Jessie's Ghosts (3 page)

‘Hi,’ said Jessie.

‘Harmony,
Jessie would like to have a look at your computer. How about you two get to know
each other while Nanna and I make some tea.’

‘All right,’
said Harmony, looking back to the computer as Jessie looked around for a chair.

‘There’s one
here,’ Harmony said as she struggled to lift a pile of hard covered art books
off a green velvet arm chair. Jessie helped Harmony put them on the floor and
then sat down.

‘Computers can
be a pain, can’t they?’ Jessie said as she made herself comfortable.

‘Always. Do
you
know anything about them?’

Jessie thought
back to all the lessons she had had at school, ‘A little,’ she said.

‘I’m sending
an email to my friend Kurt and I can’t attach the photos I want to send him. Do
you know how to do that?’

‘Sure. Which
folder are the photos in?’

Harmony
searched around in ‘My Computer’ and then double-clicked on a folder. ‘It’s
these ones –just three of them.’

Jessie saw
they were photos of Harmony with a boy, presumably Kurt, sliding down a long
slippery slide with water spraying all over them. Harmony had her mouth open
and looked like she was screaming. Kurt appeared to be laughing.

‘Is Kurt your
boyfriend?’ Jessie asked as she took the mouse from Harmony and went back to
the email.

‘No,’ Harmony
said, ‘He’s just a friend – my dad and his mum go out sometimes.

‘Oh. Well it
looks like fun, anyway. Where is it?’

‘At Waterworld.
My dad took us three weeks ago.’

Jessie
attached each of the three photos to Harmony’s email and within minutes it was
on its way.

‘Thanks,’
Harmony said. ‘Mum knows zilch about technology and my dad’s always working, so
basically I’ve had to teach myself.’

‘We have
computers at school so our teacher taught us the basics, you know, like how to
open and save a Word document, how to surf the Internet, those sorts of thing.’

Harmony looked
at Jessie and said, ‘How old are you?’

‘I’m eleven.’

‘Mmm.’

‘How old are
you
?’

‘Thirteen.’

Jessie
shrugged.

‘Do you think
you could teach me?’

‘What do you
want to know?’

‘Everything
about computers.’

‘Everything?’

‘Well, you
know, the basics, like you just said.’

‘Sure. Do you paint
too, like your mum?’

‘No. I’m not
into art. I like doing exciting stuff, not sitting in front of an easel all
day. How about you?’

‘Well, I used
to play lots of netball, but since the accident …’ Jessie’s eyes started to
mist up.

‘I heard about
your parents. Must be hard.’

‘Yeah,’ she
said, sniffing, ‘It is.’

Harmony
nodded. ‘I thought the end of the world had come when my mum and dad split up.
I wanted to live with my dad but they said I had to live sometimes with mum and
sometimes with dad. I guess it’s working out okay. Except for when I have to
come here.’

Jessie could
feel tears rushing to her eyes. She pulled out a handkerchief; she always kept
a handkerchief with her these days, just in case. She wiped her eyes and then
blew her nose.

‘Do you mind
if we talk about something else?’ she said, her voice all choked up.

‘Sure. So you
live with your sister?’

‘Yeah, her
name’s Sarah, and she’s …’

‘I always
wanted a sister,’ Harmony interrupted. ‘Even a brother would have been okay.
But I guess being an only child has its advantages. I get my own bedroom at
home with dad and then here with mum too.’

Jessie turned
away and rolled her eyes. Couldn’t Harmony talk about anything other than
herself
?

‘You girls
ready for tea and cake?’ Fleur called.

‘We’re coming,’
Harmony called back.

Thank
goodness, Jessie thought as she followed Harmony out to the kitchen.

‘Are you okay,
Jessie?’ Nanna asked as they crossed Fleur’s property on their way home.

‘I just got a
bit upset. Harmony was talking about … well, just stuff.’

‘What stuff?’

‘Well, she
talks about herself all the time, like she’s got the worst possible life.’

‘And she
doesn’t really know what that’s like,
does
she?’

Jessie stopped
and looked up as Nanna folded her arms around her and hugged her.

‘Maybe you
just have to be a bit more … assertive,’ Nanna said.

‘What does
that mean?’

‘Well, just
because she’s older doesn’t mean she should have all the say. Next time you
should start the conversation and talk about something else.’

‘I don’t know
if I want a next time.’

Nanna hugged
her again and smiled.

‘Oh, Jessie.
You’re been through so much more than anyone your age should have to go
through. But you can’t let other people ruin your day. You have to learn to
stand up to them.’

‘I suppose.’

‘Isn’t there something
else you can talk to her about?’

Jessie dabbed
at her eyes with her wet handkerchief. ‘Well, we did do some stuff on the
computer. I taught Harmony how to attach photos to an email. And she asked me
to teach her about computers.’

‘Well, there you
are. That must have boosted your confidence, didn’t it?’

‘I suppose,’
Jessie said as they continued home.

‘And what did
you think about Fleur’s paintings?’

‘They’re
pretty, and really bright. But I don’t really understand what they’re about.’

Nanna laughed.
‘Me neither.’

That night
Jessie lay awake in bed for ages, thinking about Harmony and how their
situations were so different; and how she was so different to her mum.

Fleur was
cheerful, even her clothes and her paintings were bright. Harmony was just
plain drab, like her clothes; she felt sorry for herself and she hadn’t even
lost her parents, they were just living in different places.

I guess I’ll
go see her again, Jessie thought, but I’ll just talk about something else, like
Nanna said. And Fleur’s paintings are really unusual, I’d like to see them
again. I wish I could paint and then maybe I would understand what they all
mean.

Slowly Jessie
drifted off to sleep. But then she was awake again.

The voice. The
same lady she had heard talking last night. Nanna must be talking in her sleep
again, she thought as she slid out of bed and stepped into her slippers.

When she
reached the door she just stood, listening. What was the point of crossing the
hall in the cold if she didn’t have to? She couldn’t really make out what the
voice was saying, but it was definitely a lady. Maybe Nanna’s having a bad
dream, maybe I should wake her.

But as she was
about to pull the door open, the voice stopped.

And then a man
spoke.

Jessie pulled
back suddenly from the door and almost fell over in her rush to get back into
to bed.

A man’s voice!
How could there be a man’s voice out there? In the hall!

Terrified, she
struggled with the doona and pushed herself down deep inside it, pulling it up
over her head. After a minute or so, she realised the voice had stopped.

Don’t panic,
she told herself. Nanna is probably right. It’s just coming from the road, or
maybe it’s her neighbours. But was it worth mentioning to Nanna again? No,
Jessie decided, I’m just being silly. I just need to forget about it.

CHAPTER 5

When Nanna walked Jessie
over to Fleur’s house the next morning Harmony was waiting outside. Today
Jessie noticed she was wearing a different black shirt over jeans, a real
contrast to the colourful flowers in Fleur’s garden.

‘Can you find
your way back, Jessie?’ Nanna asked.

‘Sure, Nanna.
I’ll be fine.’

‘Is your mum
around, Harmony?’

‘She just
drove into town for groceries. She said she’d be back in an hour.’

Nanna waved goodbye
to the girls. This time as they made their way down the hall Jessie stopped to
study two or three of Fleur’s paintings and thought they might be bunches of
flowers, like in the garden outside, or maybe they were flowers in vases.

‘I wish Nanna
had a car,’ Jessie said.

‘If she
doesn’t drive how does she get groceries? Harmony asked.

‘She gets them
delivered every week. She used to drive but she says she can’t be bothered
anymore.’

Harmony
shrugged. ‘I guess that’s what happens when you get old.’

Jessie changed
the subject. ‘So you never painted?’ she asked.

Harmony
shrugged. ‘Nope. We always had paintings everywhere when we lived in the city
so I suppose I just got sick of them. And besides, I’d rather be going out
somewhere. It’s so boring here, there’s nothing to do.’

Oh no, thought
Jessie. I have to change the subject again. ‘Is it okay if I get something to
drink?’

‘I’ll go get
it. You turn on the computer and I’ll be right back.’

‘Is it okay if
I check my emails?’

‘Sure.’

Jessie logged into her Hotmail account and
started to read an email from her best friend Katie who was at their holiday
house on the coast. Katie’s family had invited Jessie to go with them but Sarah
had explained that Jessie needed to spend the week with her grandmother. Katie said
she would email Jessie while she was away, even if she couldn’t read them. She
could always catch up later.

And even
though it was way too cold for the beach Katie said she was having a great time.
Already they had visited an aquarium and a small zoo. Katie said she wished
Jessie was there with them. Jessie wished so too.

She replied
that she was using a computer that belonged to Nanna’s neighbour Fleur. Fleur
was really nice and painted bright paintings. And Fleur’s daughter Harmony was
just two years older. She told Katie she was teaching Harmony how to use the
computer. But none of what she typed in the email sounded anywhere near as good
as what Katie was doing.

‘We only had
grape juice left,’ Harmony said as she pulled up a chair beside Jessie. ‘That’s
why mum needed to go shopping. And she wanted to call in at the gallery in
town, there’s some sort of exhibition on soon and mum’s gonna be showing some
paintings.’

‘Wow, that’s
great,’ Jessie said, ‘I don’t know much about art, but your mum must be really
good.’

She shrugged,
‘I guess.’

Jessie was
determined to keep Harmony’s mind off herself so she showed her how to insert
pictures into a Word document and print them out, and then helped her create
her own signature block in email.

After a while
Fleur popped her head around the corner and asked if they were having a good
time.

‘Jessie knows
heaps about computers,’ Harmony said.

Jessie felt
her face become heated but was pleased by the compliment.

‘That’s great.
And maybe once you learn a bit more, Harmony, you can teach me.’

Harmony turned
to face Jessie and rolled her eyes. ‘As if,’ she mouthed.

‘Well, how
about taking a break now, Harmony and helping me put the groceries away. Then we’ll
make some sandwiches.’

As Harmony
reluctantly left the room Jessie thought how lucky Harmony was to have Fleur.
It’s just that
she
didn’t seem to realise that.

At first
Jessie thought she was dreaming, like Nanna had suggested. She couldn’t believe
the voice had woken her yet again.

It had been
late when she had finally fallen asleep. Eager for Cairo Jim to solve his
archaeological mystery, Jessie had snuggled up in bed with her book until she
had finished it. Now she sighed and stepped down onto the pink rug. Her door
was half open; in her tiredness she had forgotten to close it.

Forgetting her
slippers, Jessie tiptoed across the cold timber floor and slipped out through
the open door, into the hall. A light was on. Nanna must have been tired too and
forgotten to turn it off, she thought, as she stepped out into the hall. And
stopped.

There
was
a light. But it wasn’t any ordinary light. It was more like a glow. And it was
coming from the portrait on the hall wall; the portrait of her grandfather’s family.

Jessie’s knees
trembled and her hands began to shake. Gripping the door frame, she swallowed
hard as she continued to stare down at the portrait, her eyes wide with fear.

The portrait
was glowing, and the lady’s voice she had heard these past nights was coming
out
of the portrait, she was sure of it.