Read Online New Guinea Moon by Kate Constable - Free Book Online Page A

up. ‘Now I have to figure out what to wear. Come and help, Julie.’
    Julie wriggles out of Ryan’s embrace. ‘Just for a minute,’ she says apologetically. ‘Girl stuff.’
    Ryan scowls and strums a chord. ‘Don’t take too long.’

    Two nights later, Julie walks with tentative steps into fairyland. Teddie and Andy’s garden glows with Chinese lanterns of scarlet paper, and garlands of white flowers looped between the trees. Soft music and golden light stream from the windows, echoing the tangerine flush of the declining sun.
    Julie is the first to arrive, because the Spargos’ house is just two doors up from Tony’s. Her father rang, mid-afternoon, from the HAC terminal. ‘Looks like I’ll be stuck here for a while, mate. If I’m not back in time for Andy’s Christmas whatsit, don’t wait for me, you go along and I’ll meet you there. You’ll be right, won’t you?’
    Julie said it didn’t matter, that she didn’t mind at all, but as she picks her way up the Spargos’ steep driveway, she wishes she’d stayed at the Crabtrees’ house after all, and arrived with them. Even though she’s wearing her best party dress, and a necklace borrowed from Nadine, there is something forlorn about arriving at a party alone.
    Teddie draws her inside. ‘I’m glad you’re early. Come and sit on the bed while I put my face on.’
    Julie follows her into the bedroom, feeling suddenly childish in her pale blue floaty dress. Teddie is wearing a tight, high-collared Chinese dress of creamy silk, her long copper hair knotted at the nape of her neck. Julie can’t stop staring at her, wondering how such a demure outfit can be so incredibly sexy. She catches sight of herself in Teddie’s dressing-table mirror, her hair hanging loose on her shoulders, and feels disconsolate. Her light-brown hair is messy and limp; it’s nothing hair. Nothing colour, nothing length. Maybe she should just cut it all off.
    â€˜Hey, Juliet!’ calls Andy from the kitchen. ‘No Mac? What have you done with him?’
    â€˜He’s still at work, with Curry. He said to come without him.’
    Julie perches gingerly on Teddie and Andy’s unmade bed while Teddie sweeps a cotton ball languidly across her face. Andy pokes his head round the door and whistles.
    â€˜Wow, Juliet, you look gorgeous.’
    Julie murmurs something, flushing, but he’s still talking. ‘Guess who I ran into in town? That guy Simon, the one we flew up from Moresby. You two seemed to hit it off, so I invited him to come along tonight; I thought you might like to see him again.’
    â€˜Oh!’ Julie twists around on the bed to face him. ‘Do you think he’ll come?’
    â€˜Of course he will.’ Teddie dusts her nose with powder. ‘It’s a party .’
    Julie wants to ask, did he mention me ? But she can’t. Her face feels hot. Andy leans back in the doorway. ‘I thought it was interesting what you were saying the other day, about us not having any friends among the nationals. It does seem a bit ridiculous when you think about it. So I hope he comes, too. Should be interesting, anyway.’
    â€˜I’m glad you asked him,’ says Julie, though she isn’t exactly sure if Simon Murphy counts as a national.
    Teddie surveys her face critically in the mirror. A cloud of faint perfume hangs in the air. Julie breathes in cautiously. Her mother believes in the natural look; she doesn’t often use make-up, and Julie doesn’t often use it either.
    Teddie says, ‘Would you like me to do you, too, when I’m finished?’
    â€˜Oh! I don’t usually —’
    â€˜Go on, let me, I love doing it. I always thought I’d like to be a make-up artist, you know, for TV, or films.’ She sweeps a deft stroke of eyeliner beneath each eye. ‘Not much scope for that, up here,