’

  ‘No – anyway, I don’t have any money.’

  ‘Never mind, tell me later.’ Tash was already pushing Pa toward the toilet, and after a brief fumble with the key, they vanished inside.

  Relieved, Clancy turned around, and let out a yelp as she collided with the curly-haired boy.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I just thought I should wait till you’re done, and then I could show you where the café is.’

  ‘Oh, yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think of that.’

  There was a brief, awkward silence. At least, it felt awkward for Clancy. The boy didn’t seem worried at all.

  ‘I didn’t need the key for me,’ said Clancy after a moment. ‘It was for my grandfather.’

  ‘Yeah, I saw.’

  ‘He’s had a stroke. He needs some help with – everything.’ Clancy felt her face flushing. ‘That’s why my sister went in with him …’

  ‘Yep, that makes sense.’

  ‘So … I’ll just wait for them to come out,’ explained Clancy. Oh help. Could she possibly sound any more pathetic? She almost wished that she was in the loo with Pa, and Tash was out here having this painful conversation. Except it wouldn’t be painful for Tash. She would know exactly what to say. Clancy didn’t dare look at the boy; she didn’t want to see him laughing at her.

  Only a few minutes had passed, but to Clancy it seemed lik
e hours before Tash poked her head out of the bathroom door.

  ‘Hey, Clance, can you buy us some afternoon tea? Pa’s a bit grumpy, I think he might be hungry.’ Tash caught sight of the boy, and gave him a cool stare. ‘You right?’

  Clancy wasn’t sure if Tash was talking to her or him. She said, ‘It’s okay, Tash, he gave me the key.’

  ‘You followed her from the café?’ said Tash to the boy.

  ‘No, no … he was in the street … I couldn’t find the café …’

  Tash cut through Clancy’s stammers with an impatient gesture. ‘Just buy us some sandwiches or something. I’ve put some cash in here.’ Unexpectedly she threw her wallet to Clancy, who fumbled the catch. The wallet dropped to the pavement, and Tash rolled her eyes. ‘Meet you there.’

  ‘But I don’t—’

  It was too late; Tash had disappeared back inside the cubicle.

  ‘—know what to buy,’ mumbled Clancy.

  The boy said, ‘Want me to show you where the café is?’

  Clancy chewed her lip. ‘Okay.’ After all, he probably couldn’t rob and murder her in broad daylight in the main street of Quoll Creek. If she was careful.

  She followed, a step behind him, as he led her along the footpath to a little café with long wooden benches and jam jars for light fittings.

  ‘Here you go,’ said the boy. ‘We had the spanakopita. It was pretty good.’

  Clancy nodded. So that’s how you pronounce it. But she knew she would never dare try to order it in public. She wondered who we might be, and as if he’d read her mind, the boy gave a cheerful wave to a couple of women sitting at a table by the wall.

  ‘My mums,’ he said.

  Clancy waved to them, too, and they waved back with slightly puzzled expressions. Embarrassed, Clancy said, ‘I’d better—’ She motioned to the counter.

  ‘Yep, sure, cool.’

  But they lingered in the middle of the café, fumbling for a more satisfactory way to end their encounter.

  ‘Well … see ya,’ said the boy at last.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Clancy hastily.

  But by then Tash and Pa had arrived, bumping the wheelchair over the threshold, both of them looking grumpy.

  ‘What?’ said Tash. ‘Haven’t you bought anything yet?’

  ‘I just got here!’ With relief, Clancy tossed the wallet back to her sister. ‘And I didn’t know what you wanted,’ she offered as a plausible excuse. ‘And you have to give the key back.’

  ‘Huh,’ said Tash. She slipped on Pa’s brakes and marched to the counter, and Clancy took shelter behind the wheelchair.

  While Tash was still ordering, the boy and his two mothers stood up and left the café, giving Clancy and Pa friendly smiles as they passed.

  ‘Bye,’ said the boy.

  ‘Bye.’ To her dismay, Clancy felt her face grow pink. It doesn’t matter, she told herself fiercely. You’re never going to see him again.

  They took the sandwiches across the road to a park and unwrapped them at a splintery picnic table under a tree.

  ‘Ham and salad,’ said Tash.

  ‘I hate ham!’

  ‘You had your chance to pick, and you blew it,’ said Tash with her mouth full. ‘Just pull the ham out if you don’t want it. Give it to the birds.’

  There were a few pigeons hovering about hopefully, strutting on the dry grass.

  ‘But it all tastes like ham now. It’s contaminated. Cont-ham-inated.’ Clancy couldn’t stop herself. ‘Why couldn’t we go straight to Bee’s and use her toilet, and then we could have had something good for lunch at her place.’

  ‘Pa couldn’t wait, could you, Pa?’

  Pa didn’t answer. He was chewing gingerly; then he spat a mouthful back into the bag, screwed it up and shoved it away.

  ‘See, Pa thinks they’re gross, too!’ said Clancy triumphantly.

  ‘God, you guys are so ungrateful! I swear, I’m almost starting to see where Mum and Dad are coming from when they say that.’ Tash scrambled up and brushed crumbs from her lap.

  ‘Where is Bee’s place, anyway?’

  ‘I’ve got the address, but I don’t know how to get there,’ admitted Tash. ‘I could have looked it up, if only I had my phone. I don’t know how far it is. It might be just a short walk, or it could be a long taxi ride. Except I can’t call a taxi either, without my phone …’

  A thought popped into Clancy’s mind before she could stop it. I bet that boy would lend us his phone.

  And then a second thought: I bet Nan could arrange for us to bump into him again… Nan? Could you? Please? Casually she gazed around in all directions: to the shops, the parked cars, the scattering of pedestrians strolling along the footpath. Her heart gave a sudden thump. There he was – climbing into a long, low car with his two mothers. He was getting into the driver’s seat; there was a yellow learner’s plate stuck to the back window. So he must be at least sixteen …

  As she watched, he carefully edged the car backward, then pulled out onto the road. They were driving away. It was too late; they’d gone.

  Nan had set up a chance for her, and she’d missed it. Clancy swallowed hard, and looked away.

  ‘We’ll try the lace shop,’ Tash was saying. ‘That looks the most harmless-est.’

  ‘Not a word,’ murmured Clancy; but she followed.

  Inside the shop, they found a tiny, twinkling-eyed woman dressed in what looked like an old tablecloth.

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Tash with her most brilliant smile. ‘Do you have a number for a taxi?’

  ‘A taxi, darling?’ It was as if Tash had asked for an elephant.

  ‘Yes, please. A maxi-taxi. You know, to fit a wheelchair.’

  ‘You mean one of those van things? We don’t have any of those around here.’ She squinted doubtfully. ‘I suppose you could try ordering one from Dunkley?’

  Clancy was tired. She would have been happy to wait in the cool of the lace shop for as long as it took, but Tash was impatient. ‘That’s okay, we’ll walk. Can you tell us how to get to Ginger Gully Road?’

  The woman pursed her lips. ‘Hm, that’s quite a hike, darling.’

  Tash squared her shoulders. ‘We can do it.’

  ‘Well, if you’re sure … Just follow this road. That direction.’ She pointed. ‘There’s a sign at the turn-off. You can’t miss it.’

  ‘Cool, thanks.’ Tash wheeled Pa out of the shop and Clancy followed.

  ‘Pa’s thirsty.’ Clancy had no idea if Pa was thirsty or not, but she figured this would be a safer way of making Tash buy drinks for them all, rather than asking for one for herself.

  Tash let out an exaggerated sigh, but she went into a supermarket while Pa and Clancy waited outside. Clancy was just realising she’d forgotten to ask for Band-Aids, when her sister came out again with three bottles of water.

  ‘Sp-sp-sp!’ complained Pa, struggling to unscrew the cap with one hand.

  Clancy undid it for him, and trudged along behind Tash as she pushed Pa past the row of shops and a small wooden school building, past a grander house with verandahs and a lush garden, past a church and a tiny graveyard. When the footpath came to an end, Tash glanced left and right, then wheeled Pa down onto the smooth bitumen.

  ‘Tash! You can’t walk on the road!’

  ‘Sp-sp-sp,’ grumbled Pa.

  ‘Lighten up. We did it at Rosella. There’s no traffic. No footpath either. Where are we supposed to walk?’

  ‘I guess,’ said Clancy glumly. But she plodded as close to the edge as she could, so if anyone accused her of walking on the road, at least she could say she was trying not to break the law.

  ‘See?’ said Tash after ten minutes. ‘No cars.’

  ‘Huh?’ Clancy looked at her sister in surprise. She wasn’t thinking about traffic at all; she’d just spotted the dim disc of Nan’s moon, hanging in the sky just in front of them, like a pale lantern showing them the way.

  The sun was slipping down the sky and the light was turning bronze when th
ey reached the edge of the forest and the turn-off for Ginger Gully Road.

  ‘At least it’ll be shady now.’ Tash wiped her face, damp with sweat, on her sleeve.

  The road wound away down a gentle hill, through grey-green trees with thin pale trunks and a dense undergrowth of bracken and ferns.

  ‘Sp-sp-sp,’ grumbled Pa, shifting in his chair.

  ‘Are you positive this is the right road, Tash? I can’t see any houses.’

  ‘There could be hundreds of houses in there, hidden in the trees. This is definitely Ginger Gully Road, and Bee’s house is number five hundred and forty-six.’

  ‘Five hundred and forty-six? Are you serious? If this end starts at number one, it’s going to be miles away. I thought we must be nearly there, and now you tell me it’s five hundred and forty-six?’

  ‘We are nearly there. We must be. It’s different in the country.’

  But Tash didn’t sound as confident as usual.

  ‘Sp-sp-sp?’ Pa gestured back toward the town.

  ‘No! We’re not going back now!’

  Tash seized the handles and began to push the wheelchair along the rough road. Well, if Tash was going to keep pushing, Clancy supposed she’d have to follow, though she was hot and tired and the blisters on her heels were squidging with blood. It was fine for Pa; all he had to do was sit there.

  One foot after the other. All Clancy wanted now was to find their aunt and hand over Pa to her. They were so close now, and the moon and the Neptune Café were signs they were on the right track. But once Bee had taken charge ... Then what? There would be no Tim and Harriet and Bruno to go home to. Just an empty, lifeless apartment wondering why its family had abandoned it …

  ‘Clancy, you’re not crying again, are you?’

  ‘I’m not,’ gulped Clancy. ‘And FYI, I’ve only cried once.’

  ‘Yeah, right. Whatever.’ Tash sounded too weary to argue with her. Slowly she pushed Pa along the old, cracked bitumen. The trees closed around them, cool and hushed and shady. Clancy remembered all the films and television shows she’d ever seen about wild animals and bushrangers who lurked in forests, and aliens who crash-landed their ships in the wilderness. She trod on Tash’s heels.