Girl Next Door (14 page)

The train pulls out of the station and we're on our way. I lean my forehead on the window and close my eyes. Alternate flashes of grey and vermilion cross my eyelids as the sunlight shines on my face through the trees. I turn the pinch pot over and over in my hand.

I know that I smell and my head's a bit fuzzy because I've had too much Slurpee, but I can put all those feelings of discomfort in a little box in my head and padlock it, because now we are going somewhere.

It's just overnight. We're coming back tomorrow to pack our stuff. We're not getting removalists this time. Dad said we have to hire a truck and do it ourselves.

I wonder if the caretaker's cottage at Wombat Crossing will have a flush toilet. The other cabins had lamps that you have to light with a match and a gas stove in the kitchen. I hope that if the shower is still a bucket, it's a bigger bucket than the one before. There won't be any television.

There used to be a common room where guests could play board games. It had a swap library system filled with dog-eared, trashy novels that I will enjoy. There was lots of sports equipment too.

Dad says my job will be to strip the beds and organise the linen service. Mum and I will mop and clean the bathrooms. Dad will split the wood and then take a big trailer around to the different cabins. Will can stand on the back and throw logs in piles near the fireplaces, and use the ride-on to mow around the cabins. Mum will do the accounts at night. Dad will take the bookings.

Dad says the owner is sending a National Parks and Wildlife officer to teach us how to catch snakes, herd goannas and safely move possums. Mum is going to hate that!

Dad said he'll stay in one of the empty cabins so we can have the caretaker's cottage, to be with Mum, except we haven't told the owner that. The owner thinks we are a normal family who live together.

I don't know how long we're going to stay at Wombat Crossing. I don't even know if I'm going to like it, but it's a good place to start again.

Maybe Declan could come and stay with us sometimes. He'll hate it, but if my mum can adjust then Declan can too. He'll get his licence soon. If he gets his own car then I can make him drive back home when he's annoying me.

Besides, I want to know what kind of a camper he is, because there's no way I am going to South America with him if he's going to complain the whole time.

Will gets up. 'I'm going for a walk.'

'Don't go far,' Mum says.

'I'll go with you,' Dad says.

We watch them lurch down the aisle as the train sways.

Mum runs her hand over the shoulder of my top. 'This is a good colour for you.'

'You said that already.'

'Well, it's
still
a good colour for you.'

We stare out the window.

After a while Mum nudges me with her elbow.

'What
were
you doing in the laundry that day, Jenna-Belle?' she asks quietly, under the hum of the engines.

'What do you think I was doing?'

She shakes her head. 'I've always wondered, but I thought it was private and I didn't want you to be embarrassed. Were you . . .?'

'Yes!' I blurt.

'And is it . . . effective? That way?'

'Not really,' I laugh.

As I look out the window I run my finger around the jagged edge of my pinch pot.

I think our family had so much stuff that we got buried in it and couldn't see each other any more. Then we had nothing and could see each other too much. There has to be a balance somewhere.

I'm looking forward to Wombat Crossing. We won't be the same people we were last time we were there. We won't even be the same people we are now, but I'm glad we are all trying to start afresh together.

The following questions for classroom or reading group discussion are from the Reading Guide for
Girl Next Door,
which is available on the Random House Australia website.

Random House Australia Reading Guides and Teaching Support Kits are designed to facilitate reading group and classroom discussion and further exploration of the themes and issues, writing style, characterisation and plot of the book, as well as providing further information on the author's inspiration and the writing process.

Find out more at www.randomhouse.com.au/teachers

1. Alyssa has said that she was inspired to write
Girl Next Door
after hearing a radio program that challenged her ideas about how and why people become homeless. How did Jenna-Belle's perceptions of poverty change through her experiences? Has your perception of homelessness or poverty been challenged at all by
Girl Next Door?

2. Jenna-Belle refers to the 'pineapple on everybody's heads' (e.g. p. 48, p. 52, p. 152, p. 174, p. 200, p. 231). What do you think is at the core of this idea? How do you think it contributed to the way Jenna-Belle and her family cope with their situation – and how might it have contributed to the situation arising in the first place?

3. Is Jenna-Belle a likeable character – and is she meant to be? Did your reaction to her affect your sympathy for her as the book progressed? Why do you think the author might have chosen to portray Jenna-Belle as she has?

4. Jenna-Belle's immediate family seem distant from their extended family. How might the novel have been different had Jenna-Belle's family situation been different? Do you think her family situation is common today? Is it different from, say, your great-grandparents' generation?

5. Why do you think the author chose to have Jenna-Belle narrate the story in the first person, and using everyday speech? What did Jenna-Belle's narrative voice tell you about the character – and how might the story have been different if it were told by a third-person omniscient narrator? Would elements of the story have been lost?

6.
'If I wasn't so mature and chic I would definitely want to play a game of smugglers, or vampires, or something like that.'
(p. 7). Is there a disconnect between the way Jenna-Belle describes herself and what she reveals through her narration? Do you think Jenna-Belle is unaware of the space between how mature she feels she is and how mature she wants others to believe she is – or is she playing with the idea (and the audience) deliberately? Why might the author have chosen to create this effect?

7. '
Mum thought you could buy self-esteem.'
(p. 11) What do you think of Jenna-Belle's mother's attitude to self-esteem? Why do you think Jenna-Belle's mother might not have offered support or communication when Jenna-Belle felt she most needed it (for instance, p. 21, p. 198)? Which characters in the book do you think actually have the worst self-esteem – and is this surprising?

8. Can you give examples of ways in which concepts such as pride and respect inform what happens in
Girl Next Door –
between married couples; friends; parents and children; males versus females; school peers; people from different neighbourhoods and socio-economic groups?

9. What did you think of Jenna-Belle's frustration with the different roles she thought boys and girls were expected to play? (e.g. p. 128, p. 203 and pp. 241–242). Do you agree with Jenna-Belle that gender roles can be unfair? Can you think of instances where Jenna-Belle might have made Declan 'feel bad so casually' (p. 241)?

10. Jenna-Belle encounters many new and difficult experiences throughout the novel and along the way slowly gains a broader view of the world and greater empathy for others, including those she depends upon and strangers. Do you think such drastic events are necessary to develop empathy for other people? Do you need to sometimes step 'out of your comfort zone' in order to change your views?

Alyssa Brugman's young adult novels
Finding Grace, Walking Naked, Being Bindy
and
Solo
are distributed around the world and have been shortlisted for numerous awards in Australia and overseas. Alyssa has also written five novels for younger readers about a girl called Shelby and her pony, Blue:
For Sale or Swap, Beginner's Luck, Hot Potato, Hide & Seek
and
Greener Pastures.
This series has been shortlisted for a number of Children's Choice awards and was also selected for the 2007 'Books Alive' campaign. Alyssa recently published Book Two of the new Quentaris series,
The Equen Queen.
She lives in the Hunter Valley and is currently writing more novels for children and young adults. Visit
www.alyssabrugman.com.au
for more information about Alyssa and her books.