Farm Stay

Chapter 1

Hannah's POV.

"Maria! I'm home!" I yell as I walk in the door from my last day at school.

"How was it?" she yells back. I run to the kitchen after dumping my bag at the door.

"Exhausting," I tell her, pretending to wipe sweat from my head. "But we did get a reasonable amount of cleaning done."

"I guess that counts as your day's chores, then. I'll see Jack do them for you, how's that?"

No chores? I run up to Maria and jump into her arms. "Thank you so much, Maria!"

She pats my shoulder awkwardly, so I step back a little and grin at her. "Speaking of Jack, where is he?"

"On his way home from school. I made him walk because I found a bottle of tequila underneath his jocks."

Well, that's Jack for you. He's my little brother of ten years, who thinks he can kill the president and get away with it. He's not my biological brother because I'm adopted. Sold on eBay for 750 bucks by my parents, a couple of druggies who thought they could make some money out of me. Now I've been living with Maria and Tom for 17 years, and I can't thank them enough.

"No sympathy whatsoever," I laugh with her. "But I'll go pick him up, we don't want him to miss Tom's homecoming."

"Hannah! You don't have to do that."

"It's not like you're gonna stop me."

Maria rolls her eyes as I head back out to my car. Let's just say I spoil Jack quite a bit.

•••••

"Hans!"

"Jackie!"

I embrace Jack as he leaps into my arms, sweat and relief all over his face. "I thought I was being left here to die! Mum's so gonna pay for this, Hannah."

"Well, you shouldn't be hiding tequila in your undies draw!"

He rolls his eyes. "I was just playing Never Have I Ever with Lopsy." He giggles a little. "You should see her when she's drunk!"

Lopsy is our much loved pet rabbit – as if. Only a guy like Jack can have a heart small enough to love a ball of useless fur who scratches the hell out of your neck. I still have them from when he did it two months ago – you'd think his claws are made of glass!

"I'm sure it would've been a sight," I say with a sigh. "Anyway, let's get you home."

Ten minutes later, we walk in the front door to find Maria squealing into the phone.

"Of course! No, I don't mind at all. Not at all! That's totally fine. Oh my God, I can't wait! We'll leave straight after dinner. This is so exciting, I feel sixteen!"

At the sound of my ahem, she turns to face us. "You certainly look it as well," I mumble under my breath.

"Oh, hey guys," she greets us. "Guess what? We're going to stay on a farm!" She gives another squeal, and Jack and I just stare at her dumbfounded. "Guys! Isn't that exciting? I mean, we live in a city. A city! I wonder what it's gonna be like," she thinks out loud.

We still stare at her, as if she's possessed. Finally we just turn and head up to Jack's room, closing the door behind us.

"I'll explain at dinner when I've calmed down!" she throws over her shoulder.

I flop on Jack's bed, and he takes the floor against the door. "So what do you think that was all about?" he muses.

I just shake my head in response. "Should we call triple zero?" We both laugh, then fall silent.

"Seriously, a farm stay? I wonder if she actually means it or if she's just joking around."

"I don't know, that phone call seemed pretty serious."

We sit in comfortable silence for a while, contemplating what to make of it. "Maybe we should check with her now. D'ya reckon she's sane yet?"

I giggle before replying, "We'll see about that!"

We find Maria still in the kitchen, cooking what looks like gluten steaks – we're vegetarian, don't judge. She still glows, happiness filling her eyes, but somewhat calmer than before.

"Oh!" she exclaims when she sees us walk in. "Hey, chickens. What's up?"

"Um..." Jack trails off awkwardly, not sure how to put it. "We are trying to make sense of what happened before, with the whole farm stay thing?"

Her face turns to one of anxiousness and what looks like nervousness. "Yeah... about that. Uh, one of my old college friends was shopping this week, and I saw her. Which is odd, because she lives on a farm, like out past Swan Valley sort of way, so we obviously caught up and exchanged details. She invited us to stay at her house for the Summer holidays, as we have nothing to do and she hasn't seen me in yonks."

"That's not true," I defend. "Tom's coming home and we haven't seen him in two weeks, and then we finally get to spend a few months with him." Jack nods in agreement.

"Well..." Maria looks at her feet. "Being on a farm gives us time away from the business of city life, so it's easier to bond as a family–"

"In the presence of other families? That actually makes it harder!" Jack explodes, clearly not happy with this arrangement. I'm not either, I was looking forward to spending time together as a family, just like every other Summer holidays. Each time we play monopoly, visit Adventure World, go out for breakfast, four-wheel drive on the beach, or shop at Harbour Town is a memory I hold tightly. It's what keeps us together, keeps us sane when Tom has to fly out to the mines for work because it's the only job he can take up that pays him enough to run a family. It isn't easy at all seeing your 'dad' flying in and out regularly, but Jack and I have learnt to live with it. That's we are so disappointed to learn of this change in plans.

"Look, guys, I don't have time to deal with this. I thought this would be a fun experience for you, something to look forward to, a chance to try something different. Obviously not. But I tried, guys, and if this is what I get for trying, then I'll have to live with it."

Oh, so now this comes out. Really? I thought this was all about her and an old college friend that she saw at a shopping centre. When she says it like that, it's not exactly appealing. So we disagree. And then she makes us feel guilty by saying that she was only trying to do something for us.

"I guess you will," Jack replies cockily. Maria glares at him and sends us off to the dinner table to eat dinner.

"We're leaving half an hour after dinner, by the way," she calls over her shoulder. Absolutely great.