Jessie's Ghosts (8 page)

‘Yeah, that’d
be great,’ Jessie said as she stood back to admire the painting.

‘It’s not the
best I’m afraid, Jessie, given that we only have limited time. But I’m pleased
with it - I’m sure your Nanna will love it.’

Jessie beamed.
‘I really enjoyed doing this Fleur. Next time I come to Nanna’s can you teach
me some more.’

‘I’d love to,’
Fleur replied, ‘Now, let’s get packed up and I’ll see you same time tomorrow?’

‘Thanks,
Fleur. Thanks heaps.’

‘Why did you
want to do that painting?’ Harmony asked irritably as she and Jessie went back
into the house.

‘Because I had
an idea. What if I painted a message on the painting, in the luminesc … ent
paint, and then my ancestors could see it at night, in the hall?’

Harmony looked
impressed. ‘That just might work. You won’t see it during the day but then it
will really stand out at night. But how are you going to stop your Nanna from
seeing it?’

Jessie
frowned. ‘I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about that. All I know is that I
have to give Harold the message. I’ll worry about the painting later. If I have
to,’ she stated, ‘I’ll destroy it so nobody will ever know.’

That night
Jessie closed her door so that she wouldn’t be woken by the voices, but even so
she still heard Harold’s pleading voice in the middle of the night and crossed
her fingers that the message that she was composing in her mind would ease
Harold’s guilt.

‘I hope your
mum is able to get those paints,’ Jessie said to Harmony, as they walked
amongst Nanna’s fruit trees.

‘If anyone
knows about paints, it’s mum.’

‘But what if
she can’t get them? What if the shop doesn’t have any? What if …’

‘Oh, stop
stressing. Mum always says that what’s meant to be, will be.’

‘I guess.’

Nanna had
provided lunch for the girls and made sure she catered for Harmony, with fresh
salad sandwiches. Jessie said she’d have the same.

‘That was
really nice,’ Harmony said as she finished the last mouthful of her sandwich,
‘I didn’t know you guys were vegetarians too.’

‘We’re not,’
said Jessie, ‘But we still eat salad sandwiches.’

‘I only eat
vegetarian when I’m with mum and it’s so boring. At home we have steak and
chicken, and all that. Dad even takes me to Hungry Jacks and MacDonalds. He
says he can’t live without meat. I often wonder if that’s why my parents split
up.’

Nanna looked
shocked. ‘I’m sure that wasn’t the reason, Harmony. There are lots of reasons
men and women don’t get along. But in any case, next time you come to visit
I’ll be sure to make some ham sandwiches.’

‘Do you think
that had anything to do with their split, though?’

‘Oh, look,’
Nanna said brightly, ignoring Harmony’s question, ‘I think your mum is home.’

‘Great,’ said
Jessie, ‘we have a painting to finish.’

‘And there’s
another car pulling up as well.’

Harmony raced
to the window.

‘It’s my dad. What’s
he doing here? He’s not due to pick me up until tomorrow. Let’s go!’

‘I see what
you mean,’ Nanna whispered to Jessie as she followed Harmony out the back door.

‘I so hope
your mum was able to get those paints,’ Jessie said as rushed to keep up.

‘Yeah,
whatever. I’m more interested in finding out why my dad’s here.’

When they
arrived Fleur was out front holding the painting they had produced the day
before. Harmony’s dad was standing off to the side, moving his weight from one
leg to the other, and looking out of place in a suit and tie.

‘Hi dad,’ said
Harmony as she went up to him and they hugged, ‘why are you early?’

‘Well,
unfortunately I have to go out of town tomorrow, sweetheart, so I need you to
come home with me today.’

‘Today?’

Fleur looked over
at the pair. Jessie couldn’t understand the look on Fleur’s face; a mixture of
sadness and perhaps even relief. It was obvious she and Harmony didn’t share
much in common, but Fleur
was
her mother.

‘Unfortunately
the art shop in town didn’t have a very good supply of colours, Jessie,’ Fleur
said, as Harmony and her dad disappeared inside the house, ‘so I was only able
to buy two tubes of luminescent paint, red and green. The people in the
painting will just to be odd colours. You don’t mind, do you?’

‘No. That’s
okay. It’s only a trial painting after all. My first.’

‘I so wish
Harmony shared your interest in art.’

‘I think
Harmony enjoys doing outdoors type stuff, well, apart from the computer that
is.’

‘Mmm. You’re
probably right, Jessie.’

Fleur looked over
to the house. ‘I suppose we’re all different, aren’t we?’

‘Just like
paintings,’ Jessie said.

Fleur turned
around and looked at Jessie. ‘You’re absolutely right. Well, let’s get to work,
shall we? But we’ll need to go inside and find somewhere reasonably dark.’

As Jessie
followed Fleur over to the house, Harmony was following her father outside,
carrying an overnight bag.

‘Jessie,’
Fleur said, ‘this is Harmony’s father, Peter.’

‘Hi.’

‘So you’re
Jessie,’ he said, ‘Harmony’s told me all about you. She’s really enjoyed your
company this holiday. Well, we’d better get going, Harmony. I have a very early
start tomorrow. Goodbye Fleur.’

‘Bye, mum, bye
Jessie – I’ll email,’ Harmony said as her father steered her towards the car.
As they drove off, Harmony waved, and Jessie had the distinct impression she
was waving at her, not her mum. That’s really weird, thought Jessie, Harmony
didn’t even kiss her mum goodbye. Fleur’s eyes looked tired and Jessie felt sad
for her.

CHAPTER 12

But she brightened up as
they started to paint, and an hour later, in Fleur’s studio with the blinds
closed, Jessie’s painting was complete. Fleur had drawn in the people’s
outlines and Jessie had filled them in with the luminescent paint. They did
look funny, all in green, a bit like ghosts Jessie thought. And it was strange
sitting in a dark room, painting. But that was how it worked, the luminescent
paint really did only show up in the dark.

‘Well,’ said
Fleur, ‘it will certainly be different, Jessie. I don’t think it matters that
the people are green, do you? Actually I think it adds a certain … dimension to
the painting. They’re almost like ghosts, aren’t they?’ Jessie smiled to
herself.

‘Now, let’s take
this back outside and see if we can still see the people,’ Fleur said as she
lifted the painting carefully and carried it out to the front of the cottage.
But as soon as they left the darkened study, the people disappeared from the
painting.

‘Well, that
looks terrific, don’t you think?’ Fleur said as she put the painting down
against the side of the house and stood back to view their handiwork.

It was a very
normal painting, Jessie thought as she tried to make out the shapes of the two
people they had painted in the luminescent colours. She had painted them right
at the front of the house, in the cottage garden. Now she couldn’t even see
their outlines, here in the daylight, and she couldn’t wait to see how they
turned out at night, in the darkness of Nanna’s hallway.

After all,
that’s where it had to go, in the hallway, if Harold was to read Jessie’s
message.

‘Yes, really
great. You can’t see the people at all, Fleur. Just like those paintings at the
gallery. Um, can I take it back to Nanna’s now?’

‘Well, we
really should leave it to dry, Jessie. Usually I leave them for a several hours
at least. And, we haven’t even hooked up the wire on the back yet so that you
can hang it.’

But I don’t
have a few hours, Jessie thought, as panic gripped her, I have to do this
tonight.

‘Please Fleur,
I’d really like Nanna to see it!’

Fleur looked
doubtful but then smiled and said, ‘well, okay then. It’s really only the
middle of the painting that’s still wet – the house and gardens dried
overnight. But be very careful carrying it, Jessie, hold it towards you, we
don’t want any dust getting on it and ruining it.’

Jessie smiled.
‘Thanks heaps Fleur. It’s just like I’d hoped.’ She leaned over and gave Fleur
a kiss on the cheek, ‘I really enjoyed painting it with you.’

Fleur caught
her bottom lip and said, ‘I’m so glad you like it, Jessie. Shall I see you
tomorrow, before you go?’

‘You bet,’
Jessie said, as carefully she lifted the painting up. ‘Oh, and would be it be
okay if I took one of the tubes of luminescent paint with me, so I can show
Nanna what it looks like?’

‘Here,’ Fleur
said as she reached for them both, ‘You keep them Jessie, and next time I’ll
try to get some different colours.’

Jessie arrived
back at Nanna’s with the painting and placed it on the floor against the
kitchen table. She couldn’t forget the sad look on Fleur’s face when Harmony
had left. And Harmony hadn’t even kissed her goodbye. Did she really hate her
mother that much? If only Harmony understood what it was like not to even
have
a mum.

‘It’s a pity
Harmony had to go home early,’ Nanna said as Jessie brought her painting into
the house.

‘Well, not
really, Nanna. She wasn’t enjoying herself here.’

‘That’s a
shame. Fleur is such a lovely person. Do you think you’ll keep in touch with
Harmony?’

‘I’ve been
thinking about that. I’d already decided I didn’t want to be friends with her.’

‘Why is that?’

‘She doesn’t
get on with her mum, at all. And she doesn’t treat her right.’

‘Seems like
she might need a friend, Jessie.’

Jessie sighed.
‘I guess so. She might be older, but it isn’t just computers I know more about.
She needs to know how special her mum is. And that she’s lucky to have both her
parents around. Maybe I can help her understand that.’

‘Oh, you’re a
good girl, Jessie,’ Nanna said as she went to wrap her arms around her.

‘Watch the
painting Nanna!’

‘Oh, sorry,
love. It’s just beautiful. But had you thought about putting any people in it?’

‘Well there
are
people in the painting, Nanna. You just can’t see them. I’ll show you when it
gets dark. Fleur bought this luminescent paint - you can’t see it in the
daylight, but it glows in the dark.’

‘Oh, like
those paintings at the gallery. Well, that’s amazing,’ Nanna said, ‘I can’t
wait to see it.’

Jessie thought
it was a shame that she would have to write over the painting - but it was the
only way she could think of to get her message to Harold. And tomorrow, after
they had read her message she would just have to hide the painting, so Nanna
would never see the message. She would tell Nanna she didn’t really like it,
after all it was only her first attempt and next time Fleur was going to give
her proper lessons.

And the loft
was the perfect place to hide it – Nanna wouldn’t be going up there again.

Once Nanna was
snoring in her lounge chair, Jessie went into her bedroom, lay the painting on
her bed and turned off the lights. The two people in green suddenly came alive.
Jessie grinned as she took the lid off the green luminescent tube of paint.

For days she
had been thinking about what message she would write and had finally decided to
make it very simple. Jessie was convinced that ‘You are forgiven, be at peace,’
would be enough. She didn’t know whether Harold would even see the painting,
let alone read it. But she had fingers and toes crossed that it would work.

Tonight was
her last night at Nanna’s. If she didn’t solve this mystery tonight, it would
have to wait until the next school holidays and surely Harold wouldn’t be able
to stand all that remorse for
another
three months.

Jessie took a
cotton bud from her bathroom bag and dipped it into the end of the tube. She
brought it out slowly and then wondered where on the painting she should write
the message. As she was staring down at it, a voice came from behind, ‘Making
some finishing touches?’

Jessie got
such a shock at hearing Nanna’s voice she almost dropped the cotton bud.

‘Sorry
sweetie, did I frighten you?’

Jessie
breathed out and turned around to face Nanna. ‘No, that’s okay Nanna, I was
just … yeah, finishing it off.’

‘Why are the
lights turned out? I thought you must be in bed, asleep.’

Jessie
swallowed. And then she remembered the people in the painting and that she’d
told Nanna she would show her after dark.

‘Look Nanna,’
she said, stepping out of the way of the painting, ‘see the people?’

‘Well, isn’t
that amazing,’ Nanna said, ‘They weren’t in the painting this afternoon, and
now here they are, just like you told me. That’s really something, Jessie.’