Read Online Through the Tiger's Eye by Kerrie O'Connor - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kerrie O'Connor
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Lucy blinked and found herself back in the miners’ cubby, gazing at the Tiger-cat, which started washing itself as if nothing had happened. She looked at Rahel and Toro.
‘OK, if you have to, then I’ll come too.’
‘Fank you,’ said Toro.
‘What day is it?’ said Rahel.
‘Saturday.’
‘Then we go tonight.’
‘Good!’ said Ricardo, ‘Grandma should have my Ninja pants ready by then.’
14
Peanuts
Grandma did have his Ninja pants ready by then; and Lucy’s; and her own. She’d gone a bit wild and made a pair of pink ones for herself: bright pink. Ricardo’s and Lucy’s were jungle green and they said they liked them so much they wanted to wear them to bed. Grandma said OK – ‘just this once’.
‘We’ll cook dinner, Grandma,’ said Lucy.
‘ You can!’ complained Ricardo, and then he looked thoughtful and agreed. Grandma was happy.
‘That would be lovely, kids. I did get rather carried away on those pants. All those pockets! Think what you could keep in them! Clothes pegs, tissues, packets of biscuits for bingo . . .’
She kept chattering while Lucy chopped up spuds. It was ages before Grandma noticed how huge the pile was.
‘Stop! You must have chopped up five kilos. Who wants to eat baked spuds on a hot night like this? And your mum isn’t even home for dinner . . . oh, that reminds me. Your mum had to fly to Sydney. A little girl is sick and they needed a nurse to look after her in the plane. She’ll stay the night up there. Lucy, do stop! We’ll never eat them.’
‘Mum always does this many baked potatoes,’ Lucy said airily. ‘Then we eat them in the morning and for lunch the next day.’ But she stopped chopping and slid her mountain of potatoes into the big old oven.
Ricardo was checking out the freezer. He spirited twenty-four cheese and spinach pies into the oven while Grandma was still going on about the potatoes and hospitals and the dangers of flying in small aeroplanes.
Then she said something Lucy wanted to hear.
‘By the way, I’ve got that brass-cleaner you wanted Lucy, love. You just wipe it on and rub it off with a soft cloth. What are you trying to clean?’
‘Just something I found in the garden.’
Grandma raised her eyebrows, holding the can out of reach.
Lucy thought quickly. She didn’t quite know why, but she wanted to keep the plaque to herself.
‘Look at the time, Grandma, Brain Bank is starting. The antenna’s in the lounge room. Do you want me to set up the telly?’
Grandma dropped the can, and was out of the kitchen before Lucy had even finished the sentence.
Lucy and Ricardo were always trying to get Grandma to enter Brain Bank , because she rattled out the right answers like a machine-gun before the real contestants even opened their mouths. But she always laughed and said she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself in front of Australia. The kids didn’t see how Grandma making them lots of money or winning a car and a holiday was making a fool of herself, but she wouldn’t be persuaded. She just sat there every night winning wads of virtual money, virtual vacations to tropical islands and virtual vehicles. Very frustrating!
Lucy wandered into the back yard with the brass-cleaner and began rubbing at the plaque. A word emerged, letter by letter. ‘T…E…L…
TELARES!
She had never seen the word written down, but recognised it immediately. It was where Rahel and Toro came from.
‘I don’t get it,’ she thought. This was crazy, and not even proper crazy – it all felt real and unreal at the same time. It felt like a weird daydream, but there was the plaque, solid and real in her hands, and today she had seen real soldiers and heard real guns and seen kids who were really frightened.
She didn’t want to think about tonight. She wanted to jump into bed with T-Tongue and go to sleep. She was scared, so scared she felt sick.
Lucy heard a rumbling purr, and felt soft fur against her legs. She met the
Lucy blinked and found herself back in the miners’ cubby, gazing at the Tiger-cat, which started washing itself as if nothing had happened. She looked at Rahel and Toro.
‘OK, if you have to, then I’ll come too.’
‘Fank you,’ said Toro.
‘What day is it?’ said Rahel.
‘Saturday.’
‘Then we go tonight.’
‘Good!’ said Ricardo, ‘Grandma should have my Ninja pants ready by then.’
14
Peanuts
Grandma did have his Ninja pants ready by then; and Lucy’s; and her own. She’d gone a bit wild and made a pair of pink ones for herself: bright pink. Ricardo’s and Lucy’s were jungle green and they said they liked them so much they wanted to wear them to bed. Grandma said OK – ‘just this once’.
‘We’ll cook dinner, Grandma,’ said Lucy.
‘ You can!’ complained Ricardo, and then he looked thoughtful and agreed. Grandma was happy.
‘That would be lovely, kids. I did get rather carried away on those pants. All those pockets! Think what you could keep in them! Clothes pegs, tissues, packets of biscuits for bingo . . .’
She kept chattering while Lucy chopped up spuds. It was ages before Grandma noticed how huge the pile was.
‘Stop! You must have chopped up five kilos. Who wants to eat baked spuds on a hot night like this? And your mum isn’t even home for dinner . . . oh, that reminds me. Your mum had to fly to Sydney. A little girl is sick and they needed a nurse to look after her in the plane. She’ll stay the night up there. Lucy, do stop! We’ll never eat them.’
‘Mum always does this many baked potatoes,’ Lucy said airily. ‘Then we eat them in the morning and for lunch the next day.’ But she stopped chopping and slid her mountain of potatoes into the big old oven.
Ricardo was checking out the freezer. He spirited twenty-four cheese and spinach pies into the oven while Grandma was still going on about the potatoes and hospitals and the dangers of flying in small aeroplanes.
Then she said something Lucy wanted to hear.
‘By the way, I’ve got that brass-cleaner you wanted Lucy, love. You just wipe it on and rub it off with a soft cloth. What are you trying to clean?’
‘Just something I found in the garden.’
Grandma raised her eyebrows, holding the can out of reach.
Lucy thought quickly. She didn’t quite know why, but she wanted to keep the plaque to herself.
‘Look at the time, Grandma, Brain Bank is starting. The antenna’s in the lounge room. Do you want me to set up the telly?’
Grandma dropped the can, and was out of the kitchen before Lucy had even finished the sentence.
Lucy and Ricardo were always trying to get Grandma to enter Brain Bank , because she rattled out the right answers like a machine-gun before the real contestants even opened their mouths. But she always laughed and said she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself in front of Australia. The kids didn’t see how Grandma making them lots of money or winning a car and a holiday was making a fool of herself, but she wouldn’t be persuaded. She just sat there every night winning wads of virtual money, virtual vacations to tropical islands and virtual vehicles. Very frustrating!
Lucy wandered into the back yard with the brass-cleaner and began rubbing at the plaque. A word emerged, letter by letter. ‘T…E…L…
TELARES!
She had never seen the word written down, but recognised it immediately. It was where Rahel and Toro came from.
‘I don’t get it,’ she thought. This was crazy, and not even proper crazy – it all felt real and unreal at the same time. It felt like a weird daydream, but there was the plaque, solid and real in her hands, and today she had seen real soldiers and heard real guns and seen kids who were really frightened.
She didn’t want to think about tonight. She wanted to jump into bed with T-Tongue and go to sleep. She was scared, so scared she felt sick.
Lucy heard a rumbling purr, and felt soft fur against her legs. She met the
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