Chapter Two

My friend Kate was one of those people who had a real gift for sarcasm not appreciated by most people around her. Perhaps the fact that I was oblivious to sarcasm helped our friendship – I was baking peanut butter biscuits and she asked me if I was sure that was enough peanut butter. I added more…


Kate had missed those classes on how girls should behave around boys and somehow, whenever she said anything, I laughed and boys got more nervous until eventually they sort of sauntered off - quickly. I used this to my advantage, since I was particularly good at attracting unwanted male attention. Kate asked awkward questions, addressed personal issues loudly in public and dressed like a freak to anyone who was a dedicated follower of fashion. I thought she was magnificent. She was funny – really funny and I loved her quirky distinctive style. She was bohemian and managed to pull things off that nobody else could – including me. Where I was stayed and conservative, Kate was adventurous and a free spirit.

Perhaps that would be enough to keep all species away from me. All species… what exactly did I think was out there?

I walked to the door the next morning, my school uniform hanging claustrophobically on me and my mind distracted with way too much enthusiasm for the last few days of school. Across the road Ross was stumbling out his door and I yelled to him.

‘Hey!’

‘Oh, hey Emily.’ He fumbled some papers and books, between shoving his glasses firmly back onto his nose. I grabbed the books and papers.

‘Here, let me help you,’ I shuffled them into a semblance of order. Ross and I had been thrown together by our parents for the past 7 years. Ross’s dad and my mom worked at the same accounting firm and whenever the company had functions, we ended up trying to entertain ourselves. He would have been the butt of bullies if it weren’t for a little secret only I knew. I had walked into Ross’s house announced one day and found him ironing his shirt. I almost swallowed my tongue when I saw how ripped he was under the clothes that he hid behind. He had sworn me to secrecy and after proving a good secret keeper, I think our friendship was pretty much cemented. Ross’s skin was mottled with scars of acne and his eyes absurdly magnified by his glasses. His sandy brown hair was always messy. He was extremely intelligent and most of the time I had very little idea of what he was on about but if he made people feel inadequate, it wasn’t with malicious intent. He was the nicest guy and never got angry – at least, not that I ever saw. He had two older friends who hung out with him, Benedict Tersey and Gabriel Ashton. Benedict was studying Biochemistry and Gabriel studied pharmaceuticals, being groomed to take over his father’s pharmacy. Benedict and Gabriel were snobs of note. They suffered my company with thinly disguised boredom and irritation. I was regularly tempted to prolong their agony, but instead I avoided Ross when they were around. I never could understand why he was friends with them, but if I asked him, Ross would always just shrug and tell me they weren’t as bad as I made out. I would always mutter that they were actually worse and he would always pretend not to hear me.

‘So, when are you going to start?’ Ross shoved his glasses back up his nose.

‘Huh?’

‘You know, the whole “what’s the point” Ross?’

‘Uh, you lost me,’

‘Is everything okay? You seem agitated.’

‘I do? Uh… I just had a weird experience over the weekend.’

‘Do you want to talk?’

I grinned at the floor. Ross was nothing if not tactful.

‘Not really. I think someone tried to drown me.’ I blurted it out stupidly. I didn’t think this was a good idea, but I also got the feeling I couldn’t completely trust Eli. Not because he was vindictive, but because he had different priorities and I wasn’t one of them.

Ross caught my arm and turned me to face him.

‘What?’ he demanded.

I blushed under his scrutiny. ‘Come on, it’s not that bad,’

‘What happened, Emily?’

‘Nothing, Eli came along and the guy took off. I’ve never seen him before – he’s not from here. I’m just a bit tense.’

‘You should go to the police.’

‘And tell them what? It was a pretty weird experience, I don’t think they’re going to take it very seriously. Besides, he’s gone. I think.’

Ross’s hand dropped from my arm, but his body was rigid with tension.

‘Ross?’

He turned to me and frowned. ‘I think you should give a description of the guy to the police. If he’s hanging around, they need to know what to look out for. You don’t have to give them the details they won’t believe. Just tell them you were threatened. Speak to Claasen. He’ll take it seriously.’

‘Okay. Can you just forget about this now? You’re making me nervous.’

‘So, that’s why you’re not moaning about having to go to school for another 5 days after exams?’

‘Oh, don’t even get me started. What is that? We sit around doing nothing, why don’t we just get the time off?’

‘The placating buffer to reassure our parents they’re getting their money’s worth.’

‘My parents do ask me on a regular basis what they’re teaching us at school – maybe you’re onto something. Still, I can’t believe we have to sit around doing nothing.’

‘I’m doing some experiments in the lab if you want to join me,’ he offered with a grin.

‘Sorry, you must have me confused with some other individual…’

‘Hi!’ Called a voice from a few metres ahead. It was Paula and Ricky. I took a deep breath. ‘Great, just what I need.’

‘Be nice,’ Ross waved and we slowed down so they could catch up.

‘I can’t believe we have to go to school today,’ whined Paula and I shot a glance to Ross but he was frowning and staring into space. That meant he was already onto a higher plane of thought. My nerves couldn’t take Paula’s irritating whining today. I tried to switch off, feeling sorry for poor Ricky who couldn’t manage to squeeze a word in, and eventually gave up trying. I wondered if Paula noticed that nobody was talking to her or responding. Paula had developed the art of talking non stop in a very high pitch without needing the pause most people would take to catch a breath.

We arrived at school about 5 minutes before the bell announced the end of our freedom. I didn’t bother waiting for Kate – she was always late. Sometimes I wondered if they actually had any method of time keeping at all in her house. Any method that didn’t include a sun dial, that is. After waiting in line for a few minutes, we sauntered into the halls of the school. I breathed in the distinctive air that hovers inside a school building. Only a few more days, I reminded myself.

When I walked into our classroom, there were 12 kids in total. We usually had a class of 20, so it was pretty empty.

I slipped into my desk and whipped out my phone. I scrolled through the facebook page and after checking everyone’s updates, shoved my phone back in my pocket. Ricky was in my home base class, but thankfully Paula wasn’t. I leaned back and pulled out another Terry Pratchett paperback. I loved the way annoying people always waited until you had just started getting into a book before they started annoying you. This time it was John’s turn.

‘So, what’re you reading?’

‘Go away, Johnnie. Can’t you recognise a do not disturb sign when you see it?’

‘Hey, no man. Don’t be like that, man.’

I groaned and put the book down. ‘Right, you have my undivided attention. What’s up?’

‘Bennie wants to know if Kate –‘

‘Johnnie,’ I groaned. ‘I told you Kate is not a lesbian, she’s just fussy.’

‘No man, that’s not what I wanted to ask. Gimme a chance man.’

I had a sneaky suspicion I knew where this was going.

I looked at him with raised eyebrows and a little smirk sneaking into the corner of my mouth.

‘Bennie wants to know if Kate will go with him to the Anchor on Friday night.’

‘Johnnie, Bennie is almost 30. What does he want with a 17 year old? And do you really think Kate will be caught dead in the Anchor? They may as well take down the sign and put up a new one that says “Fight Night - Chicks Welcome”. Oh, one more thing – does Bennie have any teeth left?’

‘Yislaaik, Emily! Take it easy.’

‘She’s fussy, Johnnie. Not desperate or blind.’

‘Okay, man – I said I would try.’

I rolled my eyes.

Thankfully Kate walked in and collapsed in the desk in front of me.

‘Thank goodness,’ I breathed. ‘You just got an offer from Bennie.’

‘Oh, so now that I’m not a lesbian I’m fair game, huh?’

‘Apparently so. Wow, I’m impressed – you made it to class 2 seconds before Mrs Mullaney. What’s the occasion?’

‘Ha ha ha ha ha! Your wit or lack thereof, once again astounds me.’

Mrs Mullaney had the class stand up and greet her. Once the obligatory greeting was done, Kate swung around.

‘Um… So – there’s a hitch to our fabulous plans for an awesome holiday.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘More good news.’

‘Huh?’

‘Never mind. What’s the hitch.’

Kate wrinkled up her nose apologetically. ‘We’re going to Cape Town.’

‘Ugh,’ I slammed my head on the desk, then jumped up suddenly. ‘Please tell me it’s not this week?’

‘Why?’

‘Uh, I was just hoping we could do a few things this week.’

‘Okay, what’s going on?’

‘When are you leaving first, then I’ll tell you what’s going on.’

She pulled a face. ‘Tomorrow?’ She said weakly.

‘Great, this is just perfect.’ I nodded.

‘What?’

‘It’s nothing, really – we can do everything when you get back. It can wait.’

‘Are you sure everything’s okay?’

‘Of course – well, apart from Johnnie over there having a good old moan because I told him Bennie wasn’t good enough for you. Can you believe him even asking? What is that? Have you been leading a double life that I should know about?’

‘Trust me, if I was going to go to all that trouble and effort, I would be a lot more picky about the surroundings and people.’

‘That’s what I thought. Phew!’

Ricky came and plonked himself down opposite us.

‘Hey, Ricky!’

‘I was trying to tell you about Bennie but Paula wouldn’t let me.’

‘Oh, is that what you were trying to tell me? Sorry I didn’t get that.’

‘Yah, with Paula around you wouldn’t get anything that anyone else even tried to say. That woman is like a mouth with energiser batteries that are recharged in the sun. And she’s in Alaska in summer!’

He added for good measure and Kate and I burst out laughing.

The day passed quickly considering we did so little, but when it came to home time, I had already decided my route. On the way home, I stopped in at Book Nook. Olga Gilchrist was a sight to behold. She was deeply tanned with additional wrinkles that made her age difficult to pinpoint. Olga’s long white hair was always tied in a bun with a leather and copper adornment from art festivals in the eighties. She wore flowing dresses of exotic materials, and tinkled everywhere she went, as her copper jewellery slid back and forth. Her large gaudy rings caught everyone’s eye, but my favourite thing about Olga was the scent of fragrances and incense that spoke of faraway lands I hadn’t even heard of. I confess that most of my life I spent imagining Olga as a witch. She was fierce, seemed to hate children and spoke to everyone with the same impatient and annoyed air. The fact that she could magically produce books that had been ordered in record speed added to my childhood fantasy until I started working with her and realised she had family in the postal service. Still, there was the evil eye she gave people – that kept the notion of witchcraft firmly wedged in the back of my mind.

The bell rang as I opened the door.

‘Hello?’ Called Olga from the back.

‘Hi Mrs Gilchrist, it’s Emily Riley.’

‘Yes, what do you want?’

‘I was wondering if you needed any help this week? In the afternoons? I’m at a loose end-‘

‘Yes, well, we can’t have that,’ she appeared out of nowhere with a faint aroma of cinnamon and some other spice I couldn’t place. ‘Come and help me unpack this stock that’s just arrived. Half the town have ordered their sordid trashy romance novels again and the other half have invested in almost every coffee table ever produced on rugby. Honestly, if I’ve told these people once, I’ve told them a thousand times, I will not tarnish my good name with all the tripe they make me order. It’s shameful that my name will be associated with all this rubbish.’

I put my bags down in the back and was rebuked for putting them 2cm too far to the left. I sighed and moved them.

By the time I had finished helping Mrs Gilchrist, it was almost 5.30pm. I got home to the smell of mom’s macaroni special and rolled my eyes. Why wasn’t Nigella Lawson my mom?

I walked in the door as everyone grunted their greetings and dropped my bags in my room.

‘Food’s in the oven,’ dad said quietly as he poured a liberal helping of chutney over his. I wondered if he did that to disguise the food.

‘Thanks, I think I’ll just have a sandwich. I’m not very hungry today.’

‘Are you okay?’

I wrinkled my nose. ‘Kate’s going to be away most of the holiday. I went and worked at Olga’s.’

He nodded.

‘I didn’t know you were interested in Eli’s research.’

‘Huh? Oh, actually it’s for a holiday project for art – he has these specimens with really awesome patterns and we have to find some unusual inspiration for design next year. Mrs Samson is “expecting great things from the matriculants” next year.’

Dad smiled. ‘Just be careful.’

‘I will, dad.’

‘And you can call me anytime.’

I smiled at him, and pecked him on the cheek. ‘Thanks, dad.’ I whispered.

He nodded and walked out.

I sat at the kitchen table with my sandwich and my phone, looking up Leonardo da Vinci on the internet again. I had a bit of an obsession with Leonardo da Vinci. The notice board above my bed was strewn with clippings and Photostats about his work and life. I had ordered postcards with his paintings on with Olga’s help and the rest of my notice board was covered with doodles, patterns, snippets of colourful material and drawings. I had never thought of it as a work of art, but the insane Mrs Peterson had insisted that these collages of inspiration were in fact reflections of our creativity.

With my sandwich done, I wondered into my bedroom and kicked off my shoes. I collapsed on my bed and lay staring at the ceiling in the darkness. Eventually I dosed off. I dreamt of the sea and mermaids – but not the ones from Harry Potter. These were beautiful, deadly men who were drawing people to their death. I woke up with my heart pounding and beads of perspiration trickling down my neck. I had that ominous feeling again… This was not going to be a good week.