After a while
Nanna stirred in her recliner, looked over and said, ‘my goodness, it’s already
after nine.’
And I can’t
believe I’ve been reading for over two hours, Jessie thought. But the
adventures of archaeologist and poet Cairo Jim in Egypt had swept her away into
an imaginary world. Cairo Jim’s companions Doris the Macaw and Brenda the
Wonder Camel were great fun and Jessie couldn’t wait to read the next chapter.
Reluctantly she put down the book and kissed Nanna goodnight.
Well, I’ve got
through the first day, Jessie thought as she crawled into bed and closed her
eyes. Now all I have to do is make it through the rest. I wish mum and dad were
here … and as she pulled the doona up to her chin and closed her eyes, a tear
trickled down her cheek.
And then her
eyes were open again.
What was that?
Jessie yawned.
Was that someone talking? Yes, it was a lady’s voice. It’s probably Nanna, she
thought, maybe she’s calling me. Stepping down onto the soft lambswool rug that
lay on the floor beside her bed, Jessie put on her slippers.
The voice
spoke again. Funny, it didn’t really sound like Nanna, but it had to be, didn’t
it? Who else could it be?
Maybe, Jessie thought,
Nanna talks in her sleep. Sarah told Jessie she had talked in her sleep for
ages after their parents had … no, I don’t want to think about that she told
herself as she padded across to the door.
Moonlight was
streaming in through her bedroom window, creating sinister shapes on the walls.
Jessie wrapped her arms aroung herself as she turned the handle and the door
opened with a deafening squeak. Out in the pitch black hallway she glanced up
towards the front door and then down to the kitchen. Once her eyes had adjusted
to the darkness she crossed over to Nanna’s room. Her teeth had begun to
chatter as she peeked in through Nanna’s slightly open door.
Nanna was
lying in her bed, the doona up to her chin. Jessie listened for a few seconds
but there wasn’t a sound. In fact, she couldn’t remember ever having heard such
silence. It was freezing out here, Jessie thought, as she hurried back to her
own room and dived back into bed.
Nanna was obviously
talking in her sleep; that was the only conclusion. Jessie lay there with her
eyes closed, rubbing her hands together to get them warm. But what if it wasn’t
Nanna?
And then
Jessie’s whole body began to shiver. Was there someone outside the house,
walking around in the middle of the night? Jessie turned over on her stomach
and pulled the pillow up over her head. Trembling, she started to count cute
fluffy cream lambs jumping over a low white picket fence, something Sarah had
taught her to do last year, until she finally fell into a dreamless sleep.
When Jessie
awoke the next morning her first thought was of the voice she had heard during
the night. But the aroma of sizzling bacon in a pan was far more enticing as
she slipped out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown.
‘Yum,’ she
said as she sat down at the kitchen table, ‘that smells great, Nanna.’
Nanna turned
around and there was a loud squeal, ‘Oh Jessie, I didn’t hear you come in,’ she
yelled as she adjusted her left ear. Jessie flinched at the sound but stopped
herself from putting her hands over her ears.
‘Will you have
bacon and eggs for breakfast?’
‘Yep,’ Jessie
enthused. She couldn’t remember the last time Sarah had made breakfast, it was
always just cereal.
Nanna slipped
two slices of bread into the toaster as Jessie said, ‘Nanna?’
‘Yes, love.’
‘I heard a
voice last night, and I wondered if you ever talk in your sleep.’
‘Well, I don’t
think so Jessie, Pop never said anything. But I suppose it’s possible. Or
perhaps you were just dreaming, love.’
‘I don’t think
so, Nanna. I woke up and got out of bed. I thought you were calling me.’
Nanna’s
eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement.
‘You were
asleep when I looked into your room. I got worried, I thought maybe there was
someone outside.’
‘It could have
been voices from the road,’ Nanna said as she turned and scraped a generous
serve of butter onto Jessie’s toast.
‘What do you
mean?’
‘Well, you
know Jessie, out here in the country sounds travel at night across great
distances, particularly when there’s a breeze. It may have just been a
neighbour, but I wouldn’t worry about it. You’re quite safe here with me.’
‘I know
Nanna.’
‘Would you
like one or two eggs?’
Jessie was
lost in thought as she scooped runny eggs onto her toast and sliced it up.
Nanna always took her hearing aids out after dinner so she knew Nanna wouldn’t
hear anything at night, even if there was a voice. And Jessie doubted it had
come from the road as Nanna’s house was way too far away from it.
Nanna
interrupted her thoughts. ‘I need to do the rounds of the fruit trees this
morning, love, but later on we’ll get those old photograph albums down and you
can take a look. Do you want to walk with me - you could help me collect some
of the fruit.’
‘Okay,’ Jessie
said as she took her empty plate over to the sink and rinsed it.
‘You go get
dressed and I’ll see to all of this,’ Nanna said.
Minutes later
Jessie was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers. As she brushed her
shoulder length brown hair up into a ponytail, she thought, well I’ve made it
through the first night. Only six to go.
Nanna’s two dozen or so
fruit trees were down by a dam that was glistening in the morning sun. It really
was very different from home, Jessie thought as wandered in and out of rows of
orange and grapefruit trees, filling her basket with ripe fruit. Sniffing the
air, she thought how different everything smelled too, it was so … fresh.
As they
wandered back up to the house Nanna said, ‘Unfortunately I only have so few
pecan trees and the nuts aren’t quite ready this time. Remember last time you
were here I baked a pecan pie for you?’
‘Yep, it was
great. Sometimes we go to the bakery and Sarah has pecan pie, but she says it’s
never as good as yours.’
‘Must be the
nuts,’ Nanna said as they reached the house. Jessie saw she was smiling.
‘Can I look at
those photos now Nanna?’ Jessie asked as she hauled the basket of oranges and
grapefruits up onto the kitchen bench.
‘Of course you
can. But let’s have a hot drink first - would you like a cup of tea, or a hot
chocolate?’
‘Hot
chocolate,’ Jessie replied, hoping it wouldn’t be too hot. She was eager to get
into the photo albums.
Jessie
finished her hot chocolate and looked expectedly at Nanna. ‘They’re just up
there in the loft, Jessie,’ Nanna said as she pointed to a square hole in the
ceiling. ‘I pulled the albums out of the chest and left them just on the edge.
How about I just pass them down to you?’
Nanna brought
a ladder in from outside, opened it up and placed it directly underneath the
square hole. As she did, Jessie peered up into the darkness, wondering how
Nanna had managed to get up there at
all
.
‘It’s only a
small loft, really just for storage,’ Nanna said as she put her foot on the
first rung.
‘It’s okay
Nanna, I’ll go,’ Jessie said.
Nanna
hesitated but Jessie thought she actually looked relieved. ‘Well, they’re very
heavy Jessie. Just pass them down to me one at a time. And do be careful
sweetie, this ladder is very steep.’
‘Sure Nanna.’
‘And take this
torch. We don’t want you putting your hands anywhere you shouldn’t.’
Nanna held on
to the ladder as Jessie started up, slowly taking one rung at a time. Nanna was
right, it was very steep and by the time Jessie’s head was sticking up through
the hole in the ceiling her knees were quivering from the climb.
She reached in
with her arms and placed her elbows on the floor of the loft. Then she turned
on the torch. As Nanna had said, the albums were right there, and just as well,
Jessie thought. Even though the floor was clean, hundreds of patterned spider
webs covered the timber beams inside the roof.
Jessie handed
each of the six photograph albums down to Nanna.
‘Can you pull
the hatch cover over while you’re up there love? Hopefully we won’t need to go
up again.’
Jessie passed
down the torch and stepped back down a couple of rungs, pulling the hatch
closed behind her. Backing down to the floor she saw that Nanna had already
loaded up the kitchen table with the albums and was opening the first.
A fine grey
mist rose from the pages and Nanna started to cough.
‘They’re a bit
dusty, Jessie,’ she croaked and then cleared her throat. ‘After all, they’ve
been up there a very long time. Here,’ Nanna said, as she grabbed a tea towel,
‘why don’t you wipe them over as you go.’
Each
photograph had a caption below it with the names of the people in the photo and
the date it had been taken. Jessie studied the faces of pop and his brother
Harold and saw how closely they resembled the portrait in the hallway.
‘They’re just
like in the portrait, Nanna.’
‘Yes, it’s
amazing isn’t it,’ she said as she picked up her knitting. ‘I really admire
artists that can paint such likenesses.’
Amongst the
albums were photos of Nanna as a young girl, Nanna engaged to pop, and then
pictures of their wedding. But after a while Jessie started to lose interest
and was ready to do something different. She closed the last album as Nanna put
down her knitting and said, ‘Now I have a surprise for you, Jessie.’
‘Really?’
Jessie said without any real enthusiasm. What surprise could Nanna possibly
have for her – all the way out here?
‘I have a new
neighbour. Her name is Fleur and she only moved in a few weeks ago. She’s your
mum’s age and we’ve had coffee a couple of times. When I told her you were
coming to stay she invited us both over for afternoon tea. Won’t that be nice?’
Jessie rolled
her eyes, away from Nanna.
‘Yep,’ she
said, wishing the surprise had been something else, anything else in fact.’
‘But there’s
something else, Jessie. Fleur has a daughter and she’s about
your
age.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. Her name
is Harmony and she lives with Fleur some of the time and with her dad at other
times. But Harmony is here this week and we thought perhaps you two might like
to spend some time together.’
‘Yeah, I
guess.’ Great! Someone to talk to.
‘Fleur is an
artist, Jessie. She moved here from the city – she says it helps her creativity
to be away from all of that.’
‘What sort of
artist?’ Jessie asked.
‘She paints …
well, interesting things really. Very bright colours; I’m sure you’ll enjoy
seeing them.’
Fleur was
seated in front of an easel in her front garden when Jessie and Nanna arrived.
She wore a white coat, like a doctor’s uniform, only it was covered in
splotches of different coloured paints. And underneath Jessie could see a long
purple dress which flowed out all around her. Fleur had really long blonde hair
that fell all the way to her hips. Maybe all artists look like this, Jessie
thought. After all, she’d never met one before.
‘Fleur, this
is my granddaughter Jessie.’ There was a deafening squeal as Nanna fiddled
quickly with her right ear.
‘It’s lovely
to meet you Jessie,’ Fleur said, smiling as she ignored the noise from Nanna’s
hearing aid. ‘I’m afraid my daughter Harmony is glued to her computer, but I’m
sure she’ll be out soon.’
‘You have a
computer?’
‘Yes. Would
you like to see it?’
‘That’d be
great
.’
Fleur put down
her paints, wiped her hands on a towel and led Jessie and Nanna through the
house. As she walked, her purple dress flicked from side to side and her long
blonde hair swung across her back like a pendulum.
Jessie made a
quick study of the paintings that seemed to cover every wall. They were
interesting, and the colours were amazing – splashes of bright blues, and
greens, and yellows and pinks. But she couldn’t really decide what they were
all about.
Harmony was
sitting at the computer with her back to the door.
‘You stupid,
stupid machine!’ she said, ‘Why can’t you just do what I ask?’
‘Harmony?’
Fleur interrupted, ‘This is Jessie.’
Harmony turned
around slowly, a frown on her face. Jessie thought she looked maybe a year or
so older than herself. Harmony’s hair was black, short and in a bob. She wore a
black shirt over jeans and she had dark makeup around her eyes. Jessie saw her
nails were also painted black.
‘Hello,’ she
said.