Crush

Sixteen

Maddie was up earlier than usual the next morning after tossing and turning the night before. She went out and stood on the front veranda to look out on the cane field that had burned last night. Yesterday, when she and Jo had been out there after Maddie's argument with her father, the cane field was thick and green and swished in the breeze. Today, it looked like a blackened wasteland.

This morning Maddie had watched as Tess had trudged down the steps of the veranda, walked over to the cane field and sat down on the grass. She leaned against the corner fence post, picking at the ground. Maddie was wondering whether she should go and talk to her when Jo came out and handed her a cup of tea. She stood beside Maddie and sipped on her coffee.

"Pretty devastating," Jo said.

"Yeah."

"Any idea what happened?"

Maddie shrugged. "I didn't stay around long enough to find out." Maddie cupped her hands around her tea cup and watched as Tess threw something into the cane.

"You should go and talk to her," Jo said.

"I don't know what to say," Maddie replied. What did you say to someone whose festival just got ruined last night?

"Just go and see how she is," Jo said.

"She probably doesn't want to talk to anyone," Maddie said, sipping on her tea. "She was pretty upset last night. Besides, what can I do? I can't bring the cane back."

"She might feel better having slept on it last night," Jo said. "Anyway, sometimes just knowing you have someone to make sure you're okay is enough."

Maddie knew Jo was right. She handed Jo her tea cup and said, "I'll be back soon."

"Don't forget you've got that Skype call in an hour," Jo said as she opened the screen door. "And we should probably get there a bit early, just in case they have the same guy as last time trying to sort it out for us."

Maddie nodded and headed down the stairs.

∞

Tess shielded her eyes when she looked up and was pleased to see it was Maddie. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," Maddie said and sat down on the grass beside Tess. "How are you doing?"

Tess shrugged. "Okay."

"Any idea what happened?"

Tess shook her head. "Lonny reckons it was Barry Montgomery or someone else from the council."

"Really? They'd sabotage you like that?"

"I don't know," Tess said. She threw a rock into the cane. "It doesn't matter now though, does it?"

"Pop wouldn't really cancel the festival would he?"

Tess sniffed. "I don't know. I haven't spoken to Pop today. He was gone super early this morning and Gran's not sure when he'll be back."

Maddie placed her hand on Tess's and said, "I'm sorry, Tess. We'll work something out."

Tess sighed. "That's what everyone keeps saying, but no-one seems to know what 'something' actually is."

Maddie didn't respond and Tess realised that she probably didn't need to speak the way she had. She turned her hand over and intertwined her fingers with Maddie's.

Maddie squeezed back and said, "You know what? We should do something today."

"Like what?"

"I'm sure we could come up with something."

"In case you hadn't noticed," Tess said, "this is Chesterfield. There's nothing to do in Chesterfield."

"Well," Maddie said. "We could just meet in town and see if we can find something to keep us busy."

"I don't know," Tess said. "I don't feel like doing anything at the moment." She tossed another rock into the blackened cane. She knew that Maddie was trying to lighten the mood and get her mind off of last night's fire, but the fire and the festival were all Tess could think about.

"What else have you got planned for today?" Maddie asked. "Apart from moping around about the fire?"

Tess pulled a face and replied, "Nothing. We were meant to start setting stuff up today, but Gran said to hold off."

"I have an appointment this morning and nothing on this afternoon. What about we meet for lunch?"

Tess thought about it for a second and though she wanted to have lunch with Maddie and spend more time with her, she didn't want to miss talking to Pop when she finally had the chance. She said, "Thanks for the offer, but I'd just be a wet blanket."

"Are you sure?" Maddie said.

"Yeah," Tess said. "Sorry."

Maddie checked her watch. "I have to get going. I'll call by later if that's okay and we can just hang out." She let go of Tess's hand and stood up.

Tess stood up too and shoved her hands into her pockets. "I guess."

Maddie smiled and said, "I'll see you later."

"Okay," Tess said. She leaned on the fence post, watching Maddie walk back to the McGregor's. When Maddie reached the bottom of the steps she turned and waved. Tess waved back and, taking one last look at the blackened stalks of cane, she went back inside to have breakfast.