Earning a nickname

Chapter 8

Sunday 11th Juliette's point of view.

I can't believe we left Luke at the Lawsons.

By the time Mum got the call we were already turning into the driveway. You should have seen her face when she heard the news. I think it was the first time I had ever seen her look guilty. I wish I had my camera so I could have taken a picture.

"STOP THE CAR!" she yelled in a panic. Dad slammed on the breaks in such a quick response that if we hadn't been wearing seatbelt, we would have been hurtled through the front window for sure.

"What the on-earth Mum, you just made Dad give us whiplash." Ryan said rubbing the spot where the seatbelt had dug in. At the same time Dad was peering out into the darkness,

"Did you see a roo?" he said asked. There weren't usually that many around this time of year, still you didn't want to take any chances in hitting one. A lot of city people think 'so what it just a roo', but I tell you those things can mess up your car. And they're especially dangerous because they can't make up their jolly mind, darting this way and that and then at the last minute when you think your safe, they leap right into your bonnet. My Uncle Phil had a pretty bad crash with a boomer once, totalled his car and he was in the hospital for a week. So, if by chance a city drongo is reading this it is never 'just a roo.' Any way I got off tract.

"No, much worse." And we instantly forgot our pain and leaned forward to hear what the terrible thing Mum had done was.

"We forgot Luke."

On the way back to the Andersons we had to listen to Mum yammer on about how bad a person and mother she was, and Dad try to convince her it wasn't her fault.

Even though I loved to see how much Dad cared for Mum, I wished that he would just keep quiet, because soon Mum would see where he is coming from and the blame would be put on us. And sure enough,

"How could you kids forget about Luke. You've spent the most time with him?"

I must admit I did feel pretty bad that we had left him there. But I was more concerned about what Mum would make us say and do for Luke to make up for it. My brothers didn't quite have the same remorse.

"Woops," was all Ryan said with a cheeky shrug of his shoulders. Ryan really needed to learn when it was the right time to be funny and now was not that time.

"No, not 'woops' Ryan. How would you like it if you came to stay with a family you barely met, and they forgot you at some random house?" Mum said with a fury that I believe was to cover her shame.

"The Andersons aren't random," Jay said in a hurt tone. "They're our best friends."

"I'd thank you not to interrupt James. But yes, I understand that the Andersons are our best friends, however to Luke they are just another family." We got the 'you should know better' and 'how would you feel' the rest of the way back to the Andersons.

"Now you guys can imagine how Luke must be feeling, so be nice ok." Mum said as we pulled into the Anderson gravel driveway. The truth was that we couldn't imagine what it was like to be Luke, we had nothing in common with him. And I think that was part of the reason we didn't like him so much. They often say opposites attract, and I get it, I see it every day with my Mum and Dad. But I don't think that saying goes for people who have absolutely nothing on common. I started to make a mental list of all differences between us

· We were farm kids, he was a rich city boy

· He had a butler and we did all the chores our selves