Stay Well Soon (15 page)

‘Why do Stevie and I have to go first?' asks Morgan.

‘I don't want to hear any whingeing, girls,' says Mr Parks. ‘The decision has been made.'

‘But it's not fair,' says Morgan, even though Mr Parks has said that he doesn't want to hear any whingeing.

‘Girls, I've put you first because I know you will do a good job. You're the best-prepared group.'

We are still not sure.

‘Look at it this way: you'll get your presentation over and done with first, and then you can enjoy the rest of the day.'

I can tell Mr Parks is not going to change his mind.

‘It's still not fair,' says Morgan.

‘Come on,' I say. ‘Let's go.'

Morgan follows me out of the classroom. ‘At least we will get it over and done with,' I say.

Morgan still can't see the bright side but what can we do?

16

Friends

Dad Ben takes me to school on Friday but he doesn't just drop me off as usual. Today he is coming to Grandparents and Friends Day.

Miss Ellis greets all the Grandparents and Friends at the registration table.

Dad Ben says, ‘Hello, I'm here with Stevie.'

‘That's great,' says Miss Ellis. ‘I'll just get you to fill in this name tag. Sorry, I know it's a bit daggy.'

‘No worries,' says Dad Ben.

Miss Ellis laughs even though Dad Ben hasn't said anything funny.

Dad Ben uses a texta to fill in his name tag. It says
Hi, my name is Ben
.

‘So, do you live in the area?' asks Miss Ellis.

‘Kind of,' says Dad Ben. ‘I've been working up in Queensland recently.'

‘How interesting!' says Miss Ellis. ‘I'm thinking of going to Cooktown at Easter next year.'

‘It's amazing country.'

‘Dad Ben,' I say, ‘come and I'll show you where Morgan and I sit near the portables.'

‘Okay, Stevie. No need to stretch my shirt.'

Dad Ben and I go to the portables.

‘This is where Morgan and I sit,' I say, pointing at the portables bench. ‘And sometimes Kaylee and Teegan. But that's just a new thing, we're not in a group with them or anything. But sometimes they need extra people for Kidnappers or something and so they come here and we talk. And sometimes we play with Rory and Brendan. And everyone has to walk past here to put their lunch boxes back so we see other people too.'

‘That's good,' says Dad Ben. ‘Variety is the spice of life.'

I jump up on the bench to look through the portable window. Mr Parks is in there. He is writing on the board.

‘That's Mr Parks, our teacher,' I say.

‘Do you like him?'

‘Yes! Some people don't like him because we don't do as much sport as Mr Lynch's class, but some of Mr Lynch's class hardly know any maths, and anyway, we are supposed to learn things at school, that is the whole point, you can't just play rounders all day, and Mr Parks makes maths fun.'

‘Hi, Stevie!'

Morgan has arrived. ‘Hi, Morgan!'

Two old people are standing beside Morgan. They must be Morgan's grandparents, but they don't look like lawyers. It is silly, but I was expecting them to have white wigs and black capes.

‘Nan and Pop,' says Morgan, ‘this is where Stevie and I sit at lunchtimes and recess.'

‘And sometimes Kaylee and Teegan too,' I say.

‘Yeah,' says Morgan. ‘But they're not in the group. It's just that sometimes they need more people for Kidnappers, which is this game that Teegan invented and it's really fun but not as much fun as Murderers will be.' Morgan explains all the rules of Kidnappers. Then she starts telling them about why her game Murderers would be even better than Kidnappers. Morgan talks too much.

‘Stevie, we should probably go back to the gate in case Lara arrives,' says Dad Ben. He explains to Morgan's grandparents, ‘Stevie has another friend coming today'.

‘So many friends!' says Morgan's nan. ‘Why don't we come to the gate with you? Keep telling me about this game Murderers,' she says to Morgan.

At the gate Miss Ellis is busy meeting the other Grandparents and Friends, but I'm still suspicious of her. Morgan keeps talking about school and pointing out things like the T-ball area and the monkey nut tree. I am keeping my eyes out for a yellow taxi van because that would be Lara and her mum, but then the bell rings for assembly and they still haven't arrived.

We all line up in our classes on the basketball court while the Grandparents and Friends stand at the side and watch. We sing the national anthem. Mrs Anselma does a talk. There is no Certificate of Recognition for Leadership today because it is not a normal assembly.

When Mrs Anselma stops talking we have to do the bush dancing as a demonstration of what we've been learning. And Miss Ellis comes around and makes us go in boy/girl pairs. I am paired with Rory. Charlotte is next to me and she is paired with Julian. She doesn't want to hold his hand because of boy germs but Miss Ellis makes them.

We do the heel-and-toe polka. Rory is a good dancer. When we get to the ‘swing your partner round and round' part it's like I'm flying. Then we have to change partners and I am with Julian. When we get to the ‘left-hand clap' bit he hits me really hard and it hurts. So for the ‘right-hand clap' I hit him as hard as I can too. After the ‘both-hand claps' my hands sting. When we swing round and round we try not to touch each other at all. Dancing with Julian is not fun.

Luckily, we only have to do four rounds of the heel-and-toe polka and then we get to stop.

Mrs Anselma says we should meet up with our Grandparents and Friends and take them back to our classrooms.

I look over to where I left Dad Ben and I see that Lara and her mum have arrived too. I can tell people are staring at her, because she's in a wheelchair and because she looks so thin.

‘Hi, Stevie!' says Lara. ‘Great dancing!'

‘Julian's an idiot. My hands hurt,' I say. ‘He kept hitting me really hard.'

‘What a tool,' says Lara.

Morgan comes up to us. ‘Hi, Stevie! I had to dance with James. It was gross.'

James always has dirty hands.

Then Morgan notices Lara. She is staring at her.

‘We should go,' I say.

‘Okay,' says Lara. ‘Are you going to introduce me to your friend?'

‘This is Morgan,' I say.

‘And I'm Lara.'

‘Let's go now,' I say. ‘Or we'll get in trouble.

‘We wouldn't want to get in trouble,' says Lara. ‘Hey, Mum,' she calls out. ‘Enough of the yabba yabba, let's go.'

Lara's mum comes over and we all go over to the classroom.

Morgan walks behind us and I can tell she is still staring at Lara. She is probably thinking of questions to ask about cancer.

When we get to the portable, Mr Parks has already set up the ramp so Lara can go straight into the classroom. Mr Parks has pushed all the tables to one side to make more room. Our chairs are in rows at the front and there are extra chairs for the Grandparents and Friends at the back. It is quite crowded with so many Grandparents and Friends in here.

Mr Parks stands at the front of the classroom and his eyebrows go up and down. But the Grandparents and Friends don't understand that when Mr Parks's eyebrows go up and down it means you have to be quiet, so they keep talking. But they don't get in trouble. Mr Parks just says, ‘Grade 5, Grandparents and Friends, could I have your attention.' Everyone stops talking.

‘Welcome to the Grade 5 portable,' says Mr Parks. He talks about what we've been doing during the year. It is boring because I already know it all. Then he says we will be doing reading with the Grandparents and Friends until recess. After recess we will do the Australian history presentations.

The cool thing is that because the classroom is too full we are allowed to go anywhere in the school to read, even though it's not recess or lunchtime. But we decide to stay in the classroom because it is easier. The book I have chosen to read is
The Phantom Stallion
. I have read it before, but I wanted to choose a really good book. I read it to Lara, Dad Ben and Lara's mum. They all agree that it is a very good book and Lara asks if she can borrow it so she can finish it later. Of course I say yes.

At recess time we are allowed to eat play lunch inside, which usually only happens if it rains really, really hard. We all have Boston bun, which Dad Ben brought for us to share.

When the bell rings I know it is time for the history projects.

Mr Parks stands at the front and goes yabba yabba about the projects. I can't listen properly because I keep thinking about our presentation. I feel very nervous and sick in my stomach. Finally, Mr Parks says, ‘So now, for our first history presentation, Stevie and Morgan will be talking to us about the suffragettes.'

All the Grandparents and Friends clap and so do some of my class.

Morgan and I stand up and walk to the front of the classroom.

‘We are going to talk about the suffragettes,' says Morgan.

‘In the olden days, women weren't allowed to vote,' I say.

‘The suffragettes thought that women should be allowed to vote,' says Morgan.

‘The suffragettes protested and signed petitions so that women would get to vote,' I say.

‘Does anyone know when women got the vote in Australia?' Morgan asks.

‘It was 1902,' I say.

‘Women got the vote in America in 1920 and in England in 1928,' says Morgan.

‘In England, one of the suffragettes threw herself under a horse,' I say.

‘And she died,' says Morgan.

Morgan and I have decided not to act this out as it is too hard for one person to be a horse.

‘Some of the suffragettes got sent to jail,' I say.

‘They went on a hunger strike,' says Morgan.

‘So they were force-fed,' I say.

‘And some of them died,' says Morgan.

‘In Australia the suffragettes had a big petition, which everyone signed,' I say.

‘The South Australian government gave women the right to vote in 1895,' says Morgan.

‘Then, when all the states joined together to become Australia at Federation, women were given the vote in all the states,' I say.

Morgan and I look at each other. Then we chant together, ‘Purple, Green and White, We Will Fight!'

Everyone claps, even all the Grade 5s. Dad Ben does a whistle. Morgan's face goes red.

We go back to our seats. We have got it out of the way and now we can enjoy the rest of the day.

Mr Parks says, ‘Thank you, Morgan and Stevie. That was very informative and inspiring. Our next presentation will be Julian and Tim telling us about the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.'

Julian and Tim's presentation is okay but they have to keep reading off a piece of paper, which makes it harder to listen to.

They only stop reading off the paper at the end. Julian says, ‘One day I will go to the Olympics.'

Tim says, ‘My cousin went to the Olympics in London.'

‘He only went to watch,' says Julian. ‘I'm going to be an athlete.'

‘He was still there,' says Tim.

‘It's not the same.'

‘At least he definitely went. I saw the photos on Facebook.'

Mr Parks comes to the front. ‘Thanks for that, boys. Let's all give them a round of applause.'

Most of the rest of the presentations are a bit boring but the Grandparents and Friends seem to like them because they keep clapping. April and Charlotte do World War II. Charlotte won't look up while she is talking, so it is hard to hear her. April talks really loudly and in a funny voice.

Teegan and Kaylee go last. Their presentation on convicts is really good. Of course, I have heard their presentation before, because we practised for each other, but I get a bit more out of it each time.

After all the presentations are done we go and stand beside our posters so the Grandparents and Friends can come up and ask questions.

Lara, Dad Ben and Lara's mum are already at our poster.

‘That was great!' says Lara. ‘I learnt so much.'

‘I had no idea women in Australia got the vote so early,' says Lara's mum. ‘We are a progressive country after all.'

‘Unless you're Aboriginal,' says Dad Ben.

‘Good point,' says Lara's mum.

‘What do you mean?' says Morgan.

‘Aboriginal people weren't allowed to vote until 1967,' says Dad Ben.

‘That is so unfair!' says Morgan. ‘I am going to make a sign that says, “
votes for women and aboriginal people
”.'

Mrs Potter from the butcher's shop comes up to us. ‘That was a very good presentation, girls. It's good to see the younger generation isn't forgetting.'

At lunchtime there is a sausage sizzle. I have two sausages. Dad Ben has a sausage with onion. I hate fried onions. Lara gets a lentil burger but she doesn't eat much of it. Lara has gone really quiet.

‘Are you getting tired?' asks her mum.

‘I'm fine,' says Lara.

‘Maybe we should get you back home?'

‘But I don't want to miss the craft stall.'

‘Don't worry about that,' I say. ‘Most of it's really bad.' It's true. The preppies did something with egg cartons and pipe cleaners and I don't even know what they're supposed to be.

‘I still want to see it,' says Lara. ‘I brought some money to buy something.'

Miss Ellis is setting up the tables for the craft stall under the art room veranda. Dad Ben goes over to help her. I stay with Lara.

When they are all set up, Lara and I go over to the stall while Lara's mum sits and talks with Mr Parks. I show Lara the Christmas wreath that I made. Lara is not rushing into anything; she looks at everything on the craft stall. In the end she chooses the wreath I made.

Lara wants to look at Charlotte's section so we go over together. Lara has a good look but she doesn't buy anything.

‘It's pretty,' she says. ‘But won't the orange peel go mouldy?'

‘Not anymore. She paints it with clear nail polish as a preservative.'

‘Would you like me to buy you some earrings or something?'

‘Oh no, that's okay,' I say.

‘I'd like to.'

‘But they're pretty expensive.'

‘I get heaps of pocket money, and what am I going to spend it on?'

We look at the jewellery. It is hard to choose, particularly with Charlotte and April staring at me. Also, I want Lara to think I have good taste.

I pick up a pair of earrings made from apple pips spray-painted silver. There is a big ball of apple pips glued together and a string of apple pips up to the top. They are beautiful.

‘Do you want those?' asks Lara.