Squishy Taylor and the Bonus Sisters (4 page)

Mum frowns. ‘Your cranky next-door neighbour? Well, I don’t imagine Alice took that lying down.’

I grin. ‘She didn’t. She yelled right back.’

Mum does her funny sideways smile. ‘Well, I’ll say this for Tom, he’s got good taste.’ She’s complimenting herself and Alice, more than Dad. Mum thinks Dad is pretty annoying, so annoying that she had to break up with him back when I was little. But she was happy when he found Alice, a girlfriend who was
smart
and
strong
. Mum likes Alice, especially now they’re on opposite sides of the world.

Then I think about the tears in Alice’s eyes tonight. I stop smiling.

‘She said she was a bad mum,’ I say.

‘Well, that’s a stupid thing to say.’ It’s the same tone Mum uses when I tell her I can’t do something. Half-irritated, half-supportive.

There’s a pause.

I ask, ‘If I wanted to, could I come to Geneva?’

Mum shifts her arms and leans in towards the screen. ‘Sweetheart. Of course you can, if that’s what you want … But we did talk about it a lot.’

We did. I wanted to stay at my school. And Mum will be home in seven months and one week.

After goodnight kisses, I lie in my bunk in the dark, thinking about how
cranky
Mr Hinkenbushel was and how horrible it is when he shouts.

‘We should get him back,’ I say. I don’t need to tell Jessie and Vee who I’m talking about.

‘I can’t believe he shouted because we
washed the car,’
Vee says.

I know that’s not really why he shouted. But anyway, it’s not fair.

‘Did you see Mum’s face?’ Jessie asks.

The bunk creaks and I can tell they are both rolling over, thinking about his
mean shouty voice
and her tears.

‘We should do something to make him wish he didn’t shout,’ I say.

‘Make him wish he’d never been born,’ Vee agrees.

‘Vengeance on our enemies,’ Jessie says. She likes big words.

‘
The Hinkenbushel Revenge Club
,’ I say.

Vee does a
Rolling-Spin-Drop
down to my bunk. ‘Come on.’ She drops again to Jessie. I follow down the ladder. I want to try Vee’s bunk-bed move, but not in the dark when we’re trying to be quiet.

We are all together on Jessie’s bunk.

‘Let’s swear an
oath
,’ Vee says. (I think she’s inspired by swearing to protect John Smith.)

‘Hands on,’ Jessie says, and we knock shoulders and elbows as we shuffle our hands out onto the pillow.

‘What should we swear?’ I ask.

‘To get back at Mr Hinkenbushel for yelling at us and Mum, and to keep the club a secret forever and ever.’

‘I swear,’ I say.

‘I swear,’ says Vee.

‘I swear,’ says Jessie. Then she does a funny little hand wriggle. ‘Boom! We are: the Hinkenbushel Revenge Club,’ she says in a TV-announcer voice.

We all burst out laughing. It’s funny how her announcer voice actually makes us feel like a team.

‘Kids!’ Alice calls from the lounge room. ‘It’s way past bedtime.’

We scramble to our own bunks and lie in bed, silent for a while. I’m thinking about how much fun Jessie has been tonight. Then I remember John Smith. I wonder if we told Jessie about him, it would be
more
of an adventure.

Jessie whispers, ‘We could leave things on Mr Hinkenbushel’s doorstep so he trips over them.’

‘We could sneak up behind him and stick “
kick me
” notes on his back,’ I suggest with a giggle in my throat.

‘We could throw rotten fruit from our balcony to his balcony,’ Vee says and we are all laughing again.

‘Kids!’
Alice shouts and we snort into our pillows.

I’m so happy, lying in the dark, laughing and trying to be quiet. For the first time ever, I think maybe my stepsisters
are
actually kind of a bonus.

I wait again until everyone is asleep and then tiptoe down to John Smith. As I press the lift button to get down to the basement, I start to wonder for the first time how John Smith got in there. The front door needs a swipe card and the garage roller-door needs a beeper.

The roti bread got a bit
smooshed
when I was lying on it, talking with Mum. But John looks pretty happy to eat something.

‘How did you get in here?’ I ask. ‘Did you run in behind a car when the door went up?’

‘Show you,’ he grins.

He leads me down to the other end of the car park, where a little grate near the roof looks out at the footpath. He stands on the bonnet of the car in apartment 503’s spot and reaches up to
jiggle
the grate. It pulls off in his hands. Then he hauls himself up through the hole. It looks a bit hard, but I think I can do it.

I
slither
up through the hole, out onto the street.

‘This,’ he gestures grandly, ‘is my own personal bathroom.’

The old green public toilet is right opposite the grate.

‘Aren’t your parents worried about you?’ I ask, suddenly worried about him myself. He can’t hide in our basement forever.

‘They don’t care,’ he mutters.

‘They won’t put you in jail,’ I say. ‘Not for borrowing a tram.’

‘It’ll be worse than jail,’ John says.

I don’t know how to answer that, so I just stand there for a bit.

‘Vee and I are bringing you jelly snakes tomorrow,’ I say. ‘It’s Saturday.
Pocket-Money Day
.’

I’m thinking hard. I bet his parents
are
worried. And I bet they don’t want him to go to jail either. I need to find a way to talk it over with Vee.

‘Can I come to rock-climbing?’ I ask, dipping
toast-fingers
into my egg.

Everyone stares at me. I never want to go rock-climbing because Saturday is Dad Day. But talking to Vee feels more important.

‘Are you sure, sweetheart?’ Dad asks.

I nod. It’s perfect. Jessie will be at her violin lesson. I’m sure we can find a moment away from Alice.

Only problem is that the last time Alice suggested I come, Vee scowled. Later I found used teabags in my shoes. I swallow, waiting for her to say no.

‘You’ll need to tie back your hair,’ Vee says.

I grin.

After breakfast Vee tries to help me pull the
masses of curls
up into a knotty ponytail. My hair springs around everywhere and we both start laughing. No-one knows how to deal with my hair except Mum.

I suddenly realise Jessie is doing
snake-eyes
at me again. I think she might hate it when I hang out with her twin. It gives me a mini sense of triumph.

We catch the tram together to Rockers, the rock-climbing centre, and Alice signs a piece of paper about me at the front desk.

‘The
death form
,’ Vee whispers in a
fake-scary
voice.

Vee helps me into the harness and then Alice checks it’s all OK. The walls are really, really high, with little plastic knobbly bits in different colours going all the way to the top. There are heaps of other people along the wall at different heights, like flies.

I realise this was a fairly
drastic
plan for a way to talk to Vee.

Vee climbs first, and Alice shows me how to hold the rope to make sure she doesn’t fall. She points out that Vee is using only one colour of knobbly bits. ‘They’re different levels of difficulty.’

I stare up at Vee. She’s barely holding onto the wall with her fingertips! How can someone’s fingers be so strong? She climbs higher and higher – almost to the roof.

By the time it’s my turn I’m feeling
jittery
. What if I fall?

‘I’ve got you,’ Alice says, tugging the rope so it almost lifts me at the waist. I laugh, but it’s a scared kind of laugh. I wonder if Vee can tell.

I start climbing. It’s easy. My fingertips hold tight to the grips and I just clamber up, up, up. Looking for each new grip is fun and it’s satisfying to feel my arms spread wide across the wall.

‘I’m like a
ninja
!’ I call, looking down.

Really bad move.

Alice and Vee are tiny. It’s a long way to the floor.

What am I doing here? Why did I come? I don’t even care about John or talking with Vee. I just care about not dying.

I’m frozen. My ears are buzzing. I realise that Vee and Alice are calling to me but I block them out. I just grip the wall and don’t let go. My hands hurt. I need to wee.

The next thing I know, Vee is on the wall next to me. ‘
Freaking out?
’ she grins.

And suddenly the world feels normal again. ‘Not much,’ I say.

‘Let go of the wall,’ she says. ‘Mum can lower you down.’

Letting go feels like a really bad plan, but Alice gives me an encouraging tug on my harness. I
grit
my teeth and loosen my fingers. I swing into the air, but I don’t fall – I stay right there. The harness feels a bit like a
hug
.

‘If you hold this rope, you can lower yourself down,’ Vee says. She shows me how to kick out from the wall and drift towards the ground. It’s really fun. For some reason, having control feels safer than letting Alice do it.

‘Can I have another go?’ I ask as my feet hit the floor.

Alice laughs. ‘Have a rest,’ she says.