Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
B y the time Evie came out of the shower, the fish was sizzling in the pan. A T-shirt with Mick Jagger lips on the front and a flowery mini-skirt, made her feel summery. She ran her hands over her shaved legs, grateful she was on holiday and didn’t have to wear a school uniform.
Her mother’s eyes looked her up and down. ‘We’ll have to go bra shopping when we get back. Your breasts are getting bigger.’
Evie could feel the heat in her cheeks and knew they would be bright red. ‘There were some bras in that bag of hand-me-downs from Layla’s family. I brought them with me.’
‘Well, make sure you put one on tomorrow. You’re at that stage where you need to start wearing one.’
Disappearing quickly into her bedroom, Evie rustled through her clothes, finally holding up a white bra, its edges trimmed with pretty lace. It looked like it was new, and when she checked the size on the tag, she didn’t doubt why. No one in Layla’s family would fit a bra of that size. They would all need bigger ones!
They were finishing their dinner when there was a knock at the door. It was Lily and Rose. Chris also stood on the front lawn, a torch in his hand.
‘Hello, Mrs Romano,’ Rose said. ‘We’re going along the track to look for koalas and possums. Can Evie come with us? We’ll look after her.’
Evie’s eyes must have lit up, and she sat up straight, once again relieved that her father wasn’t here to insist he chaperone.
‘Would you like to go?’ her mother asked.
She was already standing up, her empty plate in hand, ready to put in the sink. ‘Yes. I’d love to.’
‘Off you go then. Thanks girls. Evie’s lucky to have you around for company.’
She thought her mother would remind her to put shoes on, but she must have noticed that none of the others wore any. Thank goodness. Evie didn’t want them to think she was a baby and needed to be told what to do. What a night! A new bra, and walking at night with Chris and his sisters.
Lily handed her a spare torch and Evie strode alongside her, feeling like she was much older than thirteen. The girls were fun and included her, as if she was their friend. They had not gone far down the track when they spotted some possums; three sets of eyes high in a tree. The two girls walked ahead, and Evie was left behind with Chris, who was looking more closely into the trees and trying to find a koala. Eventually, he pointed far up into the fork of a tall gum tree. ‘There’s one,’ he whispered, the light from his torch showing a large koala tucked between the branches. ‘It’s a long way up. You can’t really get a good look at it,’ he said, shining his torch around the tops of the other trees nearby.
‘Where did Lily and Rose go?’ she asked, peering ahead at the track as it widened out onto the beach.
‘Going spotlighting for animals is just an excuse for them to have a smoke. They’ll be around the corner of the bush there. You can’t tell anyone though. I’m sworn to secrecy.’
‘Wow. I didn’t know they smoked. Do you?’
‘No way. I wouldn’t be any good at football or running if I smoked. It’s bad for you. Dad’d kill the girls if he knew.’
‘What about your mum?’
‘She’s just cranky all the time, so it’d be nothing new. Half the time I think they do it just to spite her. Neither of them get on with her.’ He stopped talking and started walking, almost as if he’d said too much and wanted to change the subject. ‘Let’s go to the beach. The moon’s up and it’ll look good over the water.’
They stood with their feet in the water, the small waves lapping gently on the shore. Chris kicked his foot up, splashing the water high in the air. ‘Look at the sea sparkle. It’s like green lights in the waves.’
He kicked a cascade of water high in the air, creating a dazzling display of slow-falling, sparkling water drops. Before them, the water shimmered with the glow of innumerable tiny lights, their radiance vivid against the backdrop of the ocean. Evie joined in, kicking up more water, and they laughed as more tiny sparkles cavorted in front of them. ‘What is it?’ she asked, captivated by the glittering neon patterns that danced in the moonlight.
‘It’s got something to do with the moon, or plankton. I can’t remember, but it’s like magic.’ Time slipped away as they splashed and laughed, the moon high above them casting a radiant beam across the expansive ocean.
Captivated by the hundreds of tiny lights resembling glow-worms, flickering amid the splashes, she exclaimed, ‘Wow! This truly is magical.’
He stared at her, his teeth white, his blue eyes bright and excited. ‘It’s Stradbroke Island magic. The Magic Island.’
‘My dad calls it Saltwater Place.’
He kept looking at her. ‘I like that. Saltwater Place.’
She smiled back at him, thinking how this was the best night ever. Suddenly something touched her foot under the water and she squealed, nearly falling over as she jumped backwards. Chris bent down and held up a piece of seaweed. ‘Magic seaweed. Saltwater seaweed.’
They laughed again, as they turned and walked back up the beach. On the tree line she could see the glow of two cigarettes, the faint smell of the smoke drifting across the beach. By the time they reached the girls and sat down next to them, there was no sign they had been doing anything they weren’t supposed to.
Lily held her hand out. ‘Evie, we want to make you part of our club. It means you have to swear not to repeat anything you hear us talk about, or dob on us for things we’re not supposed to do. If you see us talking to the boys who are camped up further, you aren’t to tell. Are you in on it?’
The girls and Chris held their hands in the air, and she put hers up, a warm feeling of being accepted overcoming her as all their hands joined together.
‘You can trust me,’ she said. ‘I can keep a secret.’
Thankfully, she didn’t see too much happening that needed to be kept secret. The girls always walked ahead of her and Chris, then snuck into the bushes to have their smokes. The boys who were camped up further were Lily’s friends from school, who had left a couple of years ago and now worked as carpenters. They were on holiday also, so Lily and Rose spent a lot of time with them, well out of the view of Chris, Evie and their parents.
Most of Evie’s day was spent on the beach. Occasionally, her mother came down and watched her fish for a while, or sat on a towel with her as they watched Chris and his father surf beyond the small breakers that pounded onto the shoreline.
‘Don’t they worry about sharks?’ her mother asked.
‘They go out there every day. Chris said sometimes they see a shark. When they do, they come in. The other day they said they got a fright because there were dolphins. At first, they thought they were sharks.’
She glanced sideways at her mother who wore a short floral shift, her legs tanned from sitting in the sun. A paisley bandanna held her hair back and her face carried a golden glow, with no makeup to be seen. She looked younger than when she was at home. If only they could stay on holiday forever, Evie thought. Her dad could come back from work, catch the ferry over, and have some time with them. She could show him where the deep gullies were in the ocean; where the best fish lay waiting. Every day she caught fish, and it was now routine for Chris to take the fish home so his father could fillet them for Evie and her mother.
The sun started to burn Evie’s skin, so she rolled onto her stomach, her hands propping her chin as she looked out across the ocean. Her mother sat up straight and rearranged her hair. She stretched her legs out and rubbed them with coconut oil. Red polish highlighted her beautiful long nails, her toenails matching in the same colour. Evie kept looking at her mother’s legs. They were smooth and long, her slender feet wriggling into the sand.
Turning her gaze back to the ocean, she watched a couple of people swimming nearby. Chris and his father were further out on surfboards, but as far as she could see to the north, there was no one else. Next week would be busier though, as it would be getting closer to Christmas. ‘I wish I could stay here forever,’ she said, turning towards her mother.
‘The island is lovely. I’m happy here too. But you need to go to school and soon it will be high school, so there will be lots more homework. You know your father and I want you to do well and go to university.’
‘You and Dad didn’t go. Why should I?’
Her mother twisted her mouth. ‘So that you can be something better than a cleaner or a vacuum salesman who spends all his time worrying about the business, that’s why.’
They had not talked after that, both lost in their thoughts. Evie watched as Chris and his father started paddling in. They lay flat on their boards, using their arms to propel themselves through the water. The boards skimmed across the smaller waves, gliding effortlessly into the shallows and then the beach. Both stood up and carried their boards under their arms, as they walked towards where Evie and her mother sat.
Chris’s father greeted them. ‘G’day, Mrs Romano and Evie.’
‘Please, call me Maya.’ Her mother adjusted her sunglasses and tilted her head back to look up at Mr McIntosh. ‘That looked like fun,’ she said, flicking her head so that her blonde hair gleamed in the sun.
‘It is,’ Mr McIntosh replied. ‘You should try it.’
Her mother laughed. ‘I can’t even swim. I’d drown, not to mention I’m terrified of sharks.’
‘Are you having a good holiday?’ he asked.
Her mother put her arm around Evie’s shoulders. ‘We are. Thank you so much for filleting the fish. My husband would normally do that, but he was called away to Sydney for work, so we’re really grateful.’
Both Chris and his father wore board shorts, the same blue and white pattern of hibiscus flowers decorating each pair. Their chests were bare, and Evie stared at Mr McIntosh’s chest which was covered in hair. He also had lots of muscles, which Chris did not. Apart from that, they looked much the same. Chris was just a younger version of his father .
Water dripped from their hair, making little indents as it splatted onto the sand. Chris shook his head and Evie held her hand up, trying to shield herself from the cold water that flicked over her sun-warmed back. Sitting up, she crossed her legs under her, watching him as he put his board down and sat in the sand beside her. He started talking to her about where they could fish, and asked her if she would wait while he went and got his fishing gear. Her rod was next to her, ready to use.
The two adults were also talking, and she heard Mr McIntosh ask how her mum was liking her job. He seemed like a nice man, and it would be good to know him before starting school. Not that she ever got into trouble anyway. She had never done anything wrong at primary school, and she wasn’t about to start doing so at high school. Her father would, as he liked to say, ‘Feed her to the fish if she misbehaved.’
Mr McIntosh got to his feet and picked his board up from where it lay in the sand. ‘I’d better get going. My wife doesn’t like the beach or the water.’ He stopped talking and looked out over the ocean. ‘I don’t know how anyone can’t fall in love with this place.’
‘Mum didn’t want to come back here,’ Chris added. ‘We all wanted to though, so she was outvoted. See you soon, Evie. I’ll be back with my fishing gear. Make sure to wait. I don’t want you catching the big ones before I do.’ With that, he started jogging up the beach, his father also saying his goodbyes before following him.