well. Now would be a good time for us to admit how deeply Carly’s disappearance had affected us both.
But we don’t do the serious conversation thing, her and me.
Eventually Xanthippe said, ‘Okay, I’m going to bed.’
And I said, ‘Sleep well.’
She looked at the dress again and snickered on her way out, so I threw a magazine at her. I guess we were doing okay. For a given value of ‘okay’.
8
GINGERBREAD FORUMS: Q&A
Seelyluvs: so how’d you come up with The Gingerbread House idea? (can I steal it?) How did you all get together?
Gingernutz: steal away, though be careful what you’re getting into. Living your life live on the web isn’t for everyone.
Cherry_ripe: About two years ago, me and Pepperminty (the other founder of The Gingerbread House) answered an ad Ginge put up for a 3 bedroom uni share house. It was still going to be a push for us to pay the rent, and we talked about how hard it would be to get jobs and manage our classes at the same time. The webcams thing was an accident at first — I had a long distance relationship going on with my boyfriend at the time, and we tried talking to each other over Skype — way cheaper than the phone…
Gingernutz: and one day I walked in on Cherry buck naked, putting on a show for her boy…
Cherry_ripe: shut up, you wish!
Gingernutz: well, we joked about it. Pepperminty reckoned we could wire up the house for visuals and sound, and charge subscriptions. She was the smart internet person, set up the website and everything.
Cherry_ripe: we figured we’d do it for a month, but we got hooked! We just love getting to talk to you guys all around the world, who tune in to us every day. And it doesn’t hurt to not have to worry about the rent thanks to our AMAZEBALLS subscribers. We love you guys so much!
Gingernutz: Pepperminty left us, but we got French_vanilla in to replace her. Now, she *really* thought we were bananas when she met us.
French_vanilla: you are bananas. But I love you.
Gingernutz: *snogs*
Two days after Xanthippe’s dinner party with the Gingerbread women, I found a sullen teenager on my doorstep. He was dressed in the usual boy uniform — baggy trousers, sneakers, a band T-shirt in a font too messy to read.
‘I’m Shay French,’ he said, eyes flickering at me and then lowering.
‘I remember you,’ I said. Yeah, I remembered him leaning on the convertible and doing his best to chat up Xanthippe. Cocky little bugger who thought he was God’s gift. I managed not to say something bitchy now, because I was running through the facts I’d picked up about him from the media coverage of his sister’s murder.
Seamus French (17) was Annabeth’s younger brother. When I last saw this kid, he was hanging around with Jason Avery. It must suck beyond reason to have your mate arrested for murdering your sister. It had obviously knocked the stuffing out of him — there was none of that flirty over-confidence now.
‘You were looking for Anna,’ he blurted now. ‘That day. I wondered…’ He ran out of words, shrugging and lapsing into silence.
I had no idea what Shay wanted from me, but I made it easy for him. ‘Want to go for a walk?’
‘Yeah,’ he said, relaxing a bit around the shoulders.
I locked up the house, and gestured the way. My place is a good ten minutes’ walk from the beach. You have to cross suburbia and shopping streets before you get close enough to sniff the salt. But I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be one of those chats you got through fast.
Shay didn’t seem to mind where we walked. He loped along beside me, hands shoved into pockets. The silence yawned on.
‘I wasn’t actually looking for Anna,’ I said when we were only a street away from the esplanade. ‘I mean, I thought I was, but I wasn’t. There was this other girl living in Hobart pretending to be her, did you know about that?’
‘I read the papers,’ Shay said with an ‘I’m not stupid’
But we don’t do the serious conversation thing, her and me.
Eventually Xanthippe said, ‘Okay, I’m going to bed.’
And I said, ‘Sleep well.’
She looked at the dress again and snickered on her way out, so I threw a magazine at her. I guess we were doing okay. For a given value of ‘okay’.
8
GINGERBREAD FORUMS: Q&A
Seelyluvs: so how’d you come up with The Gingerbread House idea? (can I steal it?) How did you all get together?
Gingernutz: steal away, though be careful what you’re getting into. Living your life live on the web isn’t for everyone.
Cherry_ripe: About two years ago, me and Pepperminty (the other founder of The Gingerbread House) answered an ad Ginge put up for a 3 bedroom uni share house. It was still going to be a push for us to pay the rent, and we talked about how hard it would be to get jobs and manage our classes at the same time. The webcams thing was an accident at first — I had a long distance relationship going on with my boyfriend at the time, and we tried talking to each other over Skype — way cheaper than the phone…
Gingernutz: and one day I walked in on Cherry buck naked, putting on a show for her boy…
Cherry_ripe: shut up, you wish!
Gingernutz: well, we joked about it. Pepperminty reckoned we could wire up the house for visuals and sound, and charge subscriptions. She was the smart internet person, set up the website and everything.
Cherry_ripe: we figured we’d do it for a month, but we got hooked! We just love getting to talk to you guys all around the world, who tune in to us every day. And it doesn’t hurt to not have to worry about the rent thanks to our AMAZEBALLS subscribers. We love you guys so much!
Gingernutz: Pepperminty left us, but we got French_vanilla in to replace her. Now, she *really* thought we were bananas when she met us.
French_vanilla: you are bananas. But I love you.
Gingernutz: *snogs*
Two days after Xanthippe’s dinner party with the Gingerbread women, I found a sullen teenager on my doorstep. He was dressed in the usual boy uniform — baggy trousers, sneakers, a band T-shirt in a font too messy to read.
‘I’m Shay French,’ he said, eyes flickering at me and then lowering.
‘I remember you,’ I said. Yeah, I remembered him leaning on the convertible and doing his best to chat up Xanthippe. Cocky little bugger who thought he was God’s gift. I managed not to say something bitchy now, because I was running through the facts I’d picked up about him from the media coverage of his sister’s murder.
Seamus French (17) was Annabeth’s younger brother. When I last saw this kid, he was hanging around with Jason Avery. It must suck beyond reason to have your mate arrested for murdering your sister. It had obviously knocked the stuffing out of him — there was none of that flirty over-confidence now.
‘You were looking for Anna,’ he blurted now. ‘That day. I wondered…’ He ran out of words, shrugging and lapsing into silence.
I had no idea what Shay wanted from me, but I made it easy for him. ‘Want to go for a walk?’
‘Yeah,’ he said, relaxing a bit around the shoulders.
I locked up the house, and gestured the way. My place is a good ten minutes’ walk from the beach. You have to cross suburbia and shopping streets before you get close enough to sniff the salt. But I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be one of those chats you got through fast.
Shay didn’t seem to mind where we walked. He loped along beside me, hands shoved into pockets. The silence yawned on.
‘I wasn’t actually looking for Anna,’ I said when we were only a street away from the esplanade. ‘I mean, I thought I was, but I wasn’t. There was this other girl living in Hobart pretending to be her, did you know about that?’
‘I read the papers,’ Shay said with an ‘I’m not stupid’
Similar Books
