Silent Genius

Chapter 19

March 2011 continued

I walk into my room and go straight for my diary, planning on writing down all the events of my uneventful day. I turn to what I thought was a clean page to find Tom’s messy scrawl covering the page. I open my mouth to scream for him but I stop myself. I read it over a couple of times, not believing what I’m reading. Sure enough, when I turn the page, there are the six tickets. I pick them up and run out into the kitchen. Tom is making a sandwich and jumps when I walk in.

‘I can’t believe it,’ I gasp.

He turns around, a cautious look on his face.

‘You deserve it,’ he says simply.

I jump forward wrapping my arms around his neck.

‘Don’t kill me,’ he jumps back.

‘I was gonna hug you, you dork,’ I laugh, hugging him tight.

He hugs me back.

‘So who’s Quinn?’ I ask, letting him go.

‘Like I said, you’ll meet her on Friday. She’s coming over for dinner and then staying the night,’ he laughs.

‘Yes, but who is she? Does she go to our school?’ I sit on the bench.

‘No, actually,’ he goes back to making his sandwich, ‘she goes to a private school.’

‘A private school?’ I laugh, ‘which one?’

‘An all-girls school.’

‘Well that narrows in down,’ I say sarcastically.

‘She goes to Morton Bay,’ he sighs.

‘A Morton Bay girl?’

‘Yes, a Morton Bay girl.’

‘How’d you meet her?’

‘She goes to all my hockey games. One day I asked her if she wanted to go out for lunch. She said yes.’

‘Clearly. How long have you been going out?’

‘I regret telling you about her,’ he sighs.

‘I just wanna know,’ I say in my most childish voice.

‘You wanna know everything.’

‘If you really want to tell me everything then go ahead.’

He sighs, handing me half his sandwich. I take it and smile.

‘Nearly six months,’ he says.

I squeal, clapping my hands. He rolls his eyes, taking a bite of his half of the sandwich.

‘That’s sooooooooooo cute!’ I squeal and clap again.

‘You’re such a girl,’ he laughs.

‘I’d be worried if she wasn’t,’ Dad walks into the kitchen, kissing my cheek, ‘and how my two eldest children today?’

‘Fine, Dad,’ Tom says.

‘Absolutely great, Daddy,’ I say.

‘So you found the tickets?’ he drops his briefcase on the bench beside me.

‘Yep,’ I nod enthusiastically.

I hear little patters coming from the hall and all of a sudden Claire has attached herself to Dad’s leg.

‘There’s my little girl,’ Dad picks her up, swinging her through the air.

‘We’re going to Paris, Claire,’ I laugh.

The smile is wiped off her face and replaced with a frown. She quickly shakes her head.

‘Why not?’ I ask.

She reaches her arms out to me. I take her from Dad and she points at the hall. I take her into the hall. She points at my bedroom door and we go in. She pushes against me and I let her go. She quickly walks over to a picture of Mum, Tom and I. She points at Mum, shaking her head.

‘Mum can’t come with us,’ I say sadly.

She shakes her head again and stabs the photo with her finger.

‘Mama’s not here to come with us.’

She sighs and hits her head with her left hand. Then she jabs the photo again, jumping up and down and vigorously shaking her. For the first time in her life I can’t tell what she’s trying to say.

‘I’m sorry, baby.’

She sits down, slumping her shoulders in defeat. Then she points at me with her left hand and drags her right thumb across her forehead.

Not your fault.

I sit down beside her and pull her onto my lap. I rock her back and forth, the way I did when she was just a tiny baby.

‘Next week, we’ll all go to Paris. We’ll have a good time and be with the ones we love. We don’t have to worry about anything else until we get back,’ I say.

She sighs. I’m not sure how long we sit like that, but it’s long enough to put her to sleep. I tuck her into her own bed and join Dad and Tom for dinner.