‘Is it all right? Too spicy? We can try the other restaurant next time. Unless … you do like Thai, don’t you?’
Clancy muttered, ‘It’s fine.’
Tash said, ‘Clancy hates curry. She hates everything, pretty much, except cereal.’
‘Oh! I didn’t realise … But you know, cereal is not good for your teeth … I’ll pick some up tomorrow.’
‘It’s fine.’ Clancy scowled at Tash and scooped up a forkful of plain rice. Of course Tash would eat anything. Tash loved spices. Tash would try any bizarre culinary experiment that Tim served up – eel or brussels sprouts or blue cheese sauce, food that any normal person would gag at.
At least the food Polly provided wasn’t as weird as that. In fact, Clancy didn’t mind being at Polly’s too much, as she had good wi-fi. Lucky Clancy had remembered to bring the iPad. She lay on the couch in Polly’s neat, dim, apparently-never-used living room, mildly bored, watching videos for hours, while Tash prowled the hot streets outside like a tiger on the loose, hunting for entertainment. The couple of days that Harriet and Tim had promised to be away stretched into three, then four.
By Wednesday night, Polly had become almost as restless as Tash. At last, reluctantly, guiltily, their aunt confessed that she had plans of her own. She had booked a trip to Sydney, weeks ago, to spend a few days with friends. ‘I’m supposed to leave tomorrow … But of course I can’t go while you’re still here, can I?’
Polly has friends? thought Clancy in genuine surprise.
‘You should totally go,’ said Tash immediately. ‘Don’t worry about us.’
‘Is there any chance your parents might be back by tomorrow night? Or even Friday might be all right, I suppose … ?’
‘Definitely,’ said Tash promptly. ‘Last night Dad said the end of the week, for sure.’
‘I don’t want them to rush back because of me. I did promise to look after you.’
‘You’d only be leaving us for one night, tops.’
‘Are you sure you’d be okay?’ It felt as if Polly were begging for their permission. ‘I don’t get away very often, and I was looking forward to it …’
Clancy said nothing, but she didn’t want Polly to leave them all alone, not even for one night.
‘I promise I won’t throw a party or anything,’ said Tash.
‘Oh! I didn’t even think of that!’ Polly screwed up her face anxiously. ‘But I know I can trust you. If you’re absolutely sure …’
‘Absolutely,’ said Tash.
And Polly went.
‘I can’t believe she actually did that,’ marvelled Clancy later, still shocked, even long after everything that happened next.
‘Maybe not her best call,’ agreed Tash.
Early on Thursday morning, just before Polly dived into her Uber to the airport, she said, ‘Will you do me a favour, girls, if you get a chance? Go and visit your grandfather. I usually pop in before work on a Thursday.’
Tash was offended. ‘I was going to visit Pa anyway. I’ve already been. Twice.’
‘Clancy?’ Polly hovered with one foot in the car. ‘I know Pa would love to see you.’
Clancy squirmed. ‘Yeah, okay,’ she muttered.
The car door slammed, and Polly was driven away.
Tash threw her arms in the air. ‘Free at last!’ She pointed at Clancy. ‘And you’re coming to visit Pa today. You promised.’
‘Can’t I stay here?’ pleaded Clancy.
‘If you don’t come, maybe I will throw that party after all—’
‘Tash! You wouldn’t!’
‘Not if you come and see Pa.’
‘Okay, okay.’
Clancy slumped against the doorway while Tash stalked inside. It was so early that a single star still lingered low in the dawn sky. Was it the same star she’d seen before, the night Tim left them here? It must be Venus, thought Clancy, the morning star that was actually not a star at all, but a planet … Morning star, evening star, a steady silver light that would become invisible when the sun rose.
But of course Venus would still be there. It struck Clancy for the first time, with a pleased, private sense of discovery, that the stars didn’t really ‘come out’ when night fell; they were there all the time. It was just that the sun’s light was so bright that you couldn’t see them anymore.
It made Clancy wonder what else might be lurking around, invisible to the eye. Just because you couldn’t see something didn’t prove it didn’t exist. You couldn’t see gravity, but that was real … so maybe all kinds of things like ghosts and magic and UFOs were real, too …
A prickle ran down Clancy’s spine, and she hurried inside after her sister.
Clancy trailed slowly behind Tash as they walked to The Elms, the aged care home where Pa had lived since he had his stroke, four years ago. The sun was hot and high in the sky, and the shadows of the tree trunks made crisp stripes across the pavement. Clancy loved Pa, of course, and she wanted to see him. But she hated going to The Elms.
That was because Pa hated The Elms, too.
Before his stroke, before Nan died, Pa had had a great life. He and Nan had travelled all around Australia finding rare birds for Nan to photograph and Pa to record in his observation notebook. Now Nan’s photographs and Pa’s notebooks were in boxes, shut in a cupboard in Pa’s room. He didn’t often take them out. There weren’t many opportunities for birdwatching at The Elms. There was a canary in a cage, but you could only note that once.
The Elms was only a few blocks away from Polly’s house. That was the main reason why Pa had ended up living here: so it would be easy for Polly to drop in and see him. But Polly worked long hours and Pa went to bed early, and now Polly only visited her father a couple of times a week.
Tash strode briskly ahead. If Clancy hadn’t been with her, she probably would have run, despite the heat. Tash loved to run; she played football; she was always in a hurry. Clancy preferred to take things slowly. And carefully. Watching her sister’s back disappearing down the driveway of The Elms, Clancy felt both guilty and annoyed.
Clancy dawdled as Tash punched in the security code and held the automatic sliding doors open impatiently. She arrived at the doorway just in time to see a ginger cat slink out and vanish into the bushes.
‘Tash! You let the cat out!’
‘Only because you’re so slow.’ Tash marched up to the shrubbery. ‘Hey, cat! Come here!’
‘Don’t yell like that, you’ll scare him.’ Clancy peered through the leaves. ‘Puss, puss. Come on, Ginger,’ she coaxed, but the cat refused to emerge.
‘It’s not coming,’ said Tash.
‘Maybe if we leave the door open, he’ll come back in by himself?’ suggested Clancy.
‘I’m not standing here all day!’
‘What about the poor cat? What if it gets run over?’
Tash shrugged. ‘You can stay here and wait for the stupid cat if you want to. I’m going to see Pa.’
‘Tash!’ wailed Clancy, but her sister had already whisked herself inside.
Clancy stood for a few moments in the doorway, half in and half out, feeling the cool air-conditioning on her sweaty skin. She glanced nervously at the reception desk, but the chair behind it was empty. The receptionist must have been taking a lunch break. There was no movement from the cat.