The January Stars

by Kate Constable

  Clancy wasn’t sure she understood exactly what Bee was talking about; but she grasped at the idea of everything pulling together, like the force of gravity. That felt right, that made sense. She thought of something else.

  ‘What about your job in the city?’

  ‘I quit. I hated that job. And I’m renting out my flat – that’s how I’m paying for my retreat. Of course, Tash told me you met Alex …’ Bee gave a sudden laugh. ‘It’s funny you and Tash turning up here with Pa, because when I think about it, the reason I’m here is actually because of Nan.’

  Clancy jumped. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘Mum – your nan – used to practise yoga on the deck at Rosella. Do you remember that? Maybe you were too young. Pip and I used to do it with her sometimes – Pip not so much, she was too impatient. I always loved it, but after Mum died, I – let it go.’ Bee’s face took on a faraway look. ‘Then one day I was wandering around in a secondhand bookshop, and I found this weird old hippie yoga instruction book, the same one that your nan always used. And I remembered how much I used to love doing yoga with her. So I bought the book, and I started practising, and joined some classes, and I got hooked. And here I am.’

  Clancy’s heart was beating fast. Cautiously she asked, ‘Do you remember which bookshop it was?’

  Bee screwed up her face. ‘Not really – it was in the city. Near the library, I think? I can’t remember the name. It was pretty run-down. It’s probably closed by now.’

  ‘Probably,’ said Clancy sadly.

  ‘Anyway …’ Bee heaved a sigh. ‘I don’t think yoga is really Pa’s thing.’

  ‘Pretty hard to do yoga in a wheelchair. With one arm and one leg,’ agreed Clancy.

  ‘Definitely a challenge to sit in the lotus position. That means, with your legs crossed.’

  ‘And he’s not vegetarian, either … Bee, if this place is all about Indian stuff, how come there are no Indian people here?’

  Bee looked startled. ‘I don’t know. Good question.’

  There was a silence.

  ‘So – what happens now?’ said Clancy at last.

  Bee shrugged. ‘It’s been lovely to see you all. An amazing surprise. But now you and Tash will have to take your grandpa back to the nursing home.’

  ‘Have you told Tash that?’ said Clancy.

  ‘It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?’

  The sound of a distant gong reverberated across the grass. Bee put her arm around Clancy’s shoulders. ‘Come on. Time for breakfast.’

  Clancy, Tash and Bee all found themselves in trouble with Jyotimitra when they arrived in the servery to collect their breakfast, because they’d left Pa on his own. Bee said she assumed Tash was in the bathroom when she’d decided to follow Clancy. ‘I didn’t know you were into yoga, sweetie. I didn’t know you were into getting up at five-thirty.’

  ‘I’m not, normally,’ muttered Tash.

  It was lucky Pa hadn’t fallen, trying to climb out of bed, lucky that one of Toby’s mothers, Jen, had popped in to see how they were managing, and found him there alone. (Unless it wasn’t luck, of course, but Nan’s magic.) Jen said afterwards that she didn’t mind helping him into the wheelchair and taking him to the toilet. She’d even helped him have a shower, while Monica washed his clothes and hung them out to dry, and organised someone to fix the flat tyre on the wheelchair. But Clancy thought that she must have minded, a little. She was just too nice to say so.

  Clancy and Tash found Pa sitting up at a table in the dining room in borrowed clothes, eating a bowl of muesli, with his hair wet and slicked down, his face scrubbed pink and shining.

  Jen took Bee aside, and Clancy heard her murmur something. ‘ … couldn’t find his meds?’

  But Bee shook her head and shrugged, and Jyotimitra, who seemed to be the boss of the ashram, beckoned her away.

  After breakfast, they were allowed to talk again; but then it was time for something Bee called karma yoga, which meant everyone spending a couple of hours on ashram housework: cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming floors, emptying rubbish bins. Tash and Clancy didn’t have to do it, but Bee and Toby and his mums did. And after karma yoga was finished, Bee reported, there would be a meeting with Jyotimitra, so they could figure out how to get Pa and Tash and Clancy back home.

  ‘But we don’t—’

  ‘Don’t start that again, Tash, please! We’ve talked about this already!’ Bee held up one hand, and hurried away.

  As everyone else dispersed for karma yoga, Tash and Clancy and Pa found themselves all alone in the dining room, with the plastic walls rolled up and the sun shining in and the smell of flowers in the air.

  Clancy laid her hand on Pa’s arm. ‘You won’t be able to stay here, Pa. Bee says they won’t let you.’

  ‘Sp-sp-sp.’ Pa shrugged; he didn’t seem surprised.

  ‘They should,’ said Tash. ‘It’s a commune, isn’t it? Aren’t communists supposed to be all about helping people? That’s discrimination. It’s ableist.’

  ‘Toby’s mums helped,’ Clancy pointed out. ‘They helped a lot.’

  ‘But they’re just visiting. They’re going home today.’ Tash rested her chin in her hands and frowned.

  ‘The food’s all vegetarian,’ Clancy reminded her. ‘Pa wouldn’t like that, would you, Pa?’

  ‘What?’ said Pa irritably. ‘Yeah, nah.’

  Tash sat up straight. ‘Forget Plan Bee. Time for Plan Pip.’

  ‘But – where does Pip even live? How are you going to find out? If we ask Bee, she’ll guess why we want to know.’

  ‘I’m not going to ask her. I’ve got a better idea.’ Tash glanced at Pa, but he wasn’t listening. He seemed to have retreated into himself, brooding. He didn’t even look up when a flock of rainbow lorikeets swooped overhead, squawking cheerfully.

  Tash said, ‘I’m going to need your help. Both of you.’

  They didn’t realise it until afterwards, but it was the perfect time to stage a raid on the office, because everyone else at the ashram was busy performing karma yoga. The kitchen was full of people chopping vegetables for lunch, vacuum cleaners hummed, and in the distance people trudged back and forth from the sheds with rubbish bins. But the reception area and the office were deserted.

  Cautiously Clancy wheeled Pa into the foyer. ‘You’re the lookout,’ Tash told him. ‘If you see anyone coming, make a noise. And don’t let them into the office – stall them.’

  Pa brightened, and the twinkle came back into his eyes. Clancy was beginning to realise that Pa, like Tash, enjoyed making mischief. Clancy wondered wistfully if Nan had been like that, too. In her photographs, she looked pretty twinkly-eyed. Maybe this whole long adventure was Nan’s idea of a fun weekend?

  Hey, Nan? Clancy sent out a silent message as Tash tried the office door. If you’re here, could you give us a hand? Please?

  The handle turned and the door swung open. Thanks, Nan! thought Clancy, as she and Tash crept inside. Her heart thumped. Breaking and entering – twice. This wasn’t going to look good when the police finally caught up with them. Unless Nan could take care of that, too.

  Tash closed the door and flipped the lock. Clancy shot her an anxious glance, scared they’d be trapped in there.

  Tash misread her sister’s expression. ‘Don’t look at me like that!’ she hissed. ‘We’re not trying to steal anything. We just want to look at Bee’s file. If this place really is like a school or a camp or whatever, then I bet there were a million forms to fill out.’

  ‘So?’ whispered Clancy.

  ‘Think about it – next of kin, emergency contacts. Who do they call if she goes into anaphylactic shock? I bet it’s Pip.’ Tash pointed to the desk. ‘You look on the computer, I’ll check the filing cabinet.’

  Clancy crept across to the computer and knelt on the floor behind the desk, so she could duck underneath if anyone came in.

  The ashram might have been run by hippies, but they still had some security. Clancy whispered over to Tash, who was alrea
dy rifling through the drawers of the filing cabinet, ‘Password protected!’

  ‘Bugger!’ muttered Tash, just like Pa; then, inspired, she whispered, ‘Try hari om.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Everyone says it here. You must have heard them? They chanted it after kirtan last night and before yoga this morning. And it’s written everywhere, on the bottom of every notice. I guess it means God bless you, or amen, or something.’ Tash spelled it out aloud, and sure enough, that was the password. Clancy was impressed. Usually her sister didn’t notice details like that.

  Clancy wasn’t a computer geek, but she knew enough to find her way around a basic filing system, and the ashram’s filing system was very basic. It didn’t take her long to find the spreadsheet with the names of all the weekend visitors and retreat participants (which she guessed would include Toby and his mothers, though she didn’t waste time looking them up), and the database of permanent residents, and at last the file they needed: a list of students. That sounded like Bee.

  Clancy clicked on the file and searched for Beatrice Sanderson. And up came all her details: date of birth, birth name, spiritual name (Atma), medical history (in case you popped a blood vessel standing on your head, Clancy guessed), how long she’d been studying yoga (all her life, according to Bee, which seemed like a slight exaggeration to Clancy), and, just as Tash had predicted, an emergency contact. And Tash was right: Philippa Sanderson was listed as Bee’s next of kin.

  Relationship: twin.

  ‘Hurry up!’ hissed Tash.

  ‘I’ll print it out,’ whispered Clancy. But she’d just clicked on the print icon when they heard a terrible moaning and groaning coming from the reception area. Actually it was lucky that Pa was making so much noise, because it helped to disguise the whirr of the printer coming to life.

  ‘Where is it?’ Frantically Tash looked round. Clancy couldn’t see the printer either, but the noise seemed to be coming from the corner of the room. She pointed in what she guessed was the right direction and left Tash to hunt down the printer while she closed the files and tried to leave the computer as she’d found it.

  Meanwhile, Pa was making the most alarming noises in the foyer. Clancy risked a peep through the glass window in the office door and saw him surrounded by a group of murmuring middle-aged women in activewear, wearing concerned expressions, all saying things like does your chest hurt? and is anyone with you? Pa clutched his heart and groaned even louder. He caught Clancy’s eye and gave her the most enormous wink. Clancy ducked back below the window and then she saw it – the printer, on the floor, half-hidden by a pile of folders with mandala symbols on them. Thanks, Nan!

  ‘Tash!’ Clancy whispered. ‘I found it!’ She crawled over and ripped out the sheet of paper with Pip’s address. Then she heard a loud female voice saying, ‘Where’s that woman who says she’s a nurse?’

  Another voice cried, ‘I’ll call an ambulance!’ and the handle of the office door rattled.

  Clancy froze. They were trapped!

  Tash beckoned wildly, and Clancy commando-crawled across the carpet to where her sister was holding open a second door at the rear of the office.

  ‘Sp-sp-sp!’ cried Pa, probably trying to tell the worried women that he was fine now, thanks, no ambulance necessary!

  Clancy and Tash found themselves in a small storeroom, lined with shelves of stationery, which led in turn to another room, a larger office space with a couple of desks and a window. Tash shoved the window open and somersaulted out onto the grass. Clancy had to drag a chair to the window and clamber up, but Tash yanked her over the windowsill and Clancy fell on top of her.

  They lay for a few seconds, winded, in a sheltered garden hedged with thick bushes. Tash, of course, recovered first. ‘Come on!’ She bounced up and dragged Clancy around the corner of the building.

  ‘Here, take it, take it!’ Clancy thrust the paper at her sister and Tash crammed it into her pocket. Clancy hastily patted her own pocket, but Nan was still in there.

  They emerged into the main courtyard, where people were strolling around with mugs of tea. Apparently karma yoga was over. Clancy and Tash hurried to the reception area to rescue Pa from his rescuers.

  ‘Pa! Are you okay?’ cried Clancy. She was a terrible liar, but she wasn’t a bad actor. She threw herself at Pa and he gave her a one-armed hug as the knot of concerned women scattered out of the way.

  Tash marched up to them. ‘He probably needs a glass of water. And fresh air. Don’t crowd him. He feels faint if he’s too hot.’

  Obediently, still murmuring, the women drew back so Tash could wheel Pa outside. Someone brought water and they parked in the shade while Pa fanned himself with one hand. He really didn’t look very well; he was an even better actor than Clancy. He gave her another wink at one point, and Clancy was scared that someone would notice and think he was having another stroke, but luckily nobody did. One by one the ladies drifted away, saying things like he seems all right now and I’ll tell Lesley not to worry about finding the nurse.

  When they’d all gone, Tash wheeled Pa out of the courtyard, down toward the big hall, to a secluded spot under a tree where there was a bench looking out over the dam. Pa’s glass of water sloshed onto his borrowed pants.

  ‘Sp-sp!’ said Pa crossly, plucking at the wet cloth.

  ‘Aren’t you going to ask if we got it?’ said Tash.

  ‘Sp-sp?’

  ‘Well, we did. Thanks to Clancy.’

  ‘Sp-sp!’ Pa gave Clancy a high-five as Tash spread the paper out onto her knee.

  Pip’s address was in Cockatoo Bay.

  ‘Where’s that?’ said Clancy.

  Tash rolled her eyes. ‘On the coast.’

  ‘Well, duh,’ said Clancy.

  ‘On the Great Ocean Road,’ Tash clarified. ‘Miranda’s grandparents’ holiday house is round there somewhere. We drove through Cockatoo Bay that Easter when I stayed with her.’

  Geography was not Clancy’s strong point, though she was pretty good at European countries because she was a fan of the Eurovision Song Contest. Feeling very businesslike, she said, ‘Train? Or taxi?’

  Tash gave her a look. ‘A taxi would cost about three hundred dollars. Maybe more. And there’s no train. Only buses. I know we’ve still got Pa’s stash, but that is way too much money to waste on a taxi.’

  Clancy’s heart sank. She couldn’t see how even Nan’s moony superpowers were going to solve this one. ‘So how are we going to get there?’

  ‘Let me think.’ Tash threw herself back on the grass and covered her eyes with her arm, which is why she didn’t see Toby coming.

  ‘Hey,’ he said, and Tash jumped.

  Clancy laughed, Pa smiled, and Toby grinned as he lowered himself to the grass beside Clancy. ‘Just me. Nothing to be scared of.’

  ‘She was thinking,’ said Clancy.

  ‘Yeah? Thinking about what?’

  ‘Logistics,’ said Tash crossly.

  ‘Anything I can help with?’

  Tash pointed. ‘Me, him, her. To Cockatoo Bay. Today. Preferably before Bee – I mean Atma – organises to stick us on a train back to the city. Any ideas welcome.’

  Toby stretched out his long legs. The sunlight glinted on his black curls. ‘Why Cockatoo Bay?’

  ‘Your job is to come up with answers,’ said Tash. ‘Not more questions.’

  ‘Our aunt lives there,’ Clancy told him. ‘Another one of Pa’s daughters. It’s Plan C. This was Plan B, but it hasn’t worked out. So Pip is Plan C. Because she’s by the sea—’ Clancy heard herself babbling, and shut up.

  When Toby smiled, two small dimples appeared by the corners of his mouth. ‘You guys all fitted into our car okay last night, didn’t you?’

  ‘Eventually. After the wheelchair folded up.’

  ‘We-ell,’ said Toby. ‘It just so happens that I was going to ask my mums to drop me at Cockatoo Bay anyway. And I reckon if we were giving you guys a lift, they might just do it.’

  ‘Seriousl
y?’ gasped Clancy. Nan’s magic was at work again!

  Tash sat up, squinting at Toby suspiciously. ‘Why do you want to go to Cockatoo Bay?’

  ‘I thought you were looking for answers?’ said Toby. ‘Not more questions?’

  ‘Ha ha,’ said Tash. ‘Seriously, why?’

  Toby scratched his nose. ‘A mate from school’s staying down there for summer. He invited me down after Christmas, but I’d already promised Mum and Ma I’d come here.’ His pale face turned slightly pink. ‘We used to come here every year when I was a kid. Mum and Ma love it, and they guilted me into it … ’

  ‘I think it’s kind of cool here, to be honest,’ said Clancy.

  Toby shot her a surprised, grateful glance, and the colour in his cheeks faded. He scrambled up. ‘I’ll ask my mums. Give me an hour to work on them. I reckon they’ll say yes. They love helping people out. A nurse and a social worker, what do you expect?’

  Toby waved cheerfully as he walked back up the grassy slope to the ashram buildings.

  ‘Sp-sp-sp!’ said Pa.

  ‘Yeah, he’s okay, I guess,’ admitted Tash grudgingly.

  He’s lovely, Clancy wanted to say; but she knew how Tash would react if she did. And she didn’t like Toby like that; she just thought he was a good person. Everyone was going to start getting all romantic next year, she supposed crossly, now they were starting high school … This year. Bugger.

  ‘Sp-sp-sp?’ Pa was asking Tash.

  Tash said, ‘He’s not my type.’

  Relief was Clancy’s first reaction. Then she said, ‘Who is your type, Tash?’ It had never occurred to Clancy to ask this before. It struck her that, in spite of sharing a house and some DNA with her, there were a lot of things she didn’t know about her sister.

  ‘None of your business,’ said Tash instantly. ‘But not him. You can have him, peanut.’

  And there it was. ‘I don’t want him,’ said Clancy crossly. ‘I don’t want anybody.’

  ‘Oh, relax,’ said Tash kindly. ‘Everyone dates someone one day. Even you.’