That time I got rejected three times on the same day!

Chapter 29

Mother was already serving dinner. Henry was sitting next to father. His face had two band aids; one across his cheek and one on his chin, and there was a nasty cut above his right eye. I had been really scared today after school, when those boys attacked us. I was also really glad that Henry protected me. It was a good think snake-man came to save us, but the crocodile was scary.

"How was school Henry?" father asked.

The rule at the house was, you were allowed to speak before and after dinner, but not while eating.

"Good," he replied.

He didn't say anything about what happened after school. I didn't say anything either, I think Henry would get mad at me. Father wouldn't ask Henry, he would speak to mother instead. I think he already knew what had happened. He didn't look too worried though, just tired. Father worked really hard and was always tired. He left in the morning before we woke up and we only saw him for an hour in the evenings. I thought it was sad. He had changed a lot since we moved to Australia. The food was being served and Henry and I weren't allowed to talk anymore. Mother and Father talked about other things, but they were careful with their manners.

After dinner was done we sat back and relaxed in front of the TV with dessert. It was a documentary about Africa. Mother and Father loved watching documentaries about Africa. It reminded them of home. Henry was back at the computer. He was only listening. Henry was strange, he didn't care about the country we immigrated from and he wasn't fitting in well in Australia. Was there a place he could really belong? I would have to ask him later tonight. We usually got sent to bed at around 10 o'clock, but on weekends we were allowed to stay up late. Sometimes Henry would stay up the whole night. This made mother angry. She sent him to get 'help', but it didn't really help. I felt sorry for him. When I lay down I would fall asleep in 10 seconds. It was easy for me. Maybe I should teach him my trick?

The documentary finished and mother looked at the clock. It was half past 10 now.

"Okay darlings. Brush your teeth and off to bed."

I was rolling around the sofa. I didn't want to go to sleep yet.

"Awww, can't we stay up late?"

Henry was still sitting at the computer.

"I don't want to go to school tomorrow," he said.

Mother looked down at me and scratched her head.

"Vicky, do you want to go to school tomorrow?"

I did, but if I went to school, Henry also had to go to school.

"No, I don't want to."

Mother cocked her head.

"That means you are using a sick day."

It was for Henry, so it was okay.

"I know," I said.

"Okay. You can stay up tonight. I'm going to take a bath and going to sleep. Don't stay up too late."

"Yes mother," we said in chorus.

Henry continued clacking away at the keyboard and I sat back down in front of the TV. The show was about crime investigations. I loved learning about how to solve crimes.

I sneaked up behind Henry, or I thought I did. He was reading things on the internet. It was hard to sneak up on him; he always knew I was there.

"What do you want?" he said.

"Just looking," I replied.

"Thanks Vicky."

I knew he was talking about persuading mother to let us stay home.

"No problem Henry. How are you feeling now?"

"Better," he said.

I was glad that he was happy. Today had changed him. He wasn't as grumpy as usual and was actually talking to me normally.

"Vicky," he said.

"Yes."

He turned around on the swivel chair.

"What would you have done if I got beat up by those boys?"

I knew what I would do. I held up my fists.

"I would fight them, like you."

He raised his hand and flicked my temple. It hurt; I covered my head with my hands.

"Ow Henry," I cried.

I raised my fists again and tried to punch him. He was laughing.

"What would you do if you got hurt?" he said in-between my barrage of punches.

"I would walk away like you, limping and scratched up."

He grabbed both hand forearms.

"I'm setting a bad example for you, aren't I?"

I started hissing like a cat, like he sometimes did. He opened his mouth and made the predator noise. I saw that movie with him, even though mother said I wasn't allowed. The movie had given me nightmares. Once, he had hidden under my bed and when I turned off the lights he made the same noise the predatory made. I screamed so loud that I woke the neighbours. Father ran into the room and asked me what was wrong. That was when Henry came out from under the bed. I was mad at him and father was really, really mad. Henry got a beating for doing that. He never did it again though.

"You should never fight Vicky, always run away."

That was a bit hypocritical coming from him.

"Why, you fight."

He let go of me.

"Because I'm a boy, I need to fight."

"So what can girls do, that boys aren't allowed to do?"

He looked at me sadly.

"Say sorry," he said.

I didn't know what I did, but he turned back to the computer and started clacking away at the keyboard again.